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The Closed Circle

By Jonathan Coe

(167)

| Paperback | 9780375713958

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Book Description

The characters of The Rotters’ Club–Jonathan Coe’s beloved novel of adolescent life in the 1970s–have bartered their innocence for the vengeance of middle age in this incisive portrait of Cool Britannia at the millennium.

Critics

  • Squaring the circle

    The Closed Circle by Jonathan Coe 433pp, Viking, £17.99 How do you incorporate contemporary events and culture into fiction? It is a question that much exercises one of Jonathan Coe's characters in The Closed Circle. Benjamin Trotter, last seen as a ... (read full critics)

    guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

  • The return of the rotters

    Finishing The Rotters’ Club and finding ‘there will be a sequel’ posted at the back was a bit of good news. As was finding that sequel on my doormat. And here’s more good news: The Closed Circle is terrific. Last seen on election night in 1979, the c ... (read full critics)

    spectator published on Fri, 17 Sep 2010

7 Reviews

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  • 4 people find this helpful

    Wake up dreamer
    It's happening without you
    Cut your hair and shave your beard
    You squandered your chances
    I'll give you a thousand pounds
    To show me how you do it
    Stop being so laissez-faire
    We're all scared of the future

    You've been away for a long time, let's say 20 years. You get to see y ... (continue)

    Wake up dreamer
    It's happening without you
    Cut your hair and shave your beard
    You squandered your chances
    I'll give you a thousand pounds
    To show me how you do it
    Stop being so laissez-faire
    We're all scared of the future

    You've been away for a long time, let's say 20 years. You get to see your old friends. You're very happy to see them, but they're different people than the ones you left.
    Benjamin is the one who worries you the most. You want to shake him and tell him to wake up. In a way, he's not changed a bit, but at the same time you don't recognize him anymore, and there's not that intimacy between you anymore, so you don't say anything. He looks sad.
    Philip was the quiet one, never complaining, and seems satisfied with his life. It's good to see him, but he never was your favourite, was he?
    Doug is in London, living the dream (well, sorta). He's married with children and has a good career; charming as ever, you find that you still have a soft spot for him; seems like he couldn't ask for more from life, but you can't help thinking that he would have been better off with Claire. Yes, Claire, finally. She's the same, and you like her even more than before, if that's possible. At least she doesn't disappoint.
    And everybody keeps talking about Paul. At first it's interesting to learn what happened to Ben's creepy brother, but then you remember that he wasn't your friend, that you didn't like him; in fact everybody hated him, so you don't understand why so much attention.
    And in the end, you think that you love these people still, but it would have been better not to see them like this. Sometimes it's better to just hold on to the memories.

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    Claire N. said on Jun 5, 2010 | 2 feedbacks

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Bittersweet sequel

    Terrific novel, even tho the bittersweet development of stories, namely relationships between characters, not to mention the ending, induces delusion into readers who loved Rotters Club. Especially if they were youngsters in the late 70s and early 80s.

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    Anatole Pierre Fuksas said on Aug 31, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    Not as good as The rotter's club, but Coe is always a pleasant read, and I definitely wanted to know how the story ended!

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    Miss Piggott said on Aug 9, 2007 | Add your feedback

  • Aw, Paul Trotter, what have you turned into...
    In this follow up to The Rotters' Club Paul's character is the only one that I really struggled to reconcile with his younger version in the former book. The 'creepy little thing' turned MP for New Labour has lost a lot of his scariness and becom ... (continue)

    Aw, Paul Trotter, what have you turned into...
    In this follow up to The Rotters' Club Paul's character is the only one that I really struggled to reconcile with his younger version in the former book. The 'creepy little thing' turned MP for New Labour has lost a lot of his scariness and become a laughable figure. A bit of disappointment there is inevitable, for a lover of black humour like me.
    In fact, a lot of the characters haven't (yet) fulfilled the promises they had as teenagers, and we find them twenty-five years or so down the line struggling to scrape even for a little bit of contentment. Disillusioned, bitter, somewhat tired, it is indeed somewhat saddening to read about the many ways in which life has made all of them somewhat unhappy.
    It is, however, a hugely entertaining, funny, well crafted book, in which Jonathan Coe's skills as a narrator, as a master of plots, conjure up a novel of many impossible coincidences and surprises, spiced with warming humour and humanity. And a novel that, despite its lighter tone at times, has indeed a lot to say about today's Britain, about politics and people, and about life, in general.

    I have read this book at a moment when I needed something to distract my mind from things that were not going so well in my own life - and Heaven knows how many times I have thanked God that Jonathan Coe exists whilst I was reading it! His books might not save your life, but they will certainly help you recover some of that faith in it that we all need to get by.

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    Blueskiesfrompain said on Jul 25, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • The Texasville Effect

    Much like Texasville was to Last Picture Show, this sequel pales in comparison to The Rotters' Club, but I took so much pleasure in re-visiting these characters.

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    Kip said on May 9, 2008 | Add your feedback

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9780375713958 Paperback $14.00 $12.60 bn.com
$16.95 $11.99 The Book Depository
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