At a time when people are looking back on the 1970s with nostalgia, Jonathan Coe's The Rotters' Club is a timely reminder of how ghastly tha...
read full description
reviews
Mar 24, 2008
Taylor
rated it: 
Much to my delight, this held up very strong on the second read. Before I re-read it, I browsed through some of the reviews others had written on this site, and it made me nervous - maybe I just loved this book so much because I was young and it's about youth, so I just connected to it out of a common vim and vigor.
Not the case.
Not only did I love it the second time around, I think I liked it even more.
As much as I don't like to compare authors so much, I can' More...
Not the case.
Not only did I love it the second time around, I think I liked it even more.
As much as I don't like to compare authors so much, I can' More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Apr 08, 2008
Tom
rated it: 
A glimpse into the decade in which I was born but never knew.
Whether teenage to adult, prog rock to punk, Labour to Tory, racist to tolerant or loner to lover this is a sometimes unnecessarily repulsive but often hilarious story of a group of teenagers and a nation growing up and changing - for better or worse.
Some reviewers complained of being bogged down by too many characters and interweaving stories but I didn't find this confusing or offputting at all.
An More...
Whether teenage to adult, prog rock to punk, Labour to Tory, racist to tolerant or loner to lover this is a sometimes unnecessarily repulsive but often hilarious story of a group of teenagers and a nation growing up and changing - for better or worse.
Some reviewers complained of being bogged down by too many characters and interweaving stories but I didn't find this confusing or offputting at all.
An More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 02, 2011
E' proprio vero: La banda dei Brocchi ha fatto per gli anni Settanta ciò che La famiglia Winshaw aveva fatto per gli anni Ottanta: un ricchissimo spaccato di società e vita inglese durante un decennio complesso, tra gusti musicali che cambiano, alternarsi di governi e l'inevitabile crescita degli adolescenti.
Se, però, il primo è un romanzo più orientato verso la critica sociale, con la creazione di tipi particolari dell'establishment inglese, La banda dei brocchi è molto più poetico e raffinato, More...
Se, però, il primo è un romanzo più orientato verso la critica sociale, con la creazione di tipi particolari dell'establishment inglese, La banda dei brocchi è molto più poetico e raffinato, More...
Oct 15, 2011
Mario
rated it:
The Rotters Club offers an interesting story of teenage life in Britain in the mid seventies with strikes, the IRA, Thatcher and even a wee bit of punkrock as the background setting. While the main protagonist is Benjamin Rotter, different storylines from his friends and relatives make up an integral part of the story as well. Coe uses a mix of writing styles, from narrative to interviews, letters, reviews and even a fair portion of stream of consciousness (that one was the hardest to swallow).
More...
Jul 29, 2011
Elsa
rated it:
Back in the 70's, a british way of life !
Ce commentaire fait référence à cette édition : Bienvenue au club (Poche)
L'auteur a su saisir à travers ses personnages toute une époque, celle d'une jeunesse dorée qui ne rève que de sexe et de rock, celle de leurs parents dignes héritiers d'une Angleterre traditionnelle déjà confrontés à la montée des tensions sociales et du tatchérisme... Chaque personnage possède son propre univers (jeune poète, potache de mauvais goût, midinette...), More...
Ce commentaire fait référence à cette édition : Bienvenue au club (Poche)
L'auteur a su saisir à travers ses personnages toute une époque, celle d'une jeunesse dorée qui ne rève que de sexe et de rock, celle de leurs parents dignes héritiers d'une Angleterre traditionnelle déjà confrontés à la montée des tensions sociales et du tatchérisme... Chaque personnage possède son propre univers (jeune poète, potache de mauvais goût, midinette...), More...
May 15, 2011
Justin
rated it:
This gave me almost everything I want. What do I want from a novel? I want it funny but sincere; hard-nosed but sentimental; readable but formally interesting; restrained but also balls to the wall. Ideally it'll be concerned with social events while grounding them in personal lives.
