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You will treasure it. I dont know why.
So, this book is not for football fans, it is for everyone. You dont need to know who played for Arsenal in 1972, but you can glimpse a real life experiencing those football matches.that is really what this book is about.
but I am astounded by what Nick Hornby has achieved here.I am a football fan every 4 years since 1982 when I read about the world cup for the first time.I naturally became a Brazil fan but I was not obsessed with football in any sense of the term except during those 4 to 7 matches Brazil would play every four years. I laugh out loud and feel sad simultaneously when I am reading this.
It is about growing up and about life. Secondly, it is hilariously funny and beautiful.
Read it.
If you are a football supporter, you will be able to relate to Hornby's book. Even though it captures key moments from his coming-of-age and experiences supporting Arsenal, the story could be about any supporter supporting any club. Hornby's novel has a timeless feel to it. If you know of someone who loves his/her football and lives for it, you will be able to see bits of your friend/relative through Hornby. There is something about the novel that makes the reader feel that this novel will probably be relevant for years to come as football supporters in the future will likely experience the same emotions that Hornby describes. Further, the novel is able to describe the life and mentality of a football supporter, a passion and dedication that is universal regardless of place and time (since the invention and mass marketing of the game, at least). Even if you do not know of football or care for it, Hornby's novel is a good read that will encapsulate you. Just don't let it make an Arsenal supporter of you.
I relate a million percent to the obsession.Its football. Brillant book. Almost wet my pants a few times. Its my life. And I am American.
And along football, he also makes comments on his relationships, be it with his family or with girlfriends. Nick Hornby's warm autobiographical book deals with his life as a football fan from 1968 (when he was a teenager) until 1992, especifically as he supported his beloved Arsenal during that time. What Hornby tells is the story of traditional English football in its last throes, a time when hooliganism ruled, but when it also was a genuine, integral pastime of the English people. There's some good insights about football culture (for a true football fan, football is not really an entertainment, a concept that is probably hard to understand in the US, where sports are just a part of the entertainment business) as well as football tactics (there are few good passers in the sports, he says, as hard as this might be to believe to outsiders; Liam Brady, one of his favorite players, was that rare player, a great passer). Each of the chapters (so to call them) deals with a particular football match that he remembers during that period. When the Premiere League was established (in 1992, the year this book ends), and the megamoney and the huge tv contracts came along, and some clubs (like, say, Arsenal) did not put in the field a single English player, it became more of a commercial business and less of a cultural phenomenon. And while I like football, it's hard not to come out from reading this book with the impression that being a football fan at the level Hornby was is not a colossal waste of time.
It will keep you laughing and show you exactly how important football and sports in general can be to people. I have been a fan of football for a few years now and have to admit I am always interested to read or hear about people experiences. This is simply put, a great book. 1 Warning: Do not buy this book simply because you enjoy Nick Hornby. More importantly I was always interested in how people picked their team and the life of an English fan. This is a very well written version of how someone became a life long football fan. This is a book about a football fan, not a novel. That being said if you enjoy football, or sports, and a good witty read, this book is for you.
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