- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (7 Mar 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099284669
- ISBN-13: 978-0099284666
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 333,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"Life-affirming, hilarious... As true as Roddy Doyle."---"GQ
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"A study of loyalty, love and friendship --often grimly amusing and sometimes very, very funny."--"Independent on Sunday"
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"A study of loyalty, love and friendship --often grimly amusing and sometimes very, very funny."--"Independent on Sunday"
Daily Telegraph
‘Roddy Doyle meets the Angel of the North in an engrossing tale’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Make no mistake, this is a brilliant novel. And while most people seem to want to compare it to one of Roddy Doyle's Barrytown works, it more properly belongs alongside Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. Like Welsh's breakthrough book, conversations are transcribed in local dialect and slang (the Geordie of Newcastle), once you get the rhythm of it, it's lovely. And as in Trainspotting, Tulloch is interested in humanizing the inhabitants of modern Britain's slums and ghettos-here through Gerry and Sewell, two teenage boys living in Gateshead. They play truant from school, wandering aimlessly, joyriding and thieving until they give voice their dream: to save up enough money to buy season tickets for Newcastle United. From that point on, all their half-baked scams and grafting are focused on attaining that prize. In the background is Gerry's impoverished family life: his mother slowly dying, a sister missing on the streets, a baby nephew and grandmother who need caring for, repo men coming for the TV, not enough money for sugar, and always lurking in the shadows, an abusive and alcoholic father who they all must hide from. Rescuing this from being a simple portrait of poverty is the loyal friendship between crafty Gerry and large but slow dog-loving Sewell (bringing to mind Of Mice and Men). The two are minor criminals, but it's hard not to keep rooting for them, even when one of their schemes goes nastily awry. To be fair to the comparisons to Roddy Doyle, Tulloch's narrative is more linear, he doesn't engage in the kind of phantasmigorical pyrotechnics Welsh does, not is it as formless as Trainspotting. Rather, the book is a masterpiece of bittersweet minimalist observation. If Alan Sillitoe had been born 35 years later, this is a book he might have written. Oh yes, and if anyone thinks the portrayal of Gateshead is overwrough, read Danziger's Britain, and prepare to be depressed about the state of modern Britain.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book refreshing, combining a real humour and serious social comment ('observations' might be a better word because there is no preaching of any kind). Jonathan tells his story consistently well. He has caught the atmosphere of the place and the beat of the young people very well. There are some memorably funny moments - I particularly like the way Jonathan has conveyed the crazy humour of the people. I don't want to give any example because the humour is built-up so well, any attempt of mine to explain what made me laugh probably wouldn't succeed. I don't remember reading any book that approached the subject quite like this one does. A good example of this is the way Jonathan uses the presence of nature to create the atmosphere - from the water widening over the tidal mud in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead to getting lost in one of England's biggest forests while on a mission to Kevin Keegan... Jonathan tells a story, and the facts of the story speak for themselves, like the inability of some fans to afford tickets and the difficult family situations that some have to live in. Here the novel is quite bleak. I don't think any novel is 100% true to life, but I for one saw the truth in this book and it made me think, and that's probably a good thing. I look forward to seeing the film.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Richard Selfridge's unbelievably wrong-minded review has held sway for too long. However, I must declare an interest: I am Jonathan Tulloch's literary agent. Rather than tell you how impressed I am with Jonathan's stunning literary debut I thought it would be helpful to read what other reviewers have thought if it: "If John Steinbeck had been born in Tynside he would proably have wirtten a book with the same two characters created by Jonathan ... a Geordie version of OF MICE AND MEN" - Glasgow Herald "As funny as Viz, as true as Roddy Doyle" - GQ "THE SEASON TICKET ... is a tender book, a KES for our time, which carefully measures out its humour and its sympathy." - The Times "THE SEASON TICKET is a study of loyalty, love and friendship ... often grimly amusing and sometimes very, very funny" The Independent on Sunday Anyone interested in what is broadly called the human condition should read the book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Top Read!
Fantastic book. Read it because I watched the DVD 'Purely Belter'. As usual its far superior to the film. Funny and sad at the same time. Highly recommneded.
Published 14 months ago by AndyM
Grim Gateshead
MAKE NO MISTAKE, this is a brilliant novel. And while most people seem to want to compare it to one of Roddy Doyle's Barrytown works, it more properly belongs alongside Irvine... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2002 by A. Ross
It's grim up north
This is an ultimately depressing book which somehow manages to find amusement in a very dour look at life in Newcastle. Read more
Published on 16 July 2002 by neil morris
A suburb story of friendship, hardship and the love of footy
This is one of the best books i have read for a while. The Author using a mixture of Decription, Diolog and plot to create a suburb account of the lifestyles of the poor in... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2001
Zooming in on 'invisibles'
Gerry and Sewell are hell bent on getting a season ticket. To go and watch 'The Lads' (Newcastle United) play is the dream which will lift them from the mundanity of the... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2000
Gateshead in the eyes of two local boys struggling to dream.
This book shows you the depressing truth of teenagers stuck in a no-win adult world facing the horrors of alcoholism, abuse, poverty and yet still hanging onto childish dreams. Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2000
'amusingly bleak' would say it, i suppose.
Having been taught both English and Drama by Mr. Tulloch i was looking forward to see what sort of novel he would produce, and 'The Season Ticket' was somewhat unexpected. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2000
Football: generation zero - the unlikely lads strike it poor
Tulloch's The Season Ticket is a classic first novel. Funny, warm and casting a benevelant eye over the wastelands of Gateshead, it goes deep into the heart of modern day poverty... Read more
Published on 29 Feb 2000
It's Unbelievably Grim Up North
Two young lads trawl about in Gateshead on the south bank of the Tyne. Their lives are meaningless untill they decide, whilst burgling one of their teachers' houses, that meaning... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2000
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