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Fan
In 1989, eighteen-year-old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest up and down the country and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. His blossoming relationship with girlfriend Jen is his only other respite. In 2004 he spends his days teaching in a southern secondary school while delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the worst sporting disaster in British history, this book glides between 1989 and 2004, when the true impact of this tragic day becomes evident. Fan is a book about personal and collective tragedy. It’s about growing up and not growing up, about manhood and about what makes a man, and about football’s role in reflecting a society never more than a brick’s throw away from shattering point. Dark, haunting and deeply personal, Danny Rhodes’ heart-felt novel explodes with gut-wrenching emotion and exposes how disaster can not only affect a life, but change its course forever. Danny Rhodes was at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989. #The96
300 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
April 8, 2014
Thank you to Arcadia and the author for the review copy.
In 1989, eighteen-year-old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest up and down the country and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. His blossoming relationship with girlfriend Jen is his only other respite. In 2004 he spends his days teaching in a southern secondary school while delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the worst sporting disaster in British history, this book glides between 1989 and 2004, when the true impact of this tragic day becomes evident.
An amazing read. This is the first thing that definitely needs saying. Without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read for impassioned impact, beauty of writing, absolute authenticity and pure emotional resonance.
This is not a book about Football, although the game is at the heart of it. Don’t make the mistake of putting this aside because you think that is all you will get. This is a book about the heart and soul of a person, within a community, around family and how one incident, horrific, unimaginable, can change everything you thought you were or knew.
Hillsborough. The 96. 15th April 1989. This date, those phrases, they are imbedded in the heart of the UK. I remember it. I was young, I watched events unfold in the media, I have peripherally watched over the years as the legal cases unfold and the families desperately search for the whole truth. It is dreadful, unbelievable, heart wrenching and still unfinished. This book, this story, fiction perhaps but still absolute truth, will get you like a shot through the heart. Never before have I read a novel that elicited as much emotion in me as this one did, or one that told me absolutely, the genuine impact that day had on so many lives. Not just those who lost, those who were injured, those who were caught up right at the heart of it. But those who watched, unable to stop it, unable to prevent even one part of it. Absolutely brilliant writing. Stunning.
What else is there to say? I can’t tell you much of John’s story that would defeat the object. You must read it for yourself. Don’t hesitate. Danny Rhodes has created something here that I’m sure was an emotional journey for him, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it might have been. Some writers just put life right there on the page. Mr Rhodes is one of them.
As Highly Recommended as Matt Haig’s The Humans. Anyone who follows my reviews will know exactly what that means. You won’t read a book quite like it again.
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstone...
In 1989, eighteen-year-old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest up and down the country and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. His blossoming relationship with girlfriend Jen is his only other respite. In 2004 he spends his days teaching in a southern secondary school while delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the worst sporting disaster in British history, this book glides between 1989 and 2004, when the true impact of this tragic day becomes evident.
An amazing read. This is the first thing that definitely needs saying. Without a doubt one of the best books I have ever read for impassioned impact, beauty of writing, absolute authenticity and pure emotional resonance.
This is not a book about Football, although the game is at the heart of it. Don’t make the mistake of putting this aside because you think that is all you will get. This is a book about the heart and soul of a person, within a community, around family and how one incident, horrific, unimaginable, can change everything you thought you were or knew.
Hillsborough. The 96. 15th April 1989. This date, those phrases, they are imbedded in the heart of the UK. I remember it. I was young, I watched events unfold in the media, I have peripherally watched over the years as the legal cases unfold and the families desperately search for the whole truth. It is dreadful, unbelievable, heart wrenching and still unfinished. This book, this story, fiction perhaps but still absolute truth, will get you like a shot through the heart. Never before have I read a novel that elicited as much emotion in me as this one did, or one that told me absolutely, the genuine impact that day had on so many lives. Not just those who lost, those who were injured, those who were caught up right at the heart of it. But those who watched, unable to stop it, unable to prevent even one part of it. Absolutely brilliant writing. Stunning.
What else is there to say? I can’t tell you much of John’s story that would defeat the object. You must read it for yourself. Don’t hesitate. Danny Rhodes has created something here that I’m sure was an emotional journey for him, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard it might have been. Some writers just put life right there on the page. Mr Rhodes is one of them.
As Highly Recommended as Matt Haig’s The Humans. Anyone who follows my reviews will know exactly what that means. You won’t read a book quite like it again.
http://www.waterstones.com/waterstone...
October 6, 2017
This is a real must read for any football fan who grew up in the 1980's - particularly close to home for me as I went to loads of games then albeit in Scotland rather than England (still do but only home ones these days) and Forest were always my favourite English team. It really should have many more ratings than it does but I'm not going to give it 5 stars as it was just too realistic and felt like an autobiography rather than a novel at times (the author was there at the Hillsborough disaster) so it was just about the most depressing book that I have ever read.
May 31, 2014
Fan – So Close to home.
As I sit here thinking about how I can do justice to this semi-autobiographic novel Fan by Danny Rhodes a lot of old memories have come flooding back some pleasant some not so pleasant. This novel is really in two halves, pre-Hillsborough and post-Hillsborough and Rhodes uses the persona of John Finch teenage fan who lived for following Nottingham Forest home and away but who was at Hillsborough on that fateful day in April 1989 when 96 people died and was a witness to what unfolded that day.
As I sit here 25 years later writing this review just up the M56, twenty minutes or so drive from my house in Manchester those 96 football fans coroner’s inquest is happening. This very week there was mention of a similar scene that happened in 1981 between Spurs and Wolves and the injuries that day at the inquest I read a passage about that in Fan too.
Fan resonated with me in many ways in that I was a teen in the 80s in what is often referred to as the dark days of football and Thatcher. Like Finch I travelled and stood in grounds home and away on terraces that were not fit for purpose and that was just at my teams ground at Maine Road. The stories we could all tell about away days in Yorkshire with the half-wits that made up South Yorkshire Police. Rhodes through his character Finch literally is describing what is now a lost world one that a new comer to football would not recognise, where the fan was treated like muck and despised by the political leadership under Margaret Thatcher.
That hatred of football came after the events of 15th April 1989 during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest when fans filled two central fenced in pens and were slowly crushed to death as officials watched on and did nothing. As fans tried to save lives of their own as South Yorkshire Police tried in vain to stop them. Forest fans at the other end of the ground bore witness to those slow merciless deaths as did Liverpool fans.
