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Fever Pitch
 
 

Fever Pitch (Paperback)

by Nick Hornby (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin; New Ed edition (5 May 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140293442
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140293449
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,941 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Ball Games
    #1 in  Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Football > Football Fans
    #3 in  Books > Sports, Hobbies & Games > Football > British

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Product Description

From Amazon.co.uk
Fever Pitch is both an autobiography and a footballing bible rolled into one. Nick Hornby pinpoints 1968 as his formative year--the year he turned 11, the year his parents separated, and the year his father first took him to watch Arsenal play. The author quickly moved "way beyond fandom" into an extreme obsession that has dominated his life, loves, and relationships. His father had initially hoped that Saturday afternoon matches would draw the two closer together, but instead Hornby became completely besotted with the game at the expense of any conversation: "Football may have provided us with a new medium through which we could communicate, but that was not to say that we used it, or what we chose to say was necessarily positive." Girlfriends also played second fiddle to one ball and 11 men. He fantasises that even if a girlfriend "went into labour at an impossible moment" he would not be able to help out until after the final whistle. Fever Pitch is not a typical memoir--there are no chapters, just a series of match reports falling into three time frames (childhood, young adulthood, manhood). While watching the May 2, 1972, Reading v Arsenal match, it became embarrassingly obvious to the then 15-year-old that his white, suburban, middle-class roots made him a wimp with no sense of identity: "Yorkshire men, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish, blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about." But a boy from Maidenhead could only dream of coming from a place with "its own tube station and West Indian community and terrible, insoluble social problems." Fever Pitch reveals the very special intricacies of British football, which readers new to the game will find astonishing, and which Hornby presents with remarkable humour and honesty--the "unique" chants sung at matches, the cold rain- soaked terraces, giant cans of warm beer, the trains known as football specials carrying fans to and from matches in prison-like conditions, bottles smashing on the tracks, thousands of police officers waiting in anticipation for the cargo of hooligans. The sport and one team in particular have crept into every aspect of Hornby's life--making him see the world through Arsenal-tinted spectacles. --Naomi Gesinger

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fever Pitch is both an autobiography and a footballing bible rolled into one. Nick Hornby pinpoints 1968 as his formative year--the year he turned 11, the year his parents separated, and the year his father first took him to watch Arsenal play. The author quickly moved "way beyond fandom" into an extreme obsession that has dominated his life, loves, and relationships. His father had initially hoped that Saturday afternoon matches would draw the two closer together, but instead Hornby became completely besotted with the game at the expense of any conversation: "Football may have provided us with a new medium through which we could communicate, but that was not to say that we used it, or what we chose to say was necessarily positive." Girlfriends also played second fiddle to one ball and 11 men. He fantasises that even if a girlfriend "went into labour at an impossible moment" he would not be able to help out until after the final whistle. Fever Pitch is not a typical memoir--there are no chapters, just a series of match reports falling into three time frames (childhood, young adulthood, manhood). While watching the May 2, 1972, Reading v Arsenal match, it became embarrassingly obvious to the then 15-year-old that his white, suburban, middle-class roots made him a wimp with no sense of identity: "Yorkshire men, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish, blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about." But a boy from Maidenhead could only dream of coming from a place with "its own tube station and West Indian community and terrible, insoluble social problems." Fever Pitch reveals the very special intricacies of British football, which readers new to the game will find astonishing, and which Hornby presents with remarkable humour and honesty--the "unique" chants sung at matches, the cold rain- soaked terraces, giant cans of warm beer, the trains known as football specials carrying fans to and from matches in prison-like conditions, bottles smashing on the tracks, thousands of police officers waiting in anticipation for the cargo of hooligans. The sport and one team in particular have crept into every aspect of Hornby's life--making him see the world through Arsenal-tinted spectacles. --Naomi Gesinger --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Fever Pitch
83% buy the item featured on this page:
Fever Pitch 3.8 out of 5 stars (33)
£5.49
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About a Boy
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Fever Pitch [DVD] [1996]
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Customer Reviews

33 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (11)
3 star:
 (3)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (33 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most 'important' books published in the 1990's, 27 Nov 2000
By A Customer
Regardless of any literary merit, in terms of its effect on British society this book has to be considered one of the most important books published in recent years. It's hard to remember now that when Hornby was writing this book, football fans were considered to be little more than potential hooligans, or the 'belching sub-humanity' portrayed in Bill Bruford's book 'Among the Thugs'.

'Fever Pitch' made it possible for the vast majority of 'normal' people who watch football, to 'come out of the closet'. Without that, none of the huge changes that have taken place in the way the game is perceived and consumed (for good and bad) would have taken place.

But given all that, what is 'Fever Pith' actually like to read? It's a fine book, packed with accurate observations about not only football, but also life in general. No-one could possibly not relate to the young Hornby's first intimations of human mortality (on seeing the victim of a heart attack, immediately after a Crystal Palace game,) his consideration of the basic human need for quasi-religous rituals which one hopes will influence events totally out of one's control, or the terrible Parable of Gus Caeser. Hornby's articulate prose style, full of self-effacing humour, makes every page a delight to read.