RC isn't laugh out loud funny, but it's pretty funny. I felt a bit bad laughing at people who get excited at the culinary possibilities of sour cream and sometimes Coe takes too many cheap shots of the 'boy the More...
RC isn't laugh out loud funny, but it's pretty funny. I felt a bit bad laughing at people who get excited at the culinary possibilities of sour cream and sometimes Coe takes too many cheap shots of the 'boy the More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Dec 25, 2010
Jim
rated it:
This reminded me of "The Secret Lemonade Drinker", but this book had greater depth (or is that true, when Bellamy's novel has stuck in my memory for such a long time?) A novel like this just usually doesn't appeal to me, and normally I'd be asking "What's the point?" by page five. "What's the point" of creating vaguely comic fiction over vaguely interesting characters set in a vaguely interesting time? But the novel drew me in with its easy style, likeable character
More...
May 02, 2010
Paul
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Oct 03, 2010
Justin
rated it: 
What a delightful suprise. I found a copy of The Rotter's Club in our prop room at work and was just interested enough to decide to give it a read. Coe has woven a rich and complex narrative around several characters who are tied together by their residency in Birmingham, England in the early 70's. Coe is devilishly subtle with his storytelling and characterization. He captures very real, human moments like a snapshot from a Polaroid, slow to develop and bearing a rich hue when they do. Coe
More...
Nov 19, 2009
Caitlinstuart07
rated it:
This was a really interesting book, told from the perspective of several characters in the 1970's culture clash in Britain. The characters are rich, engaging, and amusing. Several historical events are immersed in the culture of the book, from the rise of Punk rock to union strikes to IRA bombings to disputes between the Labour party and the Tories. This is a time period that I am not well educated on but it felt like it came alive through the eyes of Ben, Philip, and Doug. Ben's father is also
More...
Jul 28, 2011
Derek
rated it:
I absolutely loved this, the best novel I've read for many months. It's screamingly funny sometimes, for example the chapter where Sam and Barbra keep exchanging the dictionary, but also very poignant indeed at several points, not least the appalling shock at the end of the first part of the book. The story is cleverly told using first/third person narrative, letters, diaries, newsletter articles, all carried off with great skill and style. The breathless single sentence section very near the en
More...
Feb 26, 2011
Jane
rated it:
A very well written, witty novel. Set in Birmingham in the 70's in the midst of industrial action, IRA bombings, a political time and later on the punk rock era. The story is set in a boy's grammar school very much like the one my husband attended on the other side of Birmingham. Viewed by labour voters, socialists and communists as elite, only attainable by an entrance exam. You feel the competitiveness to achieve in academic studies and sports. It is very easy to imagine school bullies lo
More...
May 27, 2010
Margie
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 22, 2011
Paula
rated it:
I guess I'm kind of a sucker for books set in England. I just love to visit there in my imagination. And this book was particularly interesting to me not only because I am roughly the age of the characters, but also because I learned so much about Britain in the 70's. Did you know that Eric Clapton once went on a racist rant at one of his concerts in England in the mid-70's? I had never heard that. I also didn't know that there were so many strikes and so much labor unrest at that time. Bu
More...
Jun 23, 2011
Sam
rated it:
This book was really unexpected; having never lived through the 70's (too youthful), i thought i would find the politics (and there is a fair chunky bit of politics) would breeze over me and i simply wouldn't comprehend any of it. This was not the case, on the contrary i found it to be most illuminating, and from what i can gather, it seems to be a fairly good representation of the applied politics of the time. So Coe did something great, took a scenaro that not everyone knows about, or has live
More...
