La banda dei brocchi

I'm not sure why I gave this only three stars when I first read it five years ago. It was probably that final chapter, the 13000 word sentence, which felt too far removed stylistically from the rest of the novel to really work. This same final section remained jarring second time around, but with a

Απρόσμενα καλό βιβλίο. Το περίμενα ως ένα κλασσικό μυθιστόρημα ενηλικίωσης, κάτι φίλοι στο σχολείο, τυπικά Αγγλάκια που μεγαλώνουν στο αυστηρό βρετανικό εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. Βασικά είναι ένα πολιτικό βιβλίο, σε μια ταραγμένη Αγγλία στα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 70, εν μέσω απεργιών, και κλείνει με τ Leggi tutto

Telling his controversially romantic story Jonathan Coe is at the same time most ironic and nostalgic. When we grow up it seems to us that we live in the best of times. But reality may be quite different… And the middle of the seventies was the time of stagnation. “They sat and drank their pints. The Leggi tutto

Damn, I loved this book. Keeping one half of my mind on what I was reading and the rest on how I was feeling, thinking and believing in respect to what he had to say. This book kept me present in the moment - completely and authentically witnessing whatever was being conveyed. Few books manage to ac Leggi tutto

Συνήθως δε με τρελαίνουν τα βιβλία που αναφέρονται σε μουσικές, γειτονιές, κλπ. και ειδικά εάν έχουν πρωταγωνιστές εφήβους, αλλά οκ, μιλάμε για τον Jonathan Coe, οπότε δεν περίμενα κάτι λιγότερο από ένα τουλάχιστον διασκεδαστικο και χορταστικό βιβλίο. Τέτοιο ακριβώς βιβλίο είναι η Λεσχη των Τιποτενι Leggi tutto

It was the world, the world itself that was beyond his reach, this whole absurdly vast, complex, random, measureless construct, this never-ending ebb and flow of human relations, political relations, cultures, histories… How could anyone hope to master such things? It was not like music. Music al

Η λέσχη των τιποτένιων σκιαγραφεί τη Βρετανία της δεκαετίας του ’70 και ζωντανεύει σκηνές καθημερινής ζωής του Μπέρμιγχαμ μέσα από μια εξιστόρηση γεγονότων η οποία λαμβάνει χώρα μεταξύ δύο νεαρών παιδιών ένα βράδυ στο Βερολίνο το 2003. Πρόκειται για την αναπαράσταση μιας ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσας χρον Leggi tutto

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 comm Leggi tutto