The main arch of the story is that as usual home and away John Finch had followed the tricky trees to this zenith of possible end of season triumph. Up until then his life had been school then work as a postman living for 3pm on Saturdays. The old life of a teenage lad in the 80s was the booze and the birds no political correctness here and the football. When football could attract the teenagers because it was cheap afternoon out some grounds pay at the turnstile and away the lads. A pulsating mass of testosterone and booze, many working class lads escaping the drudgery of life around them. Or it certainly was for many of us football was our release the political elites did not understand us in our casual gear getting in scrapes and drinking more beer than a standard liver can take.
The book rolls forward 15 years and John Finch is now a teacher and a southern softie to boot, he no longer travels around the country watching Forest as something has been lost to him, there is something he needs to deal with but like most men he is fearful to talk about events of fifteen years previously. He is travelling in to work when he hears of Clough’s death and his mind starts to travel back to 15th April 1989. It has become the elephant in the room he like others knows it’s there but do not want to broach the subject. Doom and despondency starts to embrace him which is made worse while on dinner time supervision duties when there is a crush at one of the doors and he freezes and swears at the children and is sent home by the head teacher and put on the sick. It gets worse for him when he is informed one of the lads he went to Forest with has committed suicide.
Finch’s nervous breakdown is complete as he heads home for the first time in years for the funeral, a funeral he cannot face as he wanders around his old town. He desperately wants to talk to the lads and see how they are dealing with the after effects and memories of Hillsborough but they just do not want to talk. He relives 1989 and the aftermath and how it changed him as he meets old friends and enemies. This is the one journey in his life John Finch had to make as he is finally able to close a chapter on his life that has always been there but never dealt with.
This is a heartfelt plea that is deeply personal to Danny Rhodes in which the read feels all the gut wrenching emotions and how events not only change lives but can be permanent changed, for better or worse. Fan is about the collective tragedy that fans on that day felt and how not dealing with things such as grief can deeply affect your life.
This year is 25 years since Danny Rhodes attended that Semi-Final at Hillsborough it has taken that long for the football fans of Liverpool FC to be listened to and ending the cover-up that took place blaming the fans for the tragedy. 96 football fans that day were never able to go home after the game and their mates, their families were blamed for Hillsborough. In Liverpool and Nottingham where families could bury their dead but then fight for justice have never had the time to grieve and deal with those issues. This book is a reminder that once Justice for the 96 has been achieved maybe just maybe the after affects of that day can start to be dealt with. There were 96 football fans killed that day and thousands of witnesses who need help dealing with what they saw. Liverpool never forgot the 96 now it is time to remember the witnesses and help them too.
As I sit here thinking about how I can do justice to this semi-autobiographic novel Fan by Danny Rhodes a lot of old memories have come flooding back some pleasant some not so pleasant. This novel is really in two halves, pre-Hillsborough and post-Hillsborough and Rhodes uses the persona of John Finch teenage fan who lived for following Nottingham Forest home and away but who was at Hillsborough on that fateful day in April 1989 when 96 people died and was a witness to what unfolded that day.
As I sit here 25 years later writing this review just up the M56, twenty minutes or so drive from my house in Manchester those 96 football fans coroner’s inquest is happening. This very week there was mention of a similar scene that happened in 1981 between Spurs and Wolves and the injuries that day at the inquest I read a passage about that in Fan too.
Fan resonated with me in many ways in that I was a teen in the 80s in what is often referred to as the dark days of football and Thatcher. Like Finch I travelled and stood in grounds home and away on terraces that were not fit for purpose and that was just at my teams ground at Maine Road. The stories we could all tell about away days in Yorkshire with the half-wits that made up South Yorkshire Police. Rhodes through his character Finch literally is describing what is now a lost world one that a new comer to football would not recognise, where the fan was treated like muck and despised by the political leadership under Margaret Thatcher.
That hatred of football came after the events of 15th April 1989 during the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest when fans filled two central fenced in pens and were slowly crushed to death as officials watched on and did nothing. As fans tried to save lives of their own as South Yorkshire Police tried in vain to stop them. Forest fans at the other end of the ground bore witness to those slow merciless deaths as did Liverpool fans.
The main arch of the story is that as usual home and away John Finch had followed the tricky trees to this zenith of possible end of season triumph. Up until then his life had been school then work as a postman living for 3pm on Saturdays. The old life of a teenage lad in the 80s was the booze and the birds no political correctness here and the football. When football could attract the teenagers because it was cheap afternoon out some grounds pay at the turnstile and away the lads. A pulsating mass of testosterone and booze, many working class lads escaping the drudgery of life around them. Or it certainly was for many of us football was our release the political elites did not understand us in our casual gear getting in scrapes and drinking more beer than a standard liver can take.
The book rolls forward 15 years and John Finch is now a teacher and a southern softie to boot, he no longer travels around the country watching Forest as something has been lost to him, there is something he needs to deal with but like most men he is fearful to talk about events of fifteen years previously. He is travelling in to work when he hears of Clough’s death and his mind starts to travel back to 15th April 1989. It has become the elephant in the room he like others knows it’s there but do not want to broach the subject. Doom and despondency starts to embrace him which is made worse while on dinner time supervision duties when there is a crush at one of the doors and he freezes and swears at the children and is sent home by the head teacher and put on the sick. It gets worse for him when he is informed one of the lads he went to Forest with has committed suicide.
Finch’s nervous breakdown is complete as he heads home for the first time in years for the funeral, a funeral he cannot face as he wanders around his old town. He desperately wants to talk to the lads and see how they are dealing with the after effects and memories of Hillsborough but they just do not want to talk. He relives 1989 and the aftermath and how it changed him as he meets old friends and enemies. This is the one journey in his life John Finch had to make as he is finally able to close a chapter on his life that has always been there but never dealt with.
This is a heartfelt plea that is deeply personal to Danny Rhodes in which the read feels all the gut wrenching emotions and how events not only change lives but can be permanent changed, for better or worse. Fan is about the collective tragedy that fans on that day felt and how not dealing with things such as grief can deeply affect your life.
This year is 25 years since Danny Rhodes attended that Semi-Final at Hillsborough it has taken that long for the football fans of Liverpool FC to be listened to and ending the cover-up that took place blaming the fans for the tragedy. 96 football fans that day were never able to go home after the game and their mates, their families were blamed for Hillsborough. In Liverpool and Nottingham where families could bury their dead but then fight for justice have never had the time to grieve and deal with those issues. This book is a reminder that once Justice for the 96 has been achieved maybe just maybe the after affects of that day can start to be dealt with. There were 96 football fans killed that day and thousands of witnesses who need help dealing with what they saw. Liverpool never forgot the 96 now it is time to remember the witnesses and help them too.
