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The Kilburn Social Club Paperback – 6 Aug 2009

by
Robert Hudson (Author)
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Robert Hudson (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars 10 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Jonathan Cape (6 Aug. 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0224085840
  • ISBN-13: 978-0224085847
  • Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 3.7 x 23.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,747,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

"A terrific book, for all sorts of reasons... This is a fizzy, funny, fantastical first novel."
-- Robert MacFarlane

Review

‘Reminiscent in places of Iain Bank’s The Crow Road and Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up!, Hudson’s intricately plotted comedy works best at its broadest, satirising soccer’s greed’ - Financial Times, Adrian Turpin

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Customer Reviews

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Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsA Stan Bowles of a book?
By Slow Lorris on 25 Jun. 2010
Format: Paperback
Robert Hudson plays for the same cricket team in London as did Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland, before he left to live in New York. So it will be fascinating to compare their development as novelists. Hudson's is certainly the more interesting debut.

The Kilburn Social Club crackles with ideas and energy. Unusual story lines abound and you never quite know what's coming next when you turn the page. It may be a football novel but it's much more than a novel simply about football: the talking football has received most attention but, as the other reviews here show, the cast of characters and twisting plot can lead you in all sorts of strange directions.

In some ways it's a mazy dribble of a book, often going for long, entertaining runs across the pitch that peter out in slight anti climax near the corner flag. And there are several occasions when Hudson makes it into the box only for his final pass to perhaps let him down. But his first touch is often brilliant - and very funny - challenging you to keep up with him.

More than anything I thought the book needed a veteran midfield general to put his foot on the ball, slow the game down and sort out tactics. At times there is almost too much going on and some of the main characters might benefit from a little more colour and consideration. The result would be a less maverick book but one genuinely capable of winning literary prizes.

But there again, is that what you want from a debut novel? I'd much rather pay my money for something as entertaining and occasionally wayward as this than for a conventional story written to a long-standing, predictable formula. I suggest you buy it, laugh, and make up your own mind.
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5.0 out of 5 starsAddictive stuff: intelligent and highly readable
By Z. Norgate on 28 Aug. 2009
Format: Paperback
This is a really good read, with a truly original story line. The Kilburn Social Club at the centre of the book is as much an intriguing social experiment as a football club. With players ranging from gay South African freedom fighters to university lecturers and opera singers, all of whom receive an equal wage and are obliged to undertake anonymous charity work alongside their training, this is not your average football team.

Like the previous reviewer, I am no football fan, but was quickly drawn in by the quirky but believable characters, Hudson's subtle brand of wit and the twists and turns of the plot. This book is unusual in being both intelligent and highly readable, and I think will appeal to both a male and female audience. Although providing an interesting and humourous take on premiership football that will appeal to the sporting-literate, this is primarily a human interest story with a gripping plot. I found myself prising my eyes open in the early hours, unable to put it down. Accomplished stuff for a first novel, and I will definitely be back for more.
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Kilburn Social Club
By Leyla Sanai on 5 Aug. 2009
Format: Paperback
The Kilburn Social Club - Robert Hudson

A book to unite football fans and fiction lovers seems such an obviously winning formula that after reading this novel, it's easy to wonder, with hindsight, why such a sparky combination hasn't been tried before.

The freshness and vitality of Robert Hudson'sdebut, published on 6th August 2009 by Jonathan Cape, is testament to the originality of the idea. This is a sparkling novel combining humour, thrills and intrigue, and is my top debut of 2009 so far. If the idea of ER transposed to the Premier League appeals to you, buy this book.

The action takes place in an alternative North London in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries. The Kilburn Social Club, founded in 1881, consists of a football team known archaically as The Socialists (because of the club rules on equal pay) together with social facilities such as hospitals and care homes that are financed by the same source. This source is the Rosslare Group, a conglomerate of businesses operating under ethical rules of generous pensions and worker protection schemes. In 1993, Manus Rosslare holds the reins - it was an ancestor of his that founded the group.

Manus and everyone involved with the Socialists pride themselves on the ways in which their football team differs from the norm. As well as equal pay for all players, there is no advertising at the team's home ground or on their shirts and no big business sponsorship of the players . In addition, the Socialists have traditionally been encouraged to develop themselves in other ways - several of the players have degrees, for example.

At the beginning of the book, Manus dies, and the Rosslare empire is inherited by the older of his two daughters, Aisling.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsMy lazy beach holiday book
By Mee on 13 July 2011
Format: Paperback
After a decade of self help book over dosing, I have spent the last 10 years dedicating home study to flicking through text books in an attempt to expand my general intellectual conversation at dinner parties. I very rarely read a novel or get a chance to, in fact one of the last authors I enjoyed was Robert Rankin (Brentford trilogy etc). This Robert had my attention captured as well! I do not own a television and am not privy to series, but if I did I would imagine comparing the book to "The footballers wives" perhaps, (ignorant guess). Indeed The KIlburn Social Club could easily become a TV series, written in a quick chapters, easy to digest, skipping episodes, it amazed me that I could actually hold so many personalities in my head at once. Interestingly the way i found myself empathising with certain characters at the beginning to completely change my opinion, finding myself cringing for them toward the end. So many social, cultural and class backgrounds, with a variety of persona, I would assume that there would be a character to relate to for every reader. The sphericity of life, I look forward to that after dinner conversation some day.

I have given a generous 5 stars because I was delighted to not be disappointed in my choice of a holiday book and was thoroughly impressed that a novel about football, could also keep the female reader satiated with a touch of, romance, emotional turmoil and all the other things that feed the soul.

Well done amazing achievement for a first book, I am assuming another one is being masterfully worked on? I have recommended this read to my nearest and dearest.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFinished it on Sunday. Can't stop thinking about it.

Everything I see that has something vaguely to do with the book has reminded me of it! This book inspires passion in anyone who loves football and/or people. Read more

Published on 22 Jan. 2013 by vieira4
1.0 out of 5 starsDull, insipid, repetitious

I bought this book based on a review in The Sunday Times, normally a reasonably good for source for reading material. Read more

Published on 20 Oct. 2010 by Cavarodossi
4.0 out of 5 starsA novel of two halves

The premise of 'The Kilburn Social Club' as described in the blurb and by other reviews I read in the media, are somewhat misleading. Read more

Published on 16 Aug. 2010 by Quicksilver
5.0 out of 5 starsA big-hearted, twinkly-eyed story teller

Is The Kilburn Social Club really a book about football? I think different readers will have different opinions - and actually, I wonder what Hudson would say himself. Read more

Published on 2 Nov. 2009 by Sally
5.0 out of 5 starsLoved it

Hardly ever write reviews but motivated by the brainless 2-star review above. When you get around to reading the book (and you really should), if you can say with a straight face... Read more

Published on 25 Sept. 2009 by Hoopla
2.0 out of 5 starsA story lacking any heritage.......

The Kilburn Social Club (KSC) is a Premier League football team with heritage. Built an run using the money from the Rosslare Group, a conglomerate of questionable origin, the... Read more

Published on 13 Sept. 2009 by A. Barlow

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