Customer Reviews

England Away.

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I read this book while on holiday and couldn't put it down. Mr. King does a superb job of juxtaposing the lives of select members of the WWII generation and the youths who follow football throughout Europe spreading violence and nationalism in their wake. How could he do this? It's in a wonderful piece of writing that the author draws us into the little known nor understood world of soccer matches and post-game punch-ups. Initial revulsion toward the violent life of the protaganist quickly gives way to a larger empathy for his character and the world in which he moves. The reasons for his life are rested against the buttress of a generation that had gone before. The greatest generation of WWII becomes the historical "everyman", the pillar of belief in town and country that drives a wave of violent nationalism and tribalism from soccer match to soccer match and culminates in organized riot in Berlin. Mr. King tests, and finds, the limits of humanity on a street in Berlin in the final act of this fine work.

Another excellent book from King, this one is touch below his previous work (The Football Factory, Headhunters) if only because it is a little more disjointed and ambitious. There are three narratives at work here: an English pensioner recalls his WWII experience and what it all means, a football hooligan travels to Berlin via Holland for a England vs. Germany match, with plenty of violence along the way, and Harry Roberts (seen in Headhunters) travels with Tom and others, but goes off on his own and discovers what the new Europe has on offer. Thus, we get the violence and sexual themes from King's previous two books, but mixed in with thoughts on the EU, international bankers and politicians, and so forth. Well worth reading if you like his other stuff. See also his subsequent novels, Human Punk and White Trash.