Anthony Cartwright

I bought this book on the basis of a glowing review in The Guardian. It's not bad but I can't say it lived up to the review. Set in and around Dudley (Britain's 'Heartland'), during the 2002 World Cup, it explores masculinity, English identity and racial conflict. All worthy stuff, but neither the plot nor the writing are quite strong enough. One of the main problems is the use of multiple narrative strands in the 3rd person, all intertwined: this means that names are constantly repeated as the author needs to remind the reader of who is featuring in a particular section. 'Rob said .... Adnan did ... Jim felt ... Jasmine realised .... Zubair went ... Glenn noticed ...' It all feels a bit stilted. Recounting large chunks of the England v Argentina match didn't help either.… (lisätietoja)