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Book Reviewed by:From the book jacket:
The characters of The Rotters' Club
(2001), Jonathan Coe's nostalgic, humorous
evocation of adolescent life in the 1970s,
have bartered their innocence for the
vengeance of middle age in a story that is
very much of the moment, charged with such
issues as 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. As
Cool Britannia is forced to address its
ongoing racial and social tensions — and as
its role in America's "war on terrorism"
grows increasingly compromised - The
Closed Circle shuttles between London
and Birmingham, where fat cats, politicos,
media advisers, and protesters in both
locales lay bare an era when policy and PR
have become indistinguishable. Meanwhile,
its rich cast of characters contends with
startling revelations about their youth and
the pressing, perennial problems of love,
vocation, and family.
Comment: Jumping forward 3
decades, Coe revisits the cast of his 2001
novel, The Rotters Club, all grown
up. Life has been pretty good to a few
of them, such as Paul Trotter, now a member
of Blair's "New Labour" Party, but
others have not done so well and some
still carry the angst of their teen years. As before, Coe explores the connections
and conflicts between individual decisions
and society as a whole.
"... a compelling, dramatic and often funny
depiction of the way we live now - both
savage and heartfelt at the same time." - PW
"[The Closed Circle] has an up-to-the
minute topicality that most writers shy away
from, but it allows Coe to hone in savagely
on his bêtes noires . . . Coe has succeeded
in accomplishing that rare feat: a pair of
novels that combine the addictive quality of
the best soap operas with a basic cultural
integrity." - The Independent.
This review was originally published in The BookBrowse Review in July 2005, and has been updated for the
June 2006 edition.
Click here to go to this issue.
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