April 20, 2014
Fan by Danny Rhodes was published on 15 April 2014 by Arcadia Books. 15 April 2014 was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.
I was brought up in a small North Nottinghamshire village, situated right at the very tip of Nottinghamshire and bordering both Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire. Nottingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Lincoln - these were my stomping grounds, the places I knew, the places that were familiar to me.
Although I don't come from a family of football fans, we were proud of Nottingham Forest - this team who had probably the best known manager in the country, the team that had risen and seemed to be winning it all.
In 1989 I was 22 and due to be married on April 22. A week before that, two of our wedding guests went to Hillsborough to watch their team. They were Liverpool supporters and they were deaf. With no internet and no mobile phones, the waiting and worrying for friends and family, as we began to hear what had happened that day was almost unbearable. Karen and Robert were lucky, they came home. So many fans didn't go home, so many families ruined - an event that is etched on the heart of so many, an event that should never have happened and an event that still, twenty-five years later is foremost in the nation's mind.
FAN is told in the then and the now by John Finch, or Finchy as he's known as. 'Then' was the late 80s, Finchy was a rookie postman, starting early, delivering the council tax bills and the giros and spending what he had on following Forest. Up and down the country, crap grounds, being pissed on by rival fans, battlefields both on and off the pitch. Losing, drawing - uninspiring. Then Cloughie and the boys turn things around, Forest are winning, they are on their way to Wembley.
'Now' is 2004, beginning the day that Brian Clough died - the end of an era. Finchy lives down South, far away from the bleak Midlands town that he started out in. He's a teacher, he lives with his girlfriend Kelly, but Finchy is troubled, he's unhappy. Cloughie is dead, and then he hears that one of the 'boys' is dead too. Fellow Forest fan Stimmo - hanged himself. Finchy is going back.
I can't go into detail. Everyone knows what happened at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989, and Finchy was there. He and the boys saw it happening, slowly in front of their eyes. They saw people die and those images were imprinted onto their brains for ever afterwards, they would never go away. Finchy and the boys never spoke about Hillsborough, or what they saw. They went home and carried on living.
John Finch left town though. Not straight away, but not that long after Hillsborough. He came home and he fucked up royally. He didn't tell anyone what was going on in his head, he treated people like crap and then he left.
Danny Rhodes has written a novel that is sharp and raw and convincing. FAN is a story about men, and about how they dealt with the aftermath of this event that changed their lives and the lives of all British football fans for ever. There is something incredibly unsettling about the words of this story, probably because the reader knows that Danny Rhodes is fully authorised to write them, and that underlying suspicion that actually most of this story is more fact than fiction. There is a compelling need to continue reading despite an overwhelming feeling that one is invading the privacy of the author.
In turns I was chilled to the bone by the stark description of the events of that fateful day, and moved to tears of frustration for the men who went home and tried to carry on 'like blokes do'. No counselling, or talking it over with friends as a group of women would surely do.
I have no doubt that some people won't be able to read FAN. It is a harrowing account that pulls no punches, and for those of us that remember the pictures in the newspapers over the following days, it will evoke memories that have never quite faded away.
Writing FAN was a brave act from Danny Rhodes, this shines through in his writing. The emotion and feeling screams out from the pages. FAN is an important book, it is a story about humans; the fragility of both bones and of minds. FAN is a powerful story.
I was brought up in a small North Nottinghamshire village, situated right at the very tip of Nottinghamshire and bordering both Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire. Nottingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Lincoln - these were my stomping grounds, the places I knew, the places that were familiar to me.
Although I don't come from a family of football fans, we were proud of Nottingham Forest - this team who had probably the best known manager in the country, the team that had risen and seemed to be winning it all.
In 1989 I was 22 and due to be married on April 22. A week before that, two of our wedding guests went to Hillsborough to watch their team. They were Liverpool supporters and they were deaf. With no internet and no mobile phones, the waiting and worrying for friends and family, as we began to hear what had happened that day was almost unbearable. Karen and Robert were lucky, they came home. So many fans didn't go home, so many families ruined - an event that is etched on the heart of so many, an event that should never have happened and an event that still, twenty-five years later is foremost in the nation's mind.
FAN is told in the then and the now by John Finch, or Finchy as he's known as. 'Then' was the late 80s, Finchy was a rookie postman, starting early, delivering the council tax bills and the giros and spending what he had on following Forest. Up and down the country, crap grounds, being pissed on by rival fans, battlefields both on and off the pitch. Losing, drawing - uninspiring. Then Cloughie and the boys turn things around, Forest are winning, they are on their way to Wembley.
'Now' is 2004, beginning the day that Brian Clough died - the end of an era. Finchy lives down South, far away from the bleak Midlands town that he started out in. He's a teacher, he lives with his girlfriend Kelly, but Finchy is troubled, he's unhappy. Cloughie is dead, and then he hears that one of the 'boys' is dead too. Fellow Forest fan Stimmo - hanged himself. Finchy is going back.
I can't go into detail. Everyone knows what happened at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989, and Finchy was there. He and the boys saw it happening, slowly in front of their eyes. They saw people die and those images were imprinted onto their brains for ever afterwards, they would never go away. Finchy and the boys never spoke about Hillsborough, or what they saw. They went home and carried on living.
John Finch left town though. Not straight away, but not that long after Hillsborough. He came home and he fucked up royally. He didn't tell anyone what was going on in his head, he treated people like crap and then he left.
Danny Rhodes has written a novel that is sharp and raw and convincing. FAN is a story about men, and about how they dealt with the aftermath of this event that changed their lives and the lives of all British football fans for ever. There is something incredibly unsettling about the words of this story, probably because the reader knows that Danny Rhodes is fully authorised to write them, and that underlying suspicion that actually most of this story is more fact than fiction. There is a compelling need to continue reading despite an overwhelming feeling that one is invading the privacy of the author.
In turns I was chilled to the bone by the stark description of the events of that fateful day, and moved to tears of frustration for the men who went home and tried to carry on 'like blokes do'. No counselling, or talking it over with friends as a group of women would surely do.
I have no doubt that some people won't be able to read FAN. It is a harrowing account that pulls no punches, and for those of us that remember the pictures in the newspapers over the following days, it will evoke memories that have never quite faded away.
Writing FAN was a brave act from Danny Rhodes, this shines through in his writing. The emotion and feeling screams out from the pages. FAN is an important book, it is a story about humans; the fragility of both bones and of minds. FAN is a powerful story.