Oct 06, 2009
Anna
rated it:
The jacket played this novel up as comedic and hysterically funny, and although that's not entirely false, it skewed my attitude going in and possibly made me like the book less. I kept expecting to laugh, and I didn't. Not even once. The story is just as sad and nostalgic as it is funny. That's not a bad thing, but it did seem a little conflicted in tone throughout. I also hated the obviously set up to be made into a movie structure of the story, and the fact that it ends entirely without resol
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 27, 2011
Tancredi
rated it:
Istintivamente ci voltammo tutti verso la finestra e guardammo fuori, verso la spiaggia, e adesso quando ripenso a quel pomeriggio il mio ricordo più nitido è la luce che vedemmo, quel cielo da pittori, grigioazzurro come gli occhi di Marie e dei suoi nipoti, il colore di un dolore che non se ne andrà mai.
E' proprio vero: La banda dei Brocchi ha fatto per gli anni Settanta ciò che La famiglia Winshaw aveva fatto per gli anni Ottanta: un ricchissimo spaccato di società e vita inglese More...
E' proprio vero: La banda dei Brocchi ha fatto per gli anni Settanta ciò che La famiglia Winshaw aveva fatto per gli anni Ottanta: un ricchissimo spaccato di società e vita inglese More...
May 09, 2010
Vi
rated it:
Coe is the rarest of autors who can seamlessly straddle between mainstream appeal and creative genius. There's enough symbolism and metaphors to keep those who like to dissassemble their novels to gather meaning yet these symbols and metaphors never overshadow the main story, much to the content for those who don't care for such symbolism.
From the characterisations to the very way in which Coe controls his prose (and breaks the rules of conventional grammar in what is the most moving se More...
From the characterisations to the very way in which Coe controls his prose (and breaks the rules of conventional grammar in what is the most moving se More...
Feb 21, 2010
Adam
rated it:
Words can't really descibe how much I love this book. The late 70's is a time I always hear of and I'm always envious of people who have experienced it. This book captures what I imagine it to have been like perfectly, whether it be through the death of prog rock by punk or showing the chaos the IRA bombing caused. This is a superb coming of age novel and it makes 1970's Britain seem like a different planet.
It's also hilarious and pre dates any of the skins/inbetweeners idea.
In More...
It's also hilarious and pre dates any of the skins/inbetweeners idea.
In More...
Feb 28, 2011
Joe
rated it:
A work colleague lent me this book as he knows I like reading and because he'd enjoyed it. We're a similar age and were both teenagers in the seventies, like the characters in the book. It took me a while to get into, but eventually I did and ultimately enjoyed the book. It's set in a time of battles between unions and employers, with the kids and the parents taking their sides in the struggle. There are quite a few characters (young and older) with their own stories to tell, all of which cross
More...
Jan 20, 2011
_incubus
rated it:
dilemmaaaa *-*
a tratti vorrei mettere le stelline piene a tratti no... non lo so.. la sorte deciderà... ok ha deciso per le quattro.. il fato è irremovibile *-*
però bello.. e particolare.. è stato strano è come se ci fossero tanti libri all'interno dello stesso, non tanti racconti.. proprio tanti libri diversi
però no dai stelline piene sisi.. mi dispiace Fato ma mi tocca darti torto
oppure no @.@
ok ora lascio così.. sarò irremovibilmente decisa
è troppo faticoso vivere nell'incertezza °-°
cmq.. boh More...
a tratti vorrei mettere le stelline piene a tratti no... non lo so.. la sorte deciderà... ok ha deciso per le quattro.. il fato è irremovibile *-*
però bello.. e particolare.. è stato strano è come se ci fossero tanti libri all'interno dello stesso, non tanti racconti.. proprio tanti libri diversi
però no dai stelline piene sisi.. mi dispiace Fato ma mi tocca darti torto
oppure no @.@
ok ora lascio così.. sarò irremovibilmente decisa
è troppo faticoso vivere nell'incertezza °-°
cmq.. boh More...
Nov 06, 2009
Meg
rated it:
Because it wasn't what I was expecting, I suspected I liked it less than I might have. The last third of the book really moves and gets into more of the politics, the tumult, and the culture of the 70s. By the time I got there, I was hooked. I think it was the book jacket that misled me a bit.
