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The "Rotters' Club" [Paperback]

Jonathan Coe (Author)

4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; TV tie-in edition (2 Dec 2004)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0141020490
ISBN-13: 978-0141020495
Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11 x 3 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 644,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Against a distant backdrop of strikes, terrorist attacks and growing racial tension, a group of young friends inherit the editorship of their school magazine and begin to put their own distinctive spin onto events in the wider world. A zestful comedy of personal and social upheaval, THE ROTTERS' CLUB captures a fateful moment in British politics - the collapse of 'Old Labour' - and imagines its impact on the topsy-turvy world of the bemused teenager: a world in which a lost pair of swimming trunks can be just as devastating as an IRA bomb.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Imagine! November the 15th, 1973. Read the first page

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgia is the new black, 11 July 2005

By A Customer

This review is from: The "Rotters' Club" (Paperback)

I came by this book through the TV series - as ever the book is even better than a great TV effort. It just encapsulates everything about the 70's to a tee. Modern writers write with a real passion for recent histort ( David Nicholls - 80's: Steve Horsfall - 70's / 80's). The past offers fond memories and this book ignites them all. Jonathan Coe is a great writer and I'm now going to buy The Closed Circle with great anticipation.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just a really good read, 23 Dec 2004

"dougyjay" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The "Rotters' Club" (Paperback)

This book is excellent, and I would really recommend it. Like all Coe's books it has that nice, slightly bittersweet feel to it. In this case, the story does a great job of blending it's considerable dose of nostalgia with immediately recognisable characters. For those able to remember the times covered by the story it should be a wryly humourous reminder of life way back when. On the other hand, for anyone younger the story should still have more than enough resonance, dealing with all the emotional trials and tribulations you'd expect from a coming of age tale. Short of re-telling the story, what more can I say? This is just a really well-written, moving and enjoyable read. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly satisfying must read novel., 11 Jan 2006

Stephen Newton (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: The "Rotters' Club" (Paperback)

There’s something magical about teenage years in The Rotters’ Club, thanks to that privileged public school. It’s an intellectual thing that can’t help but make you wish your school had been more ideas driven and school life more rounded and safely challenging. But for all that, this is an extremely accessible book that reads as a balanced, nostalgic but not romantic and incredibly broad portrait of a time I’m just too young to remember.

Like John King’s Human Punk, The Rotters’ Club captures the pop cultural experience of the 1970s (though while King’s book is set at the outbreak of punk among suburban proletariat, Coe is just before the revolution hits the middle class). IRA terrorism, the rise of the National Front and the industrial strife that destroyed Old Labour all impact on the very real characters’ lives to create a truly satisfying must read novel.

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› See all 12 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was expecting
You know how you pick up a book with expectation for the type of read it's going to be...well this one was very much a tony parsons/nick hornby oh-so-familiar stroll down memory... Read more

Published on 26 Oct 2006 by Mrs. Amanda J. Volley

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!
Unlike the last reviewer, I was brought up in Birmingham, around the very areas that are described in the book, the Longbridge plant etc. Read more

Published on 24 Jun 2006 by G. D. Griffin

3.0 out of 5 stars Evocative but occasionally a bit too clever
The evocation of the 1970s in this book is very good. I have never lived in Birmingham, but it is very accurate as far as I know and can remember. Read more

Published on 17 May 2006 by Reptile

5.0 out of 5 stars loved it
i just finished reading this book about 10 minutes ago. i really enjoyed it. I felt attached to the characters and the constant change of protagonist and style of writing kept... Read more

Published on 13 Oct 2005 by Miss C E Kenny

4.0 out of 5 stars "Does narrative serve any purpose? I wonder about that."
A novel of enormous reach, Coe attempts to give epic significance to the 1970's in Birmingham, England. Read more

Published on 3 Oct 2005 by Mary Whipple

2.0 out of 5 stars Rotters Club
I am half-way through this book and have still not been able to engage with any of the characters or to be remotely interested in their situation. Read more

Published on 29 July 2005

5.0 out of 5 stars Movingly nostalgic
I have just reread "The Rotters' Club" in preparation for the sequel, "The Closed Circle" - to which I am at present immensely looking forward -, and found it even better second... Read more

Published on 22 Jun 2005 by jfp2006

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than TV
I came to this book after watching the very impressive TV series but I need to state that the novel is so much more than its serialisation and should be read regardless of... Read more

Published on 19 Feb 2005 by Edward Barry

4.0 out of 5 stars A Trip Down 70s Memory Lane
I loved this book. Suddenly, life at a large comprehensive school, the reprehensable behaviour of its pupils and their parents seem crazier, funnier and more poignant than things... Read more

Published on 15 Dec 2004

› See all 12 customer reviews on Amazon.co.uk

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