April 1, 2014
I knew when I started this book it was going to be something special, but wow. Just wow. Nothing I can say will do this book justice and if you only take one thing away from this jumble of words make sure it is this: READ THIS BOOK. Read it, love it, and tell the world about it. Because books like this don't come along often, and when they do they deserve to be read. Don't ignore this book because you think it's about football. If you only read one book this year, make it this one. I've already been recommending it to people in real life and to my local library as a book they absolutely must stock.
"If you only read one book this year, make it this one..."
I wasn't born until 1990. But I was born in and live in Liverpool. I was raised in a Liverpool supporting family and support them myself. I live in the shadow of the Kop. So growing up I learnt, or heard a lot about Hillsborough. My dad would take me to the ground as a child and explain what the memorial on Anfield Road was but of course it didn't sink in and I didn't understand fully what it was all about until I was much older. In my teens I helped out at the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and you read more about it here. A percentage of the profits for this book are going to the Anfield Sports & Community Centre (ASCC) on behalf of and in memory of the Hillsborough 96.
Now, yes this is a book about football but it is really so much more than that. There's a quote on the back cover from First Post Review and it says: 'a coming of age story with a difference'. When I read the blurb for this book I got goosebumps, I just knew I had to read it and thankfully the lovely people over at Arcadia books sent me a copy of it to review. It is such a powerful read, and incredibly written. Tears stung my eyes numerous times throughout this book I'm not ashamed to admit.
"Once you read this book you will never, ever forget it."
A book of this nature could and should only ever be written by somebody who knows what they are talking about and when I read on the back 'Danny Rhodes was at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989' I got chills. It is clear reading the book how much this author has put into it. Blood, sweat and tears I should imagine. I applaud him for what is an incredible piece of writing, books like this should still be being read 100 years down the line. I just got lost in the pages, the bits at Hillsborough just made tears run down my face. I really cannot emphasise enough how much I mean this and how much I wish everybody would rush out and buy this book. In years to come if I am ever asked about the best book I have ever read I am sure this one will be on the list. Like the tragedy itself once you read this book you will never, ever forget it.
"an incredible piece of writing"
Finally I want to give a huge thank you to Arcadia books. Not only for providing me with this book to review (my first ever review 'book post') but also for the support they gave me when I started my blog a few days ago! Also it sounds like 2014 will be a huge year for them. This quote from their catalogue sums it up for me: 'truly magnificent books take us into their grip and hold us there, and it is those books that Arcadia is actively seeking to publish'. That aim has definitely been met with this book. In fact that quote describes this book perfectly. And I feel privileged to have read it. I also would like to thank Danny Rhodes for writing this book, this is one of the most important releases of 2014, it really is. I just hope it is a massive, massive success.
"If you only read one book this year, make it this one..."
I wasn't born until 1990. But I was born in and live in Liverpool. I was raised in a Liverpool supporting family and support them myself. I live in the shadow of the Kop. So growing up I learnt, or heard a lot about Hillsborough. My dad would take me to the ground as a child and explain what the memorial on Anfield Road was but of course it didn't sink in and I didn't understand fully what it was all about until I was much older. In my teens I helped out at the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and you read more about it here. A percentage of the profits for this book are going to the Anfield Sports & Community Centre (ASCC) on behalf of and in memory of the Hillsborough 96.
Now, yes this is a book about football but it is really so much more than that. There's a quote on the back cover from First Post Review and it says: 'a coming of age story with a difference'. When I read the blurb for this book I got goosebumps, I just knew I had to read it and thankfully the lovely people over at Arcadia books sent me a copy of it to review. It is such a powerful read, and incredibly written. Tears stung my eyes numerous times throughout this book I'm not ashamed to admit.
"Once you read this book you will never, ever forget it."
A book of this nature could and should only ever be written by somebody who knows what they are talking about and when I read on the back 'Danny Rhodes was at Hillsborough on 15 April 1989' I got chills. It is clear reading the book how much this author has put into it. Blood, sweat and tears I should imagine. I applaud him for what is an incredible piece of writing, books like this should still be being read 100 years down the line. I just got lost in the pages, the bits at Hillsborough just made tears run down my face. I really cannot emphasise enough how much I mean this and how much I wish everybody would rush out and buy this book. In years to come if I am ever asked about the best book I have ever read I am sure this one will be on the list. Like the tragedy itself once you read this book you will never, ever forget it.
"an incredible piece of writing"
Finally I want to give a huge thank you to Arcadia books. Not only for providing me with this book to review (my first ever review 'book post') but also for the support they gave me when I started my blog a few days ago! Also it sounds like 2014 will be a huge year for them. This quote from their catalogue sums it up for me: 'truly magnificent books take us into their grip and hold us there, and it is those books that Arcadia is actively seeking to publish'. That aim has definitely been met with this book. In fact that quote describes this book perfectly. And I feel privileged to have read it. I also would like to thank Danny Rhodes for writing this book, this is one of the most important releases of 2014, it really is. I just hope it is a massive, massive success.
January 28, 2015
[review also on my blog at http://beentherereadthatreviewedthebo...]
This is how to write a book. Fan is dark, brave and completely enthralling – much more than ‘a book about football’, Danny Rhodes has written a wonderful coming-of-age book.
I was drawn to this book as soon as I was aware of it because I thought it would take a lot of talent and guts to work a sensitive event like Hillsborough into fiction, but Fan surpassed my expectations massively. The book switches between present day and the past perfectly, as we learn about John and how football and the Hillsborough disaster have affected the past fifteen years of his life. I could feel the emotion and I found the plot really thought-provoking and impactful.
I loved John’s journey throughout this book – nothing felt like the exaggerated, false development it could have been. His character felt real and honest and by no means a cheerful, uplifting personality but definitely compelling.
Fan is an awesome book just taken how it is, but as you see the tragedies John saw on his football ‘away days’, it made me consider more the off-field side of the game. It helped me relate to the horrible Bradford City stadium fire, something I wasn’t alive for but a tragedy which affected my family as we lost a part of it. I just don’t think this book can be dismissed as purely a football story. Fan isn’t a book about a man whose life was affected by on-pitch incidents – it handles a much more serious and heart-wrenching side to the sport.
This book was incredible, a harrowing issue but written brilliantly. Definitely the best sports book I’ve ever read and I’d go as far as saying one of the best books I’ve read in my life. Words just don’t do Fan enough justice.
5/5.
*Thanks to Arcadia Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
April 17, 2014
The best book I have read for years!!