Some readers might be disappointed by the lack of resolution of some of the storylines, but I liked that not everything wrapped up in a neat package. The times called for something messier and More...
Some readers might be disappointed by the lack of resolution of some of the storylines, but I liked that not everything wrapped up in a neat package. The times called for something messier and More...
Jan 13, 2011
This is a great read, very warm, moving and funny. The different perspectives of life in the 70's are believably written and so compelling they make it hard to put the book down. Some people have complained that the number of characters involved make this hard to follow but I have to say I didn't find that. There are a lot of characters and sometimes a seemingly minor character that you've forgotten about will have a large part at some later point but I don't think that made it hard to follow at
More...
Feb 07, 2010
Hannah
rated it:
A book has never made me laugh as hard or long as this one, many times but in particular when I read about the "HIC HAEC HOC" motto. I'm seriously considering to ingrave that above my door, if I ever own a house. It'd make me laugh every day (thus significantly increasing life quality), and maybe I could strike up a friendship with fellow J. Coe-readers who recognize it? I hope so!
And yes, you really do care about the characters. On top of being incredibly funny it really is very More...
And yes, you really do care about the characters. On top of being incredibly funny it really is very More...
Dec 06, 2010
Trashpalace
rated it:
Questo libro è una macchina del tempo che ti trasporta nell'Inghilterra degli anni '70 e ti ci abbandona.
Alle vicende personali dei protagonisti fanno sfondo gli avvenimenti cruciali di quel periodo: le lotte operaie, il punk rock, il terrorismo, l'immigrazione...
Un'atmosfera in cui ci si immerge e che ben presto diventa familiare. Persino a chi, come me, ha vissuto l'adolescenza nel decennio successivo e in un Paese diverso.
Fantastico Coe, pregusto già la lettura del seguito, ambientato negli More...
Alle vicende personali dei protagonisti fanno sfondo gli avvenimenti cruciali di quel periodo: le lotte operaie, il punk rock, il terrorismo, l'immigrazione...
Un'atmosfera in cui ci si immerge e che ben presto diventa familiare. Persino a chi, come me, ha vissuto l'adolescenza nel decennio successivo e in un Paese diverso.
Fantastico Coe, pregusto già la lettura del seguito, ambientato negli More...
Dec 01, 2011
Maddalena
rated it:
A friend told me to read this book, for it was her favourite one, and then she gave it to me as a gift on my birthday.
I started reading it for her, but trying to keep my head clear from prejudice and expectations; by the time I reached page 50, I was reading it only for myself, and I couldn't put it down.
It's a good glimpse of Britain in the late 70s, and every character is amazingly complex and usually likeable; it's easy to read in a good way, and I'd like to read it again, possibly More...
I started reading it for her, but trying to keep my head clear from prejudice and expectations; by the time I reached page 50, I was reading it only for myself, and I couldn't put it down.
It's a good glimpse of Britain in the late 70s, and every character is amazingly complex and usually likeable; it's easy to read in a good way, and I'd like to read it again, possibly More...
Feb 01, 2011
The story of a mess of school chums in 1970s Birmingham England. There were many threads of stories to keep it interesting but ultimately there was something unsatisfying about the writing. Perhaps it was so caught up in high school issues that it felt like juvenile literature despite the presence of adults and political themes. It just never went deep enough for me. I didn't learn anything new about human nature for example. A disjointed but easy read. I thought the stream of conciousnes
More...
Mar 01, 2011
Colleen
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 21, 2010
Susan
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Feb 27, 2009
Djrmel
rated it:
A funny, sad, romantic, historical, and always entertaining coming of age novel about the lives of four young men in 1970's Birmingham England. As an American, I'm sure I'm missing some of the major story line about labour and some of the minor pop culture points, but I understood enough to know that the characters are complicated and interesting and very, very human. I was glad to know there's a sequel, because when this book ended I wasn't ready to say good bye to these guys or their families
More...
