- 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: 336,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
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
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First Sentence
Imagine! November the 15th, 1973. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Imagine! November the 15th, 1973. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format: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.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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
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
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
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 it... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2005 by Miss C E Kenny
"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
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
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
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
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
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