June 18, 2022
This is a stunning book. While the narrative drive comes from the 80s period of football, particularly the horrors of Hillsborough (Rhodes himself being present on that fateful day), it would be a shame if any non-football fans did not read it. For this is a tale of ‘coming home’ - of revisiting past times and loves, of rediscovering yourself in the process. It’s a story that anyone can relate to and Rhodes has done an excellent job of vividly weaving the past and the present in such an emotive way that it’s impossible to not be taken on the journey. Strongly recommended.
April 22, 2014
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in return for an honest review.....
Hillbsborough 1989. The worst sporting disaster in British history. Who can forget those pictures of fans being crushed to death? The feeling of helplessness. The shock of the onlookers who were witnessing the lives being lost. The discussions of who was to blame. The fear of family and friends of the supporters all over the country. The shivers felt when You'll Never Walk Alone was played.
Fan is a work of fiction, based around the tragedy of Hillsborough. The author, Danny Rhodes, was actually there on that day and has used his experience and emotion to write an intense and detailed account of how the event could have impacted someone who witnessed it all.
John Finch was a teenage fan of Nottingham Forest, who travelled all over the country to support his team. Packed in on trains or buses, himself and his pals would make the journey, home and away, each Saturday and lived for the football season. The novel is John's story, and flicks between 1989 and 2004, exploring the long term effects of that fateful day......
This is a book about football, yes. But it is more a book about a fan, torn between moving on with his life and remembering the awful past. The writer brings us into the world of a football fan, the atmosphere oozing from each page. I have never been a football lover and, growing up in Ireland, have never seen the fighting or felt the tension which existed in english football in the 1980s. I had seen the TV coverage and read reports in the newspapers, but felt removed from it all. This book brings the reader closer to the supporters, the grounds and the turnstiles. You can almost see the fans gathered in the pubs surrounding the grounds and picture the sea of jerseys and scarves. John is a deeply troubled man and his world is spinning on its axis. A trip back to his hometown, and down memory lane, can only make or break him....
Danny Rhodes has bared his soul with this book. Raw, intense and profound, it is a book that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page. You don't have to know anything about football to understand the meaning of this book. You just need to understand grief, trauma and reality.
Recommended.
Hillbsborough 1989. The worst sporting disaster in British history. Who can forget those pictures of fans being crushed to death? The feeling of helplessness. The shock of the onlookers who were witnessing the lives being lost. The discussions of who was to blame. The fear of family and friends of the supporters all over the country. The shivers felt when You'll Never Walk Alone was played.
Fan is a work of fiction, based around the tragedy of Hillsborough. The author, Danny Rhodes, was actually there on that day and has used his experience and emotion to write an intense and detailed account of how the event could have impacted someone who witnessed it all.
John Finch was a teenage fan of Nottingham Forest, who travelled all over the country to support his team. Packed in on trains or buses, himself and his pals would make the journey, home and away, each Saturday and lived for the football season. The novel is John's story, and flicks between 1989 and 2004, exploring the long term effects of that fateful day......
This is a book about football, yes. But it is more a book about a fan, torn between moving on with his life and remembering the awful past. The writer brings us into the world of a football fan, the atmosphere oozing from each page. I have never been a football lover and, growing up in Ireland, have never seen the fighting or felt the tension which existed in english football in the 1980s. I had seen the TV coverage and read reports in the newspapers, but felt removed from it all. This book brings the reader closer to the supporters, the grounds and the turnstiles. You can almost see the fans gathered in the pubs surrounding the grounds and picture the sea of jerseys and scarves. John is a deeply troubled man and his world is spinning on its axis. A trip back to his hometown, and down memory lane, can only make or break him....
Danny Rhodes has bared his soul with this book. Raw, intense and profound, it is a book that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page. You don't have to know anything about football to understand the meaning of this book. You just need to understand grief, trauma and reality.
Recommended.
March 30, 2014
Fan, by Danny Rhodes is a painfully moving book about the worst sporting disasters in British history--the tragedy that took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans and injured so many more, physically as well as mentally. Rhodes expresses the grief of not only Liverpool and Nottingham fans but all football fans through the story of a young football fan, John Flinch and what tragic impact it had on his lives. Life takes a tragic turn for John Flinch as he becomes a witness to this disaster at Hillsborough on the 15th of April in 1989, where he'd gone to watch and cheer for his beloved team in the FA cup semi-final. This leaves deep psychological scars on his mind and his life, from then on becomes a complete mess. That one match, that one day changes his life forever. The book oscillates between the years 1989 to 2004 as it unfurls the extent of impact the day had on Flinch's life.
Although, Fan is somewhat dark and harrowing,the book remarkably manages to convey how important it is in life to move on after a tragedy even though it may have changed the course of life forever. If the word 'Football' on the cover made you put down the book before buying/reading the book, think again! Although, there is a lot about football in the book, it would be wrong to assume that it would move only a football fan or someone who loves sport.
Although, Fan is somewhat dark and harrowing,the book remarkably manages to convey how important it is in life to move on after a tragedy even though it may have changed the course of life forever. If the word 'Football' on the cover made you put down the book before buying/reading the book, think again! Although, there is a lot about football in the book, it would be wrong to assume that it would move only a football fan or someone who loves sport.
October 31, 2018
Not having been a soccer (ahem, proper football) fan until relatively recently, I wasn't aware of Hillsborough when it happened. Maybe I heard it on the news back in 1989, but it couldn't have left much of an impression. I remember reading about it in Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch a few years back and being absolutely floored just imagining how horrible it must have been. Ninety-six people died at an F.A. Cup match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989. Obviously they and their families had it the worst, but it's clear from reading Rhodes' novel that they weren't the only victims. Rhodes, who was there that day, recaptures the events here through the eyes of 18-year-old John Finch, who emerges from the stadium permanently altered.
Finchy lives with what could be classified as PTSD for the next 15 years, escaping from his hometown in Nottinghamshire down to London to start over but never really forgetting or coming to terms with what he saw. Shortly after former Forest legend Brian Clough's death knocks him off balance, Finch receives a call from one of his old football buddies informing him another of their friends has killed himself. His personal and professional lives both spiraling out of control, Finch returns home to attend the funeral. Only he can't deal with the funeral and doesn't go. He simultaneously battles emotional fallout from his current relationship and one from the past, one that fell apart immediately post-Hillsborough and one that never properly formed because of its lingering impact.
It's a dark story, with quite possibly more f-bombs per page than any I've ever read. Not that they're not warranted. Finchy's dealing with some truly [messed]-up [stuff]. I read this in the spring and have thought about it on many occasions since. It's not always easy reading in spots, but it's really good.
