The North of England Home Service

by Gordon Burn

Book by Burn, Gordon

Genres: Fiction

221 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 2003

About the author

Gordon Burn was an English writer born in Newcastle upon Tyne and the author of four novels and several works of non-fiction.

Burn's novels deal with issues of modern fame and faded celebrity, as well as life through a media lens. His novel Alma Cogan (1991), which imagined the future life of the British singer Alma Cogan had she not died in the 1960s, won the Whitbread Award for Best First Novel. His other novels Fullalove and The North of England Home Service appeared in 1995 and 2003 respectively. His non-fiction deals primarily with sport and true crime. His first book Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son was a study of Peter Sutcliffe, 'the Yorkshire Ripper' and his 1998 book Happy Like Murderers: The Story of Fred and Rosemary West, dealt in similar detail with one of Britain's most notorious serial killers.

Burn's interest in such infamous villains extended to his fiction, with Myra Hindley, one of the 'Moors murderers', featuring prominently in the novel Alma Cogan. His sport-based books are Pocket Money: Inside the World of Snooker (1986) and Best and Edwards: Football, Fame and Oblivion (2006), which deals with the twin stories of Manchester United footballers Duncan Edwards and George Best and the "trajectory of two careers unmoored in wildly different ways."

He also wrote a book with British artist Damien Hirst, On the Way to Work, a collection of interviews from various dates between 1992-2001. He contributed to The Guardian regularly, usually writing about contemporary art.

Reviews

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is very Geordie and I spent a lot of time googling expressions and historical facts. My husband is English (not Geordie) and he loved it. When I chose to read it I thought my love of English TV programs and the other books I have read may have assisted me but not as much as I thought. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars is because I didn't understand some deeply significant cultural aspects of it. The author has done a brilliant job of analysing the complex friendships between men and how their past and environment contribute to those friendships.

[Kevin Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always a pleasure to "discover" a new author for yourself and enjoy the anticipation of rummaging through their previously published works. The first book I read of Gordon Burn's was his true-crime work, Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son, about Peter Sutcliffe, the infamous "Yorkshire Ripper", which I enjoyed very much. I went looking for his other books at my local library, and walked away with a copy of "The North of England Home Service", which was a poignant, bittersweet book about male friendship, past glories and long-forgotten dreams, which along the way had much to say about the social and economic transformation of Northern England, the shameful urge to escape from an impoverished past, and the strange twists and turns of life that bring opposites together into unlikely, enduring bonds of friendship. I realise that books like these only confirm my own (unlikely and inexplicable) fascination with the portrayal of northern England in films, TV shows and novels, a world so removed from my own in many ways, but which I find vital and compelling - in a time when regional or cultural differences are being flattened, ironed out or totally erased, books like "The North of England Home Service" truly hum with a real sense of time and place, of people whose ties to their village, hometown and region run deep. I genuinely loved this book, and I hope you will, too.

[Pien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[John Hodsoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meandering. A rumination through the lives of two old fellas living in the north east.
Without doing enough to make them relatable, beyond being vassals for a bundle of archetypal memories.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gordon Burns is a very evocative and accurate writer, although his sentences don't flow very well. A lot of this book is set in the North East of England and he captures it exactly. As a native North Eastener, this was a very nostalgic and moving read.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hidden stories of lives and a meditation on the layering over of the industrial past while drifting through time remembering we are our own history. Marvelous evocation of the of the present and the past that make them both come alive. Burn's has an eligiac descriptions of nature.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn't really get this. A very depressing story of the lives of two men and based around a northern town. I don't mind depressing after all I read and love David Peace but I just felt this story didn't do it for me. I am sure there was a hidden meaning but it didn't happen for me

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

tightly written, splendid details on changes in life and lifestyle in the 20th Century in England, some funny, some sad, very perceptive and highly recommended