I've heard it said that even people without any knowledge of or interest in football can enjoy this book. My own experience is, however, that this is not the case. Another problem for potential readers is that, with the passage of time, even football fans will find it difficult to remember many of the key events (particularly the momentous 1988/89 season) around which the book is based. Finally, as someone who is not an Arsenal fan, I found Hornby's continual putting-down of his team ("I must be mad to support this lot" etc.) a little annoying. 95% of football fans would give almost anything for their team to be as successful as Arsenal.

Notwithstanding these points, I cannot recommend this book more highly. As the book says, football fans are not emotionally-retarded idiots. In their own way, they understand certain essential truths and experience emotions the rest of the world can have no idea of.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A hilarious and intelligent analysis of a fan's obsession, 28 May 2001
By A Customer
An extremely intelligent, well-written and humorous description of the psyche of a football fan, the author. "Fever Pitch is an attempt to gain some kind of angle on my obsession." The obsession being Arsenal, or perhaps just the Arsenal ground, Highbury, as Hornby rarely attends away games. It is also an autobiographical romp from 1957-1991. Those who did not grow up in Britain during the 60s and 70s, or who are not familiar with football, or who are not interested in British society or football will probably (but not certainly) find this book hard to read and in many places boring. However, I think the book stands on its own feet as an investigation into a fan's obsession. The flashes of forthright honesty are as funny as Roseanne. Hornby is fascinated and frankly appalled by the selfishness and immaturity of his obsession, yet also mystified by it to the point of awe. "The truth is: for alarmingly large chunks of an average day, I am a moron" (page 2!) And towards the end: "Pete and I left around twelve, I guess, for a three p.m., Sunday afternoon kick-off, and got there just in time. It was an awful game, unspeakable, a nil-nil draw in freezing conditionsc and it was live on television, so we could have stayed at home. My powers of self-analysis fail me completely here; I don't know why we went. We just did." With such endearing writing, Hornby won me over. I also found his comments on the past, present and future of British (well OK, English) football illuminating - especially on hooliganism and disasters like Hillsborough. This was the first Nick Hornby book I read, and I definitely want to read more.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the real football for an American, 12 Jan 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Fever Pitch (Paperback)
Having never really played or watched soccer (or football as the rest of the world calls it) until this past summer's World Cup (and, despite being an American, of Welsh descent, been absolutely crushed when England lost to Argentina), I found this book to be delightful. It was the third Nick Hornby book I read (I highly recommend High Fidelity) and I found its story of a lifelong passion--or obsession--to be well-told. The book made me far more interested in soccer and I watch whatever bits and pieces we get over here of Man U. and Liverpool and Arsenal. It's amazing how much more passionate and violent British soccer fans are as compared to American fans of any sport; Hillsborough is unthinkable here. But I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has ever loved a sports team and to anyone who is unfamiliar with the sport of football, non-American style.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Landmark novel for 'new wave' footie fans
Football was going through something of a renaissance in the mid-90's. The improvements forced on clubs by the Taylor report were beginning to take shape, making stadiums more... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Radar Gun

4.0 out of 5 stars Might be the best book ever dealing with football
Nick Hornby's warm autobiographical book deals with his life as a football fan from 1968 (when he was a teenager) until 1992, especifically as he supported his beloved Arsenal... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Andres C. Salama

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique and interesting.
'Fever Pitch' is an interesting and captivating book, I recently read it and would read it again. I am not a football fan but came closer to understand what it feels like to be... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Dave Stewart

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
I finally got found to reading this book recently and I wasn't that impressed. Although Hornby sums up a lot of the experiences of being a football fan well, something doesn't... Read more
Published on 22 Aug 2006 by Master Shake

1.0 out of 5 stars Fickle football fan
To be honest, the first few pages had me hooked. When Hornby talks about his childhood support of The Arsenal he described exactly my feelings when I first supported my local... Read more
Published on 24 Mar 2006 by M. J. Bailey

1.0 out of 5 stars THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES
I read this book when it came out and I've recently re-read it. Although many things benefit from hindsight, this isn't one of them. Read more
Published on 27 Sep 2005 by Ms. Kate Shaw

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and worth a read.
Fever Pitch is an autobiography focussed on Nick Hornby's obsession as an Arsenal fan, from when he first supported Arsenal at 11 to when the book was written, in the middle of... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2004 by Kate Saunders

3.0 out of 5 stars Only cause I am a footbal fan
Think of an obsessed football (soccer) fan who has written many related articles on this subject and put them into a book. That’s Fever Pitch. Read more
Published on 7 April 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring Boring Hornby
I have a great admiration for Nick Hornby and am an avid football supporter. However, I did not like this book. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2003

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but only if you're football mad
Let me start off with the positive view - This is typically well written, as can be expected by Nick Hornby. Read more
Published on 6 April 2002 by hugepants

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