For fifteen-year-old Martin, the summer of 1977 means punk rock, reggae music, disco girls, stolen cars, and a job picking cherries with the gypsies. Life is sweet—until he is beaten up and thrown in the Grand Union Canal with his best mate Smiles. Fast forward to 1988, and Joe is travelling home on the Trans-Siberian express after three years working in a Hong Kong bar, remembering the highs and lows of the intervening years as he comes to terms with catastrophe. Fast forward to 2000, and Joe is happy. Life is sweet again—until a face from the past forces him to re-live that night in 1977 and deal with the fall-out.
Human Punk
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
“In its ambition and exuberance, Human Punk is a league ahead of much contemporary English fiction.” –New Statesman
“King’s eye for detail is as sharp as his characters’ tongues, and his creations are eminently three-dimensional: insightful and funny one minute, bigoted and ******-up the next.” –The Face
“Unique and brutal fiction...King is a master of idiom and street slang.” –The Times
“King’s most accomplished and compelling story to date.” —Esquire
“King’s eye for detail is as sharp as his characters’ tongues, and his creations are eminently three-dimensional: insightful and funny one minute, bigoted and ******-up the next.” –The Face
“Unique and brutal fiction...King is a master of idiom and street slang.” –The Times
“King’s most accomplished and compelling story to date.” —Esquire
From the Inside Flap
For fifteen-year-old Martin, growing up in Slough, the summer of 1977 means punk rock, reggae, disco, stolen cars, cut-throat gangs, and a job picking cherries for the gypsies. Life is sweet ? until he?s beaten up and thrown in the Grand Union canal with his best friend, Smiles. Fast forward to 1988 and Joe is heading home on the Trans-Siberian Express after three years working in a Hong Kong bar. Fast forward again to 2000, and Joe is sitting pretty as a DJ ? until a face from the past forces him to re-live that night in 1977 and deal with the fall-out.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Youthful aggression, ageless compassion,
By
This review is from: Human Punk (Paperback)
Often when punk music and culture appear in print or on film, the effect or purpose is either to deride the scene altogether as an unruly mob of foolish and destructive delinquents, or alternately as a sad celebration of an ideal doomed to failure. British author John King's Human Punk, however, stands out as a more genuine coming-of-age story, prominently featuring the fictional Joe Martin's punk rock lifestyle without passing judgment on the phenomenon itself. For many teenagers growing up around the London suburbs in 1977, punk is a way of life. Joe and friends Chris, Dave and Smiles get off on listening to the Clash, stomping poseur fashion punks with steel-toed DMs, wooing bleach-blonde girls at the dance clubs, and joyriding into London to catch the best concerts. Told from Joe's perspective, the story follows the boys as they get into trouble with girls, drugs, the police, and elder punk rocker Gary Wells, who tosses Joe and Smiles in a canal with lasting and tragic consequences. Eleven years later, in 1988, Joe returns to England after years spent working in a Hong Kong bar when shocking news draws him back to hometown Slough. On the train ride through China, Russia, and Germany, he contemplates the injustices of human society in the context of reminiscences of fading childhood friendships. By the time Joe's story wraps up in the year 2000, Joe discovers that idle decisions affect legacies, and that some wrongs should not be forgiven. As a study of boot-boy counterculture, what makes Human Punk interesting is that it is not about punk at all. To be sure, the music and influence is there, but King's novel focuses on characterization, creating a believable band of friends who have the qualities of punk rockers but are by no means emblematic or representative of the movement as a whole. With an emphasis on the "human," King is able to portray with a natural continuity the chronicles of an anarchist, as Joe does not "turn establishment" as he ages but rather matures and develops within his punk rock mind frame. King's novel feels like an oral account, as if the reader is along with Chris, Dave, and Smiles to hear Joe's story. This approach certainly has its strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, it allows a more intimate and first hand understanding of life in Slough as seen through the main character's eyes, and multi-page stream of consciousness passages give a sense of immediacy to the events describe. Unfortunately, these same stream of consciousness passages are sometimes difficult to follow from leap to quantum leap, and occasionally the chronology of events discussed in flashback are difficult to place. American readers will find an added obstacle in deciphering the numerous Anglicanisms, which when added to 1970s punk jargon can make Human Punk read a bit like A Clockwork Orange. This challenge can be surmounted relatively easily by paying attention to context, but remains somewhat distracting. John King's Human Punk provides a valuable snapshot of a particular cultural phenomenon at a particular moment in time. Joe's experiences blend youthful aggression with ageless compassion, fortified by a raw honesty that would make his punk idols spit with pride. The book is rough, at times sloppy, and may very well be distasteful to upstanding members of society. Just as it should be. >This review originally appeared in a college newspaper, back in the day.
5.0 out of 5 stars
touching, funny and origional,
By Natasha (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Human Punk (Paperback)
This book touched me. the fact that it based on alot of punk rock music really got me into the book. this is easy to read and a lovely story to read following joes life as a teenager..listening 2 punk rock and chasing after girls. a typical guy thing.and the tragic parts really brought i reccomend this to anyone whos looking for an easy to read story and interested in such music.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Human all right,
By Lauranadia (IA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Human Punk (Paperback)
Probably the most gripping book I've read. Stream-of-consciousness/narration of life as a street kid, and later as an intelligent but scarred man. Always the football fan, and has interesting taste in music, partly because some of it describes his life. His philosophy comes through his descriptions, and his thoughts are fascinating at times. I couldn't decide whether I would want to know this guy or not, but ultimately decided, you betcha. Big surprises in this book, don't read the back first!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
