Customer Reviews

This Sporting Life (Avon Books, 21394)

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This novel was published in 1960 and it provides an interesting insight the impact instant fame has on a young working man. Arthur Machin the principal character continues to work on a lathe in a factory in a northern English town whilst gaining a growing fan club in the town for his exploits playing for the local professional Rugby League team. While Rugby League provides background this novel is more on how how Arthur's new celebrity status impacts on his relationships. The plot centres on Arthur's relationship with his Landlady, Mrs Hammond, a recently widowed young mother of two. I was reminded of the kitchen-sink dramas of Pinter. Storey cleverly reveals how the 'public' Arthur intrudes on his personal life and how this intrusion creates rifts in his relationships with people. Although today's professional sportsmen might not easily identify with Arthur there were many parallels from Arthur buying a Jaguar and his girlfriend a fur coat to hobnobbing with the town's rich industrialists and other prominent citizens.