The Football Factory [Import] [Paperback]

John King (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; New Ed edition (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099731916
• ISBN-13: 978-0099731917
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,808,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Disturbing, December 31, 2002

By 

A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Football Factory (Paperback)

Brilliant and disturbing depiction of a contemporary working-class Londoner. The novel portrays a bleak England which has little to offer its poor, white natives. The central character-who one imagines must be loosely based on the author-is a nasty man, whose one outlet is football hooliganism. A Chelsea fan, he defines his existence not around actual matches and scores so much as around prospective and actual pre and post-match violence. The book seems to suggest that for him, and his ilk, society has nothing to offer and he must retreat to the camaraderie of his fighting friends to find any release and meaning in his existence. The chapters alternate between focusing on the main character on match days, and peripheral characters (some only barely related to the novel at all) and slices of London life. Despite the very raw descriptions of violence and sex, the writing is too deft, and the message too sharp for the book to be considered a mere cult novel. King's subsequent novels, Headhunters, England Away, Human Punk, and White Trash are all equally vital-if not as raw-reading. Great non-fiction companions to this book are Colin Ward's classic of football hooligans, Steaming In, and Nick Danziger's depressing travelogue of England, Danziger's Britain.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Football Factory, August 5, 2011

By 

Seth Ferranti- Gorilla Convict Publications (MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Football Factory (Paperback)

The Football Factory along with England Away and Headhunters are the soccer hooligan trilogy in fiction. Anyone interested in soccer hooligans will love this book and check out the movie too. John King is one of my favorite writers and comparable to Irvine Welsh in style. Definitely check these books out.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars F***ing brilliant, March 30, 2004

By 

mr n j cole (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Football Factory (Paperback)

The film is even better, in the words of my younger brother...

"You will want to put on your Stone Island jumper and kick the f**k out of somebody"

buy it ;)