A classic tale of good against evil, John King's new novel pits nurse against consultant; a working-class woman against an upper-middle-class man. Ruby is a locally-born nurse, who enjoys life to the full, lives in the present and likes to find the best in everyone. For her, the hospital in which she works is society in microcosm: a chaotic, exciting landscape of work and play where everyone has a story to tell. For Mr Jeffries, the consultant, however, the patients he attends and the staff he has to deal with are all tarred with the same brush: an ignorant, lazy, drunken, violent, drug-crazed rabble. White trash. One of his main responsibilities is to allocate resources and cut down on expenditure; what he sees as streamlining is, in effect, a terrifying policy of social cleansing. Arrogant and elitist, Jeffries hankers after a class system that has gone - but that he wants re-established. When Joy becomes suspicious about the death of a patient, a clash between the two is, suddenly, inevitable. (20010730)
White Trash
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Author of the best books written about English culture since the war (Irvine Welsh 20020614)
King is a master of idiom and street slang. He speaks with a voice that appears to be the true expression of disaffected white British youth (The Times 20020614)
King is a master of idiom and street slang. He speaks with a voice that appears to be the true expression of disaffected white British youth (The Times 20020614)
Book Description
White Trash is a riveting story of class-hatred and murder set in a hospital in a satellite town in the south-east of England. (20010730)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
John King's 'Football Factory' trilogy kept me entertained during my summer holiday last year, his shotgun character-driven writing style taking me through the three novels before the first week of the holiday had elapsed. On the strength of these fond memories I purchased 'White Trash', and wasn't disappointed. His latest story introduces us first to Ruby, an eternally optimistic nurse who manages to see the good in everyone around her. Her sunny nature is in stark contrast to the novel's second major character, Mr Jeffries - an ostensibly decent-minded consultant at the hospital she works at, who hides within him a sense of morality far removed from Ruby's. 'White Trash' is predominantly a biting socio-political comment on social stereotyping, but with an all-powerful narrative, some incredibly vivid character portayal and insights into the human psyche that will make you smile in contentment one minute, and reel in horror the next. Sometimes shocking but always enthralling, 'White Trash' comes highly recommended.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is the fifth book of John King's that I have read. I would like to offer my personal thanks to the author as he has started me reading again. Like another reviewer mentioned - it's wonderful that fiction is not totally monopolised by the 'literary intelligentsia'. Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen maybe good, but when you're a working class 21st Century northern male it is rather difficult to relate to characters from another era (although no doubt the messages and symbols are universal, I hear you cry). John King, unusual, fast-paced, raw, believable characters, a knack for drawing you in and allowing you to observe, as if you are there. He just gets better - Football Factory (got me reading again, as powerful a book as when I first read Kes - A Kestrel for a Knave, by Barry Hines, twenty years ago), Headhunters - brilliant characters, England Away - okay, didn't enjoy this as much, but then it followed from his previous book whose characters and camraderie were so in-your-face with gripping plots and sub-plots. Read Human Punk in May - couldn't put it down. Read White Trash, last week - it made my holiday (also read Hoolifan by Martin King last week - are they brothers?). I knew whoever wrote Headhunters had a true 'ethnographer's' insight into football violence and male-bonding. You couldn't write this stuff if you hadn't actually been there!! White Trash - a kind of overall commentary on the state of the nation? Jonathan Jeffrey, viewing the state from his establishment point-of-view. Ruby, the nurse, interacting with characters representing different definitions of England - the HIV positive character, the merchant seaman, the pirate DJ, her own bleach-blonde up-for-it nursing colleagues. The point about John King's characters, for me, is that they are so believable.... Read more ›
19 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is the fifth book of John King's that I have read. I would like to offer my personal thanks to the author as he has started me reading again. Like another reviewer mentioned - it's wonderful that fiction is not totally monopolised by the 'literary intelligentsia'. Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen maybe good, but when you're a working class 21st Century northern male it is rather difficult to relate to characters from another era (although no doubt the messages and symbols are universal, I hear you cry). John King, unusual, fast-paced, raw, believable characters, a knack for drawing you in and allowing you to observe, as if you are there. He just gets better - Football Factory (got me reading again, as powerful a book as when I first read Kes - A Kestrel for a Knave, by Barry Hines, twenty years ago), Headhunters - brilliant characters, England Away - okay, didn't enjoy this as much, but then it followed from his previous book whose characters and camraderie were so in-your-face with gripping plots and sub-plots. Read Human Punk in May - couldn't put it down. Read White Trash, last week - it made my holiday (also read Hoolifan by Martin King last week - are they brothers?). I knew whoever wrote Headhunters had a true 'ethnographer's' insight into football violence and male-bonding. You couldn't write this stuff if you hadn't actually been there!! White Trash - a kind of overall commentary on the state of the nation? Jonathan Jeffrey, viewing the state from his establishment point-of-view. Ruby, the nurse, interacting with characters representing different definitions of England - the HIV positive character, the merchant seaman, the pirate DJ, her own bleach-blonde up-for-it nursing colleagues. The point about John King's characters, for me, is that they are so believable.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A very good read, the best one from King in a long time.
Some of the characters seem a bit under developed but that dosent take any thing away from the core story.
Highly recommended .
Some of the characters seem a bit under developed but that dosent take any thing away from the core story.
Highly recommended .
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
White Trash should be essential reading for politicians everywhere. Written before Harold Shipman was discovered, this book is a wake-up call as to the value of human life and the importance of the national health service. This is a political novel which brings to life the quote from Brave New World that introduces the book. It also comes highly recommended by none other than Alan Sillitoe. - Brilliant.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Very Dissapointing.
I loved King's "hooligan trilogy" (The Football Factory, Headhunters, and England Away) as well as his last book (Human Punk), but this is a subpar effort. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2005 by A. Ross
1.0 out of 5 stars
Put me out of my misery!!!!!!!!
Having read his other books, I was looking forward to reading this so much, and........... what an overly sentimental, contrived, predictable and drawn out piece of writing. Read more
Published on 10 Sep 2004 by R. Spooner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling Reading
White Trash is an unusual structure for a novel. Other than King's usual stylistically different content, it takes 270 pages for the story to actually begin in earnest. Read more
Published on 23 Mar 2004 by R. P. Sedgwick
1.0 out of 5 stars
The worst book that I have read for years
I bought this book as I had heard that King was master of authenticity. What I found was a book chock to the brim with the usual hackneyed stereotypes. Good nurse. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2002
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not his best
The Football Factory and Human Punk are modern day literary classics, this does not match up to them. Read more
Published on 22 Nov 2001 by A J. SHANKS
5.0 out of 5 stars
King proves that he is more than a one trick pony....
This is alomost a modern masterpiece - missing out only slightly because of one or two of the "set pieces " seem contrivened. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great rollercoaster read
White Trash offers the reader a rollercoaster ride through the emotions. This novel is happy, sad, frightening and, strangely, very reassuring. Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2001
2.0 out of 5 stars
An insight into the real life that we prefer not to see
Although King has developed very strong characters and demonstrated excellently how the open and narrow-minded think and interact, it is not until a few chapters from the end of... Read more
Published on 9 July 2001
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