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2nd out of 5 books
—
3 voters
The Football Factory
by
John King
'Fever Pitch with testosterone and eight pints of lager. Like Fever Pitch, it is not exclusively a novel about football. This is a chronicle of a lost tribe - the white, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual who is fed up with being told he is crap. It is the story of a flight from fear by a group of Londoners who have seen the present and know it does not work-King writes powerfully...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
May 6th 2004
by Vintage
(first published 1996)
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Boring, pointless and long winded. If i wanted to hear about drunken chavs fighting each other i would look out my window. I couldn't finish the book as it was so boring. The characters were so bland, unmemorable and numerous that i couldn't remember who was who. It's leaps back and forth in time, but has no structure or defined characters. If i wrote this i would fill my pockets with stones and walk into a river.
This has as much intellectual prowess as a wet teatowel. It gives no insight into...more
This has as much intellectual prowess as a wet teatowel. It gives no insight into...more
As a football fan, travelling to away games there was a lot I could identify with. I'm not a hooligan, but I've seen plenty of the violence that takes place. The book captures the mood and atmosphere around games pretty well.
It isn't just a focus on the hooligans though, there is a lot of observational stuff about men in general and how they interact in different areas of life.
The writing is sharp and punchy, pun intended, and whilst some of the characters appear shallow, this merely reflects th...more
It isn't just a focus on the hooligans though, there is a lot of observational stuff about men in general and how they interact in different areas of life.
The writing is sharp and punchy, pun intended, and whilst some of the characters appear shallow, this merely reflects th...more
I'm a football fan, and have even been to some of the matches that the author invokes in this book, but to be honest, it's a side of football that has never appealed to me, and one which I've had little or no exposure to, other than on screen or on paper.
As such, it became a bit of a repetitive drone about a world I know little of, and which I do find quite abhorrent - it's been a blight on my time as a football fan.
I'd better give it a two though, in case I bump into the author at some stage in...more
As such, it became a bit of a repetitive drone about a world I know little of, and which I do find quite abhorrent - it's been a blight on my time as a football fan.
I'd better give it a two though, in case I bump into the author at some stage in...more
When I first read this it hit me like a punch in the mouth. The narrator is a hard core Chelsea hooligan, who walks the walk despite all the new security, cameras and everything else that gets in the way of his tribe. Someone who looks like a "wanker" in a pub? Drive his head into the sink down in the loo. The narrator tries to justify his mentality, juxtaposed against the bleakness of working class urban London. Not for the sqeaumish, non-soccer fans might want to take a pass as well. They migh...more
A hugely influential and thought-provoking book. Obviously written against the backdrop of the 17th February 1995 infamies at Lansdowne Road, when the Ireland v England game was abandoned due to hooliganism. King really tries to get inside the skin of a hooligan in much the way Donald McIntyre did for the BBC. "we're England. United. We'll never be defeated."
John Kingin esikoisteos "The Football Factory" kuvaa Chelsean "Headhunters" -ryhmän jäsenten ympärille rakentuvaa jalkapallohuliganismia autenttisen tuntuisesti, tapahtumia liiemmin moralisoimatta. Se on samalla matka englantilaisen työväenluokan melko pessimistiseen arkipäivään, johon tuovat valoa irtosuhteet, halpa lager ja lauantainen peli kannattajaryhmien välisine tappeluineen.
If I could do 2.5 stars I'd probably do that, but maybe I should have given it 3. I'm still a little undecided on this book. It was ok, but definitely not great. It is what it is, a book about mostly shallow football hooligans in the 90's with some of what creates the culture outside of football, like racism and classism etc. The jumping timeline for essentially unconnected characters felt pretty out of place, and don't know what to make of that either.
I think I'll recommend this book to some pe...more
I think I'll recommend this book to some pe...more
This is one of the more riveting books you will read due to its realistic portrayal of English culture, not just about their infatuation with soccer, but their everyday life. I read this book front to cover in two days, and was on the edge of my seat throughout.
There's nothing different about me. I'm just another bored male, approaching 30, in a dead-end job, who lives for the weekend. Casual sex, watered-down lager, heavily cut drugs. And occasionally kicking fuck out of someone.
Written at a time when it became vogue to describe the thuggish element of football such as those written by Dougie Brimstone.
It is a shallow read that on reflection is a metaphor for its time of lad culture.
It is a shallow read that on reflection is a metaphor for its time of lad culture.
Was bought this as a Christmas present. I had already seen the film, while enjoyable it was still relatively poor, the book was even worse.
ох и говно! и этот человек (John King) написал, что не может читать Уэльбека!
This book is the most authentic portrayal of the English working class I have ever read. I grew up in a working-class area of south east London and the author has evocatively captured many of the characteristics of the people I knew: the love of football, the drinking and drugs culture, the love of fighting, the hatred of the Old Bill, the homophobia, the racism, the classism, even down to the slang used.
Middle class people will recoil in horror at the violence and the vulgarity and shake their...more
Middle class people will recoil in horror at the violence and the vulgarity and shake their...more
Maybe it just was not a book for me. Couldn't quite get into it.
C'est un livre choc et des émotions à l'état brut. Les propos sont comme des coups de poings à chaque page et une fantastique énergie de révolte se dégage de ce roman. John King nous immerge totalement dans le monde de la violence qui entourait les terrains de foot anglais dans les années 90 et partage avec nous le quotidien des laissés-pour-compte d'une société profondément inégale. Splendide!
I really loved this one - it gives a great insight in the english football hooligan scene and in the life of the english working class society in the 90s. Also the language fits the story perfectly - it is sometimes brutal quite direct, but that is how the story is itself. If you're interested in football and the culture of football fans, i can absolutely recommend this to you.
Surprisingly good and with a lot more depth than the Danny Dyer film. It's almost like a British social history. Not as one-dimensional as you'd think.
Watched the film before reading this and thought the film was great, however I found the book boring and jumped about too much, gave up about 100 pages from the end as just couldn't get into it.
don't be fooled. It's not at all like the movie - it's better. Plus - who doesn't like football hooligans
If you afe not one of is, you Will never understand, but never the less try and read FF
Unrepentantly yobbish football novel. Kind of fun in a vicarious way.
May 13, 2013
Billy Wylie
marked it as to-read
May 15, 2013
Shaun Walton
is currently reading it
May 11, 2013
Minor
added it
May 11, 2013
AmmarMajali
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Batastrophe
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2013
Mike2941
marked it as to-read
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English author, who has written several novels on the nation's lad culture at home and abroad. His debut work of fiction, The Football Factory, was made into a controversial film, directed by Nick Love and starring Danny Dyer. He now owns and operates London Books, an imprint company reissuing classic novels. He is listed as a supporter of No to EU – Yes to Democracy.
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Jun 22, 2012 12:39pm