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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Any sports fan will love this book. Nick Hornby is hysterical.” see full review » see other reviews » |
Didn’t Like It “In my own personal opinion the book “fever pitch” was not one of my favorites. I would not recommend this book to any of my friends. This book is about a “die hard” Arsenal soccer fan. During his life in the 1980’s he was living in the depression. This book is about his journals from when he was...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Rang just a little too close to home...”
Brion Reusche wrote this review Saturday, March 30, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A funny and poignant look at the allegiance of a fully-committed fan and his team/club -- in this case Arsenal FC of the English Premier League. By the author of "High Fidelity". A good read during the recent World Cup.”
Lawrence Roberts wrote this review Tuesday, March 5, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“If you are Football fan, you must read this book. If you are a Sports fan, obsessed with players, statistics and trivia, you must read this book. If you have difficulty explaining to others who can't understand your obsession, then you must make them read this book.
Sudhamshu H wrote this review Sunday, January 27, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Being an Arsenal fan myself, I had wanted to read Fever Pitch for quite long. Although the book made me realise that I'm not as obsessed about the game or the club as much as Nick Hornby, I was nodding away vigorously when he narrated the emotions a fan feels before a match, during a match and after the match. The humorous touch which he gives to the narration makes it an excellent read. It showed me how I tend to overanalyse and allow my moods to be swayed by Arsenal's fortunes in a season. One takeaway from the book was the history of Arsenal at disappointing it fans in a similar fashion throughout five or more decades. Consistent consistency, as Arsene Wenger would say. Another important insight was on how Nick Horny and other obsessed fans had one common factor - they hated what they were doing and that is why they kept doing it over and over again. They hated the team, the players, the managers, the away fans, their own fans, their own lives; and standing on the terraces to watch the football match and vent all their anger on the team they supported was what they loved. Quite ironical, but I could absolutely make a connect with it.
Apart from Arsenal and football, Nick Hornby has done well to extend the dialogue and provide opinions on plenty of topics associated with society - hooliganism, relationships, money and how it splits society, safety and the role of administration in it.
It feels good to be a fan. ”“In my own personal opinion the book “fever pitch” was not one of my favorites. I would not recommend this book to any of my friends. This book is about a “die hard” Arsenal soccer fan. During his life in the 1980’s he was living in the depression. This book is about his journals from when he was a kid growing up going and watching arsenal. This book honestly lost my attention while reading I am not planning on reading another book from the author Nick Hornby. I would not recommend this book to high schools or colleges. This book is for people who have a passion for Arsenal soccer team. ”
RyanC wrote this review Friday, January 11, 2013. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The football novel ever. Even to a Villa fan the Arsenal book expalins the whole football and man relationship so well. It shows that although it might not look that way life is more important than football.
Andy D wrote this review Wednesday, December 5, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
But memories of events in that amazing 1988/89 season make this book even more special.
Another book that influenced my own writing.”
“Quite refreshing to read a non-fiction. This book has all the charm and Nick Hornby's writing style and I found it helped me to appreciate his fiction more. As far as books about football go I found I could relate to the book quite well. Nick Hornby appeals to the fandom fever regardless of the subject. I also particularly liked his analysis into gender differences in fandom and I find it to have some merit even 20 years later.”
Crissy Payne wrote this review Tuesday, November 6, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Not as funny as advertised. Good. If you didn't know anything about soccer, would've been a hard read. Pretty good view from fans perspective from the 70s and 80s. ”
theBatCave wrote this review Thursday, September 6, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“a great book to read for any dedicated fan of a sports team describing the agonies and ecstasies (and how funny it can all be from the outside looking in) of following that one team ”
This Old Guy wrote this review Thursday, August 16, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Of course, I got this book as present when I was fifteen, so I first read it back in the early nineties soon after it was published - if I remember correctly I read some of it on a bench in a churchyard during my lunch-break at my school work-experience placement. Re-reading it again as a 25yr old, some of the sports obsessiveness seemed a little immature, but it is a touching and honest little memoir about being an Arsenal fan - with enough cultural reference to keep me involved.”
Monkey Davies wrote this review Saturday, August 11, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I enjoyed this book, although as someone who is also a huge sports fan (and in particular, a lifelong die-hard fan of one particular team), probably not as much as I expected to. And ultimately, I think that's because I'm nowhere near as much of a die-hard as Hornby is, and so didn't identify with his pathologies. I'm analytical enough to not believe that my actions have any influence on the outcome of games, and also to evaluate my team's, and other teams', players with at least some degree of objectivity. Hornby, on the other hand, points out that he'd never want to be a sportswriter, because he doesn't have any desire to be objective.
Amber M wrote this review Tuesday, July 17, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Nonetheless, he does hit on a couple points that I think any sports fan will identify with--like when he writes "I fell in love with football as I was later to fall in love with women: suddenly, inexplicably, uncritically, giving no thought to the pain or disruption it would bring with it." And as well his description of sports as a kind of lingua franca, that allowed him to make friends and converse with strangers.
His complaints about corporatization of sports, and about the impact of television on sports, though, haven't really aged well with time--given the massive success of the Premier League (globally, in particular) in the 20 years since the book was written.
But this book is, unsurprisingly given the author's subsequent success, very well written, and it's also easy to read and entertaining. ”
