Customer Reviews

The Amateurs

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Don't read this book in a library or like i did on a plane. I can't remember the last time i laughed so hard, the poor girl sitting next to me wondered what the hell was going on. With tears streaming from my eyes i had to close the book and finish it in the comfort of my own home. If you are Scottish, like me, and a bad golfer, like me, then this is the book you've been waiting all your life for. Like Irvine Welsh at his best Niven writes about the "dark side" in a hilarious fashion. The seventeenth hole on the last day of the Open Championship will stay with me for the rest of my life. My jaws are still aching. BUY THIS BOOK. Brilliant.

I'm 42, female & I don't like golf or even begin to understand it however, that did not detract from my enjoyment of this book in the slightest. This book is 'laugh out loud' funny. Ok, maybe a bit crude for some (I wouldn't let my 80 year old mother read it) - but still funny crude. It's also very sharply written & the characters are brilliantly observed. 'The Amateurs' is about a hell of a lot more than golf so don't let this put you off! Overall I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable read which had me in stitches throughout.

Quite unlike Kill Your Friends (Niven's scabrous debut about the music biz, a deliciously entertaining page-turner), The Amateurs is still an immensely lively read about a golf-obsessed amateur who miraculously makes it into the Open final. Highly recommended.

Loved Niven's Killl your friends. This somehow seems to be slightly below par in writing style, plot and character development. I felt some of the ''punchlines'' rather infantile - and the whole Tourette's syndrome plot very insensitive and annoying at times. I would struggle to recommend this - but in the same instance must confess that it was a fun read.

I bought this book after reading and thoroughly enjoying 'Kill Your Friends'.

I think the author is definitely trying to find a different style to his previous work. Sure there is some vulgarity, some parts are mildly offensive, but overall, it's quite dumbed down.

The author does a good job of building characters which are easy to identify with. However, I think there are problems with the flow - it's not really a page turner, and not exactly the type of book where you're on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what happens next.

Overall, this book is enjoyable, but also rather forgettable. Anyone hoping for something on a par with, or in a similar style to, 'Kill Your Friends' should look elsewhere.

I was recommended this book by another golfer and was initially sceptical that it might be some boring golf related guff, It is not! I thoroughly enjoyed the whole book from the initial postman/wanking incident to the final days of the Open. The Ayrshire-ism are spot-on and the way the characters interact is great.

Top read.

John Niven is simply brilliant. This book was so funny I could not stop giggling and reading....like all his books pretty much

A hilarious read from John Niven. Not for people who can't deal with some truly outrageous swearing but has some moments which physically reduced me to tears of laughter! I had a Scottish grandfather so I can here some of the great accents in my head and Mr. Niven truly brings the golf world to life.

Hilarious laugh out loud contemporary Scottish fiction. A non-golfing friend recommended this to me, a keen golfer. It's absolutely filthy in places and definitely not one for you high-handicapped granny but I absolutely loved it. Hailing as I do from the golfing mecca of ayrshire, the bastardisation of many local spots added an extra layer of humour. I've given/recommended this book to so many people and not one of them has a bad word to say. The Amateurs does for golf and Ayrshire what Trainspotting did for drugs and Edinburgh and Paradise Road for football and Glasgow.

This was the first John Niven book I had read. Oh boy! What a treat!! As a golfer I loved the story line though it might not have the same impact if you have no interest in the game. The characters are wonderful and the sub-plots are superbly funny. I've already bought and read another of his books and I can't wait to read them all. He is yet another talented Scottish writer. How do they manage to keep producing them?