Finchy lives with what could be classified as PTSD for the next 15 years, escaping from his hometown in Nottinghamshire down to London to start over but never really forgetting or coming to terms with what he saw. Shortly after former Forest legend Brian Clough's death knocks him off balance, Finch receives a call from one of his old football buddies informing him another of their friends has killed himself. His personal and professional lives both spiraling out of control, Finch returns home to attend the funeral. Only he can't deal with the funeral and doesn't go. He simultaneously battles emotional fallout from his current relationship and one from the past, one that fell apart immediately post-Hillsborough and one that never properly formed because of its lingering impact.
It's a dark story, with quite possibly more f-bombs per page than any I've ever read. Not that they're not warranted. Finchy's dealing with some truly [messed]-up [stuff]. I read this in the spring and have thought about it on many occasions since. It's not always easy reading in spots, but it's really good.
May 22, 2018
A harrowing and insightful journey through the long aftermath of tragedy. Rhodes takes us into the horror of the Hillsborough incident of 1989, and the long, slow damage it did not only to a country's passion for football, but to those who were there, those who lost someone, those who survived but went on to lose everything. A social critique cleverly packaged as a novel, a novel cunningly concealed beneath the craft of a quiet poet scratching out words in the back of a smoky London pub, a long and sorrowful poem about how one day can bring down a way of life. If you are fan of football, you should read this book. If you're not, there is an awful lot in this book to be absorbed, enjoyed, as much the art of Rhodes' writing as his incisive and bloody breakdown of the rot at the core of British football culture, and the mystery bound up in the painful journey his protagonist is forced to take, to wash away the ghosts of the past. Highly recommended.
October 29, 2021
You probably have to have even a football fan in the 80s with sad memories of Hillsborough. Granted this is about a Nottingham Forest who was at the game (as was the author, also a fan of Forest). It is about following your team home and away, about how supporting your team was your main reason for living, about when it stopped being so important in your life. I can relate to this book, albeit I support a different team and had different reasons for my weekends no longer revolving around the (mis)fortunes of my local. I can see the floodlights from my current abode and here the roar of the home support when the ball hits the net, which isn't often this season, but I rarely go these days. At times this is a harrowing read but one I can totally relate to.
June 3, 2022
Just brilliant and spot on. Bits of my childhood leaping off the pages. If you haven't stood on a terrace with obsessive working class football fans in the pouring rain singing stupid songs don't bother reading this. Unless you want to know about the human condition, guilt, male ineptitude, and organised incompetence.
February 24, 2018
Why is this book so depressing? I know Hillsborough and all the other events are dreadful and tragic but why is the whole fckn story written in so negative mood? I didn't even want to finish it. Being a 'Fan' is about something else and that's what I expected to be reading. Not this.
Poor!
Poor!
July 5, 2021
Absolutely magnificent. This is a really special book which delves into some pretty hard hitting subjects with the Hillsborough disaster, survivors guilt, PTSD, mental health and well-being all delicately and sensitively handled across the pages.
September 17, 2017
Really enjoyed this. Very well written. Harrowing at times, but also funny and philosophic. Couldn't put it down. Thank you Danny Rhodes!
October 1, 2014
"Twisted crowd barriers. Lads lugging makeshift stretchers across a pitch strewn with the injured and bewildered. The dead lined up in rows on the turf. Twisted minutes. Twisted metal. Twisted news reports. Everything twisted."
Fan has been described as a must-read for anyone that started watching football after Hillsborough. I've not watched football before or after. It's not my cup of coffee. Good literature, though, is. And Fan most definitely is good literature.
With some books of late I've felt that some holes in my knowledge have hampered my full understanding and enjoyment of a book. Most particularly this is down to certain Russian novels and my knowing barely anything of that country's revolution. With Fan, this is not the case. While I have only the vaguest of idea who Brian Clough was, Danny Rhodes writes with such informed and heart-felt passion that I understood. The same is true for football fandom. It's something that I've never grasped, a spell I've never been under. Yet Fan expresses the love felt for the game by its protagonist - John Finch - and so many with a clarity and firmness of belief anyone with a passion for something would understand and get on board with.
I knew little of Hillsborough before reading Fan, only what was occasionally mentioned in the news since. Danny Rhodes was there. He writes of it with an alarming clarity, bringing the horror into full focus as is his right. John Finch was there. He never really left. To say it screwed him up would be an understatement.
Finch cannot move forward. He's moved away but he can't move forward. He's moved from Grantham and its bleak oppression to the South where he finds himself equally oppressed - by the pressures of his relationship and the pressure of the past, reaching forward and pulling him under. Unable to operate in any gear other than neutral for the fear of his terror - the black mares - pulverising him. He's gotten to the point of no return, clearly suffering PTSD, his job is now on the line and his relationship is crumbling around him.
When word reaches him that one of those friends with him at Hillsborough has "gone and done himself", Finch realises the only way he can break free, prevent the same fate befalling himself and move forward is to go back. Back to Grantham, back to his old stomping ground, his old circle of friends and search for the closure denied to him all those years ago.
Jumping between 2004 and the past, Rhodes deals masterfully with the portrayal of a man hunting for closure, wanting to do the right thing but left helpless and weak by his demons. It's both immediate and raw and told with an increasing sense of urgency underwritten by the unnerving sensation that we're dealing with a whole lot of fact in this fiction.
Tackling the effects of trauma, social injustice, the pain and cost of change - both personal and sociological, and, of course, the devotion of football fans, Fan works well both taken at face value and when looking at the subtext.
While football is at the heart of the story, Fan is about more, much more than the game. The subjects tackled will resonate with a much wider audience than any one team's fans. Danny Rhodes has delivered a compelling read, full of brilliant narrative and insights.
Fan has been described as a must-read for anyone that started watching football after Hillsborough. I've not watched football before or after. It's not my cup of coffee. Good literature, though, is. And Fan most definitely is good literature.
With some books of late I've felt that some holes in my knowledge have hampered my full understanding and enjoyment of a book. Most particularly this is down to certain Russian novels and my knowing barely anything of that country's revolution. With Fan, this is not the case. While I have only the vaguest of idea who Brian Clough was, Danny Rhodes writes with such informed and heart-felt passion that I understood. The same is true for football fandom. It's something that I've never grasped, a spell I've never been under. Yet Fan expresses the love felt for the game by its protagonist - John Finch - and so many with a clarity and firmness of belief anyone with a passion for something would understand and get on board with.
I knew little of Hillsborough before reading Fan, only what was occasionally mentioned in the news since. Danny Rhodes was there. He writes of it with an alarming clarity, bringing the horror into full focus as is his right. John Finch was there. He never really left. To say it screwed him up would be an understatement.
