The Rotters' Club - Paperback

by Jonathan Coe (Author)

Set against the turbulent British '70s--a decade of industrial strikes, IRA bombings and rising nationalist racism--this marvelous tale combines comedy and tragedy in a sprawling coming-of-age chronicle of four friends. A Book Sense 76 Pick.

Front Jacket

Birmingham, England, c. 1973: industrial strikes, bad pop music, corrosive class warfare, adolescent angst, IRA bombings. Four friends: a class clown who stoops very low for a laugh; a confused artist enthralled by guitar rock; an earnest radical with socialist leanings; and a quiet dreamer obsessed with poetry, God, and the prettiest girl in school. As the world appears to self-destruct around them, they hold together to navigate the choppy waters of a decidedly ambiguous decade.

Author Biography

Jonathan Coe has received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger, the Prix M馘icis Etranger, and, for The Rotters' Club, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for the most original comic writing. He lives in London.