Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch is not a typical memoir--there are no chapters, just a series of match reports falling into three time frames (childhood, young adulthood, manhood). While watching the May 2, 1972, Reading v. Arsenal match, it became embarrassingly obvious to the then 15-year-old that his white, suburban, middle-class roots made him a wimp with no sense of identity: "Yorkshire men, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish, blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about." But a boy from Maidenhead could only dream of coming from a place with "its own tube station and West Indian community and terrible, insoluble social problems."

Fever Pitch reveals the very special intricacies of British football, which readers new to the game will find astonishing, and which Hornby presents with remarkable humor and honesty--the "unique" chants sung at matches, the cold rain-soaked terraces, giant cans of warm beer, the trains known as football specials carrying fans to and from matches in prisonlike conditions, bottles smashing on the tracks, thousands of policemen waiting in anticipation for the cargo of hooligans. The sport and one team in particular have crept into every aspect of Hornby's life--making him see the world through Arsenal-tinted spectacles. --Naomi Gesinger

Spotlight Reviews
Not Just for Arsenal Supporters (2009-01-02)
Customer Review : 5
Hornby's novel has a timeless feel to it. Even though it captures key moments from his coming-of-age and experiences supporting Arsenal, the story could be about any supporter supporting any club. There is something about the novel that makes the reader feel that this novel will probably be relevant for years to come as football supporters in the future will likely experience the same emotions that Hornby describes. Further, the novel is able to describe the life and mentality of a football supporter, a passion and dedication that is universal regardless of place and time (since the invention and mass marketing of the game, at least).
If you are a football supporter, you will be able to relate to Hornby's book. If you know of someone who loves his/her football and lives for it, you will be able to see bits of your friend/relative through Hornby. Even if you do not know of football or care for it, Hornby's novel is a good read that will encapsulate you. Just don't let it make an Arsenal supporter of you!

Even if You Hate the Gunners (2008-08-27)
Customer Review : 5
Brillant book... Almost wet my pants a few times. I relate a million percent to the obsession...

Its football... Its my life... And I am American...

Probably the best book ever about football (2008-07-23)
Customer Review : 4
Nick Hornby's warm autobiographical book deals with his life as a football fan from 1968 (when he was a teenager) until 1992, especifically as he supported his beloved Arsenal during that time. There's some good insights about football culture (for a true football fan, football is not really an entertainment, a concept that is probably hard to understand in the US, where sports are just a part of the entertainment business) as well as football tactics (there are few good passers in the sports, he says, as hard as this might be to believe to outsiders; Liam Brady, one of his favorite players, was that rare player, a great passer). Each of the chapters (so to call them) deals with a particular football match that he remembers during that period. And along football, he also makes comments on his relationships, be it with his family or with girlfriends. What Hornby tells is the story of traditional English football in its last throes, a time when hooliganism ruled, but when it also was a genuine, integral pastime of the English people. When the Premiere League was established (in 1992, the year this book ends), and the megamoney and the huge tv contracts came along, and some clubs (like, say, Arsenal) did not put in the field a single English player, it became more of a commercial business and less of a cultural phenomenon. And while I like football, it's hard not to come out from reading this book with the impression that being a football fan at the level Hornby was is not a colossal waste of time.

Great book for any football fan!!! (2007-11-01)
Customer Review : 5
This is simply put, a great book. I have been a fan of football for a few years now and have to admit I am always interested to read or hear about people experiences. More importantly I was always interested in how people picked their team and the life of an English fan. This is a very well written version of how someone became a life long football fan. It will keep you laughing and show you exactly how important football and sports in general can be to people.

1 Warning: Do not buy this book simply because you enjoy Nick Hornby. This is a book about a football fan, not a novel. That being said if you enjoy football, or sports, and a good witty read, this book is for you!

Insughtful: another Hornby winner! (2007-09-10)
Customer Review : 4
I pretty much hate all forms of football. The fact that I read a book about football (to the British, that is: the rest of the world calls it soccer) from cover to cover, smirking, chuckling and at times laughing out loud, attests, once again, to the talent of Nick Hornby as a wordsmith. This book is witty and clever, incredibly insightful about obsession and definitely worth a read!