Finch cannot move forward. He's moved away but he can't move forward. He's moved from Grantham and its bleak oppression to the South where he finds himself equally oppressed - by the pressures of his relationship and the pressure of the past, reaching forward and pulling him under. Unable to operate in any gear other than neutral for the fear of his terror - the black mares - pulverising him. He's gotten to the point of no return, clearly suffering PTSD, his job is now on the line and his relationship is crumbling around him.
When word reaches him that one of those friends with him at Hillsborough has "gone and done himself", Finch realises the only way he can break free, prevent the same fate befalling himself and move forward is to go back. Back to Grantham, back to his old stomping ground, his old circle of friends and search for the closure denied to him all those years ago.
Jumping between 2004 and the past, Rhodes deals masterfully with the portrayal of a man hunting for closure, wanting to do the right thing but left helpless and weak by his demons. It's both immediate and raw and told with an increasing sense of urgency underwritten by the unnerving sensation that we're dealing with a whole lot of fact in this fiction.
Tackling the effects of trauma, social injustice, the pain and cost of change - both personal and sociological, and, of course, the devotion of football fans, Fan works well both taken at face value and when looking at the subtext.
While football is at the heart of the story, Fan is about more, much more than the game. The subjects tackled will resonate with a much wider audience than any one team's fans. Danny Rhodes has delivered a compelling read, full of brilliant narrative and insights.
April 23, 2014
April 15th, 1989. Twenty five years ago today. Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi final. It was a day which changed football forever.
In Fan, Danny Rhodes (a Nottingham Forest fan who was at Hillsborough himself on the day of the disaster) has written a novel which explores how the Hillsborough disaster affected so many people. John Finch, the protagonist in Fan, has never recovered from the scenes he saw as a Nottingham Forest fan at Hillsborough. Football had been his life- his friendship group had been built around supporting Forest, his wages paid for his weekend jaunts all over the country to support his beloved team. Written as a dual timeframe novel with flashbacks to the 1988-89 season and with the 'present day' as 2004 (the year Forest's legendary manager Brian Clough died), the reader is given an insight into the troubled mind of Finch. His ability to work, his relationships and his mental state have all been affected by the tragedy, and as he returns to Nottingham for a funeral he learns how his old friends have coped with the weight of observing such a devastating event.
Fan isn't an easy book to read. I am a football fan myself and I now live in Sheffield. I have been to Hillsborough a number of times and sat in the Leppings Lane end during the Sheffield derbies. I was at an FA Cup semi final myself just two days ago. That twenty five years ago today, ordinary people just like me, set off to support their team and never returned home-it is heartbreaking. I have often thought of the fans at Hillsborough that day. Not just those who died, but those who watched, helpless, as fans around them lost their lives. Danny Rhodes has taken that thought further, creating a piece of 'faction' which is painful and deeply moving.
However, as a novel it is superbly written, full of juxtapositions which gave me pause for thought. It is dark and gritty, as you would expect with the subject matter, but is also incredibly emotive.
Fan is about football. But it is also about community, compassion, belonging; living, dying, bereavement, PTSD. It is a truly unique book which I am sure was exceptionally difficult for Danny Rhodes to research and write. I hope it gets the acclaim it deserves.
The 96 will never walk alone. I sincerely hope that anyone else affected by the tragic events of 15th April 1989 never will either.
In Fan, Danny Rhodes (a Nottingham Forest fan who was at Hillsborough himself on the day of the disaster) has written a novel which explores how the Hillsborough disaster affected so many people. John Finch, the protagonist in Fan, has never recovered from the scenes he saw as a Nottingham Forest fan at Hillsborough. Football had been his life- his friendship group had been built around supporting Forest, his wages paid for his weekend jaunts all over the country to support his beloved team. Written as a dual timeframe novel with flashbacks to the 1988-89 season and with the 'present day' as 2004 (the year Forest's legendary manager Brian Clough died), the reader is given an insight into the troubled mind of Finch. His ability to work, his relationships and his mental state have all been affected by the tragedy, and as he returns to Nottingham for a funeral he learns how his old friends have coped with the weight of observing such a devastating event.
Fan isn't an easy book to read. I am a football fan myself and I now live in Sheffield. I have been to Hillsborough a number of times and sat in the Leppings Lane end during the Sheffield derbies. I was at an FA Cup semi final myself just two days ago. That twenty five years ago today, ordinary people just like me, set off to support their team and never returned home-it is heartbreaking. I have often thought of the fans at Hillsborough that day. Not just those who died, but those who watched, helpless, as fans around them lost their lives. Danny Rhodes has taken that thought further, creating a piece of 'faction' which is painful and deeply moving.
However, as a novel it is superbly written, full of juxtapositions which gave me pause for thought. It is dark and gritty, as you would expect with the subject matter, but is also incredibly emotive.
Fan is about football. But it is also about community, compassion, belonging; living, dying, bereavement, PTSD. It is a truly unique book which I am sure was exceptionally difficult for Danny Rhodes to research and write. I hope it gets the acclaim it deserves.
The 96 will never walk alone. I sincerely hope that anyone else affected by the tragic events of 15th April 1989 never will either.
August 5, 2015
Danny Rhodes novel sets out to capture the experience of a football fan in an authentic way. His character, John Finch, a 33 years old ‘former’ Forest fan who moved south to escape his former life, is on a quest fifteen years after witnessing the Hillsborough disaster from the Kop end. For reasons that for me don’t quite ring true, the death of Brian Clough, followed by news of the suicide of one of the mates he lost touch with from the terraces, severely disturbs his mental state – what you could call PTSD. His trip back to Grantham for his mate’s funeral, which he ducks out of, becomes a kind of self-therapy – a quest for answers to various long-buried questions.
The tragedies of the Bradford fire and Heysel are also told from an omniscient point of view – though I am not quite sure why. It feels like we are being given a selective history lecture by the author. These events were not witnessed by the main character directly and preceding Hillsborough, seem unlikely to be events that exacerbated the character’s mental state as is suggested. It is not clear for the purposes of plot or story why Rhodes feels the need to pile up the tragedy (he even mentions Kegworth and the Herald of Free Enterprise) – it’s as if he’s perhaps not quite convinced by the psychological effect of Hillsborough alone on his character.
He largely succeeds in capturing the experience of an ordinary fan (more successfully than Kevin Sampson) though the football-related violence aspect still has too much prominence in my view. It was a part of football in those days but to suggest it was ever-present seems to overstate it, and borders on romanticising it.
