- Paperback: 178 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books (NZ) (31 Aug 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140296948
- ISBN-13: 978-0140296945
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,631,240 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
This novel is based on the 1905 New Zealand rugby tour of Britain, when the All Blacks achieved unheard of success in thirty-three of their matches, losing only one against Wales. In the country they call 'Home', these unassuming Kiwi men achieve massive public acclaim and become heroes.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm Welsh, I love rugby. Simple as that. Don't read much though, so a book has to be good to get me to open it.
Lloyd Jones has an ability to get to the heart of an emotion in an instant. Often Coetzee-like in its sparseness, The Book of Fame entranced from the start. I want a book to keep me up because 'one more page is not enough'. This is such a book. Spent several days exhausted for lack of sleep.
From a rugby standpoint, i didn't want long detailed reports of the matches. You don't get that. Having played the game (at a very low level), when you are in a match it passes in a blur and you are only aware of the broad strokes of a game and the instinctive responses your body is conditioned to react to. This book captures that perfectly.
Also, Wales beat the All Blacks on the rugby defining tour used as the backdrop for this story. Wished that happened more often now.
Lloyd Jones has an ability to get to the heart of an emotion in an instant. Often Coetzee-like in its sparseness, The Book of Fame entranced from the start. I want a book to keep me up because 'one more page is not enough'. This is such a book. Spent several days exhausted for lack of sleep.
From a rugby standpoint, i didn't want long detailed reports of the matches. You don't get that. Having played the game (at a very low level), when you are in a match it passes in a blur and you are only aware of the broad strokes of a game and the instinctive responses your body is conditioned to react to. This book captures that perfectly.
Also, Wales beat the All Blacks on the rugby defining tour used as the backdrop for this story. Wished that happened more often now.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This little book ficticiously chronicles the early tour of the famous All Blacks (known as such due to a newspaper typo) to Britain in the early 20th century. It is an easy read and no doubt would interest all rugby union fans. The tour details fascinate and the fame the team rises to could not be paralleled in Britain today for any modern sporting icon(s). The narrator, one of the squad members, succeeds in revealing his, and the teams response to unrivalled attention and fame, showing how ordinary farming lads from New Zealand initially revel in but subsequently grow weary of, and eventually resent the god they have made of themselves.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having read Mister Pip, this book came as a disappointment. Half historical, half imagined, it tells of the first All Black's rugby tour of the world (mainly UK) in 1905/6. With only one defeat (to the Welsh), the tour was a huge success, with many quotes from glowing newspaper reports of the dazzling New Zealanders' play. The author relies on his imagination to fill in the personalities, thoughts and feelings of the players.
If you are a rugby expert you might gain more than I did - apart from the full-back overlapping on the wing there often seemed no better explanation of play than one player passing the ball to another and so on.... This is a shame because the book does convey a strong sense that the New Zealanders' style of play was a revolution and a revelation to the home sides.
But, going with the title, perhaps we are intended to look more on this as a study in fame. In that regard, it is interesting to note that the people of this country were as devoted to sport one hundred years ago as they are now, if not more so. En mass, they went to great lengths and great expense to see the games and, reassuringly, were happy to acknowledge the victors afterwards. This recognition left the players embarrassed and bemused - these farmers, a farrier, a shoemaker, etc. were not very media savvy! Indeed, with the whole squad consisting of 27 players, one coach and one manager; the contrast with the amount of support today's top sportsmen have is startling. At the end of the tour only about half of the team returned as a unit; injured players were left to recover more or less where they lay, relying mainly on other players remaining with them for comfort and support!
However glorious, the game statistics alone do not justify this book, nor sadly does the weak fleshing out of the characters involved. There isn't any story beyond the team moving from town to town and match to match. All of which is a shame given Jones's ability as a writer and a wonderful piece of sporting history.
If you are a rugby expert you might gain more than I did - apart from the full-back overlapping on the wing there often seemed no better explanation of play than one player passing the ball to another and so on.... This is a shame because the book does convey a strong sense that the New Zealanders' style of play was a revolution and a revelation to the home sides.
But, going with the title, perhaps we are intended to look more on this as a study in fame. In that regard, it is interesting to note that the people of this country were as devoted to sport one hundred years ago as they are now, if not more so. En mass, they went to great lengths and great expense to see the games and, reassuringly, were happy to acknowledge the victors afterwards. This recognition left the players embarrassed and bemused - these farmers, a farrier, a shoemaker, etc. were not very media savvy! Indeed, with the whole squad consisting of 27 players, one coach and one manager; the contrast with the amount of support today's top sportsmen have is startling. At the end of the tour only about half of the team returned as a unit; injured players were left to recover more or less where they lay, relying mainly on other players remaining with them for comfort and support!
However glorious, the game statistics alone do not justify this book, nor sadly does the weak fleshing out of the characters involved. There isn't any story beyond the team moving from town to town and match to match. All of which is a shame given Jones's ability as a writer and a wonderful piece of sporting history.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
great book
this is a fantastic book more of what you would expect of Lloyd Jones, he is a fantastic writer and makes every thing come alive... Read more
Published 15 months ago by rupert
Dreadful
I read this book because two of my friends really enjoyed it. I thought it sounded really interesting and absolutely love rugby. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Rebecca
the beginning
A story set around the tour to Europe. The beginning of fear for the All Black shirt.
Webbo
Webbo
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by Peter Webster
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