Awaydays by Kevin Sampson
Awaydays by Kevin Sampson
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Thursday, 30, Apr 2009 05:29
Vintage, out May 7th.
In a nutshell...
A violent, visceral and thrilling ride through lower league football hooliganism.
What's it all about?
Paul Carty and mate Elvis lead a cast of Tranmere Rovers supporters known as 'The Pack' who take more pleasure in the pre-match scuffles than the beautiful game itself. Set against a backdrop of Thatcherism and Joy Division in the late 1970s, the two teenagers soon begin to question the point of it all.
Who's it by?
Native Merseysider Kevin Sampson came into the public eye with Awaydays, his debut novel, before following up with the one-two punch of Powder and Outlaws. Interestingly, he also managed Scouse rockers the Farm.
As an example...
"Christmas! Just around the corner yet I've barely given it a thought. Office parties! Sex in stationary cupboards with married prudes! Crewe Alexandra away!" - Paul Mull lays down what the festive season has in store for The Pack.
Likelihood of becoming a Hollywood blockbuster
You can put your house on it. So much so in fact it's out on May 22nd, starring This is England hard man Stephen Graham.
What the others say
"An excellent debut novel... nasty stuff, brilliantly told." - the Guardian
"A gritty novel... with wit and humour at every turn." - Maxim
So is it any good?
While perhaps too fresh in the mind for some to yet be truly explored as a narrative subject, football violence has yielded mixed results in film adaptation. Ranging from the grainy, documentary-esque The Firm to the shockingly terrible Football Factory and Green Street, it is perhaps too slippery and sensitive to take a hold of.
But where the latter two failed miserably, Kevin Sampson's Awaydays is a compelling, complex and bloody victory.
Blending some of the best, nastiest ingredients of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club, Sampson plunges the reader into all the pointless and bloodthirsty thrills of sports hooliganism. While glorifying the visceral satisfaction of the violence in its initial bouts, Awaydays soon exposes the addictive and ultimately depressing nature of the activity.
Sampson's portrayal of the north-west under Thatcher's government is also a convincing, if grim one. Much of the culture of the time is depicted as disposable and purely materials, from the hairstyles, Peter Storm shirts and eager women. Alongside the romanticism of football violence, the narrative recalls the era as one that will seldom be remembered fondly.
Ultimately, Awaydays succeeds in depicting, if never explaining in too much detail, the impulsive and explosive instincts of a subculture which appears increasingly desperate and unjustifiable as the novel draws in to its bloody denouement.
8/10
Daniel Shane