Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Fever Pitch
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
Not just a sports book, probably one of the best books I have ever read. His literary style of writing seems effortlessly readable, I wanted more. A must read for sports and non sports fans of good writing everywhere.Brilliant
Book Review: Don't go in expecting a Hornbyesque book
Summary: 3 Stars
Thanks to the once in every four year buzz I get when the World Cup is taking place I thought that it was an appropriate time to begin reading the only Hornby book that I hadn't yet cracked which incidentally is his autobiography and a loving testament to the game of football. With those factors in mind, I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one but sadly, for the first time, I was a bit let down by one of Hornby's books. My main problem with this book stems from the fact that I missed out on approx. 30% of the context because I didn't know the people (players and coaches), places and teams that he spends a great deal of time espousing on. This book is written with the assumption that the reader is steeped in all the lore, historical trivia and nuance of British football and for those with limited knowledge, well I suppose they'll find themselves grasping at times trying to catch up with Hornby's detailed play-by-play enactments of memorable goals and on field blunders. Another thing - this is Hornby's first book and it shows. For those readers accustomed to his flowing, easy to digest prose in future works ('High Fidelity,' 'About a Boy,' 'How to be Good') you might be a bit surprised at how clunky his words form here. Yes, there are some very Hornbyesque passages and moments but for the most part it can be choppy reading at times but is interesting in the framework of mind knowing how his future works will evolve into crystalline works of literary brilliance.
On the positive note, this book will certainly strike a chord for every hardcore sports fanatic out there. Hornby lovingly touches on the idiosyncracies that every true 'fan' experiences from: Superstitious ritual, disdain for the casual and/or bandwagon fan, the psyche of those who faithfully follow bad teams, etc. Also, you'll find the occassional gem on the beauty of Football/Soccer as a pure sport that makes reading through this 247 page book ultimately worthwhile.
Book Review: Essential Book For All Soccer Fans
Summary: 4 Stars
Football/soccer - the most popular sport in the world, and for many people the most important thing in the world - is a subject of this witty, entertaining book by popular British author Nick Hornby. Until reading this book, I encountered Hornby's work only through rather disappointing film adaptation of his novel "High Fidelity", but my expectations were nevertheless high and, in the end, mostly justified. Less concerned by the game itself, and more with a way it influenced his life, same as the lives of plenty of people on this side of Big Pond (sometimes with fatal results, like in the case of Haysell and Hillsborrough disasters), Hornby described this phenomenon through his own personal experience. Although based on the relationship between one man and his favourite soccer club (Arsenal), many other soccer fans in various parts of the world could recognise familiar situations from their own (often frustrating) experiences. The only major flaw of "Fever Pitch" is the fact that those who lack familiarity with the game (like majority of Americans) might not enjoy finer points of this book.Book Review: Even if You Hate the Gunners
Summary: 5 Stars
Brillant book... Almost wet my pants a few times. I relate a million percent to the obsession...
Its football... Its my life... And I am American...
Book Review: Excellent summation of fans' view of football.
Summary: 5 Stars
I write just 48 hours after Arsenal have completed the Double for the second time (16 May 1998)! How Nick Hornby must be celebrating! We went to Highbury for the first time in the New Year, knowing that somewhere in the crowd was the Nick Hornby. We thought we saw his done-head on the pitch - sorry, my mistake, that was Steve Bould!Seriously, though, I read this book last summer and my daughter, aged 14, read it after me. We rate it 10, because it sums up everything British football supporters feel about British football. "Fever Pitch" speaks for us so well that most of us who are football supporters feel that we should have written this book ourselves!
Much as he may dislike the description, Nick Hornby is typical of the modern British football supporter, middle-class, analytical, cynical yet obsessive. With the demolition of the terraces has gone football's cloth cap image. In its place are the people who can afford £15 or so per match (£60 for a family of four with no child reductions) to sit in Highbury's all-seater North Bank.
I liked the format, autobiography written as a series of match reports. I identify with Nick Hornby when he relates that he sat petrified in his seat for an hour before kick-off, terrified that Arsenal might lose, and, later on, willing on the final whistle. I love the arrogance in which he writes that it really was not good enough: Arsenal were out of Europe, had not won the FA Cup and were only fourth in the League!
The bits I enjoyed most was the account of how an un-named Everton centre half (we all know who he was!) scored an own goal and how Malcolm MacDonald claimed it for his own! Also, how Cambridge United, when they scored, played "Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts!" on the tannoy. His accounts of football hooliganism in the 1980s are graphic and should down in the history books.
Although I am with Hornby 100% when he writes about football, he does not convince me so much when he gets on to the male psyche - maybe becaus! e I am a woman. When Hornby is writing about football, he is writing from the gut. On the male psyche, I feel he is digesting what other people have said and written and he does not carry so much conviction.
I am a woman and a football supporter. Maybe there is another book to be written about woman football supporters - we are a growing band.