Some of the language grates. My Kindle tells me that the word “f***” and its derivatives occur 1173 times. If that seem like a lot, it is. I’m no prude, and strong language is good for effect, but rather like listening to someone talking who puts such words into nearly every sentence, irrespective of context, it loses its effect and just starts to irritate and get boring. There are a few spelling errors: “alright” rears its ugly mug, and someone “rifles” (one ‘f’ instead of two) through a fridge – which would make a rather nasty hole in it.
The flashbacks are cleverly woven into the story with the two plot threads merging at the end, though there is an annoying and unnecessary tease for the reader at the end.
31 other football novels reviewed at: http://stevek1889.blogspot.co.uk/2014...
The tragedies of the Bradford fire and Heysel are also told from an omniscient point of view – though I am not quite sure why. It feels like we are being given a selective history lecture by the author. These events were not witnessed by the main character directly and preceding Hillsborough, seem unlikely to be events that exacerbated the character’s mental state as is suggested. It is not clear for the purposes of plot or story why Rhodes feels the need to pile up the tragedy (he even mentions Kegworth and the Herald of Free Enterprise) – it’s as if he’s perhaps not quite convinced by the psychological effect of Hillsborough alone on his character.
He largely succeeds in capturing the experience of an ordinary fan (more successfully than Kevin Sampson) though the football-related violence aspect still has too much prominence in my view. It was a part of football in those days but to suggest it was ever-present seems to overstate it, and borders on romanticising it.
Some of the language grates. My Kindle tells me that the word “f***” and its derivatives occur 1173 times. If that seem like a lot, it is. I’m no prude, and strong language is good for effect, but rather like listening to someone talking who puts such words into nearly every sentence, irrespective of context, it loses its effect and just starts to irritate and get boring. There are a few spelling errors: “alright” rears its ugly mug, and someone “rifles” (one ‘f’ instead of two) through a fridge – which would make a rather nasty hole in it.
The flashbacks are cleverly woven into the story with the two plot threads merging at the end, though there is an annoying and unnecessary tease for the reader at the end.
31 other football novels reviewed at: http://stevek1889.blogspot.co.uk/2014...
May 24, 2014
Fan, by Danny Rhodes, is a fascinating social commentary about changing times. Two stories about the same protagonist unfold side by side, one covering his teenage years in working class Nottingham, the other set fifteen years later when he travels from the new life he has carved out for himself down south to confront his demons in the home town he escaped from.
The writing style is raw and sparse but the tale is utterly compelling. There is a great deal of football in the story, but it is the football of the 1980's when ticket prices were low, grounds were run down and the passion of the fans was pivotal to the lives they led. This was the era of hooliganism and disasters waiting to happen, culminating in the Hillsborough tragedy of April 1989, which the author of the book experienced first hand.
Despite the book pinning its events around a timeline of football matches, it is not a story that requires an interest in the beautiful game. This book is about characters and attitudes, about a bygone era and how the teenagers who lived their lives from Saturday to Saturday coped, or failed to cope, with the changes to the game and to their lives as they aged.
The author manages to give reasons for the violence, to gain sympathy for men who would appear from the outside to be emotionally weak, to have brought their misfortunes on themselves through foolish behaviour, apathy or shallowness of expectation. He harks back with regret to a time that most would be glad to have moved on from, but succeeds in explaining why it seemed good.
There is no redemption or closure, but real life is not a series of neatly parcelled, self-contained episodes. We are made what we are by our experiences and how we deal with them. This is a book that looks at events that affected a nation, and explores their impact on individuals. It is brutal in places, yet compelling and thought provoking. The author succeeds in drawing the reader into his imperfect world and making them care.
My copy of Fan was sent to me by Sophie of http://www.reviewedthebook.co.uk/. I am grateful to her for providing me with a thoroughly good read that I would have no hesitation in recommending to others.
The writing style is raw and sparse but the tale is utterly compelling. There is a great deal of football in the story, but it is the football of the 1980's when ticket prices were low, grounds were run down and the passion of the fans was pivotal to the lives they led. This was the era of hooliganism and disasters waiting to happen, culminating in the Hillsborough tragedy of April 1989, which the author of the book experienced first hand.
Despite the book pinning its events around a timeline of football matches, it is not a story that requires an interest in the beautiful game. This book is about characters and attitudes, about a bygone era and how the teenagers who lived their lives from Saturday to Saturday coped, or failed to cope, with the changes to the game and to their lives as they aged.
The author manages to give reasons for the violence, to gain sympathy for men who would appear from the outside to be emotionally weak, to have brought their misfortunes on themselves through foolish behaviour, apathy or shallowness of expectation. He harks back with regret to a time that most would be glad to have moved on from, but succeeds in explaining why it seemed good.
There is no redemption or closure, but real life is not a series of neatly parcelled, self-contained episodes. We are made what we are by our experiences and how we deal with them. This is a book that looks at events that affected a nation, and explores their impact on individuals. It is brutal in places, yet compelling and thought provoking. The author succeeds in drawing the reader into his imperfect world and making them care.
My copy of Fan was sent to me by Sophie of http://www.reviewedthebook.co.uk/. I am grateful to her for providing me with a thoroughly good read that I would have no hesitation in recommending to others.
June 4, 2025
Somewhat frustrating storyline and decisions by a main character I disliked. Good concept and otherwise a good book. The flashbacks to football matches were great.
March 19, 2016
An extremely powerful book, beautifully written about a football fan both before and after Hillsborough; how that tragic day caused ripples in that fan's life and how fifteen years later he is still soul searching and trying to find peace. An incredible read.
April 14, 2014
I have reviewed this book on my blog at the link below:
http://mistrollingin.wordpress.com/20...
http://mistrollingin.wordpress.com/20...
November 29, 2014
If you've never watched football stood on the terraces, the crowd surging forward and pushing back, that's because one afternoon the crowd couldn't push back...
October 31, 2016
A little choppy in parts but still a harrowing account of how PTSD affects a person.
April 13, 2017
This book will really speak to the generations of football fans who remember standing on the terraces watching games prior to the rampant commercialisation of the Premiership and Champions League era. There are some echoes of John King here, but they are dark and distorted echoes. This is a well crafted novel that will appeal to those with mixed memories of the terraces back in the 80s in the pre-Taylor Report era. Rhodes is clearly a gifted writer and this book is brimming over with some really beautiful and touching description and although the darkness forever looms in the shadows of the prose, the heartfelt hope and brightness that burns within it ultimately makes this a triumph.
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