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''The Rotters' Club'' is a 2001
novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
by British author Jonathan Coe. It is set in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
during the 1970s, and inspired by the author's experiences at King Edward's School, Birmingham. The title is taken from the album '' The Rotters' Club'' by experimental rock band Hatfield and the North. The book was followed by two sequels. The book contains one of the longest sentences in English literature, with 13,955 words. ''The Rotters' Club'' was inspired by Bohumil Hrabal's '' Dancing Lessons for the Advanced in Age'': a
Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...
novel that consisted of one great sentence.


Plot summary

Three teenage friends grow up in 1970s Britain watching their lives change as their world gets involved with IRA bombs, progressive and
punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
, girls and political strikes.


Characters

*Ben Trotter: A romantic musician and writer who has fallen for Cicely Boyd, the most beautiful pupil at the adjoining girls' school. *Philip Chase: Best friend of Ben. He is heavily into progressive rock and attempts to form a band named "
Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" fr ...
's Pikestaff". *Doug Anderton: A passionate writer and opinionated young man, Doug attempts to transfer the socialist values of his father Bill to his mostly middle-class school. *Claire Newman: Closest female friend of Benjamin, Philip and Doug, and the younger sister of Miriam. She has bitter feelings about religion due to the Christianity forced upon her and her sister by their ill-tempered father. *Colin Trotter: In middle management at
British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...
's
Longbridge plant The Longbridge plant is an industrial complex in Longbridge, Birmingham, England, currently leased by SAIC Motor, SAIC as a research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary. Vehicle assembly ended in 2016. Opened in 1905, by the lat ...
. He interacts obliquely with Derek Robinson or "Red Robbo" as he was dubbed by the media. *Sheila Trotter: Ben's mother. *Paul Trotter: Ben's younger brother. *Lois Trotter: Paul and Ben's sister. She attends the adjoining girls' school. *Malcolm: Amiable guitarist and self-professed 'Hairy Guy' Malcolm is Lois's boyfriend, whom she met when she answered his personal ad in the newspaper. *Bill Anderton: Shop steward at the Longbridge factory and an active Union man, he begins an affair with one of his colleagues, Miriam. *Irene Anderton: Bill's wife and Doug's mother. *Miriam Newman: The attractive secretary at the Longbridge factory. *Sam Chase: Philip's dad, who works as a bus driver; friend of Ben, Philip and Doug. *Barbara Chase: Wife of Sam and mother of Philip, she begins an affair with Miles Plumb, her son's art teacher. *Miles Plumb: The flamboyant art teacher at King William's, the school the teenagers attend. *Cicely Boyd: The most beautiful girl at the adjoining girls' school. She is the object of many of the boys' affections, particularly Ben Trotter's. *Sean Harding: Attends King William's. Harding is viewed as a practical joker. He writes letters to the school newspaper, ''The Billboard'', under the pseudonym Arthur Pusey-Hamilton.


Adaptation

In 2003, a four-part BBC Radio 4 adaptation written by Simon Littlefield was broadcast with David Tennant playing the part of Bill Anderton and Frank Skinner as Sam Trotter. In early 2005, a three-part television adaptation written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais was broadcast on
BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...
, starring Geoff Breton as Ben Trotter, Nicholas Shaw as Doug Anderton, Peter Bankole as Steve Richards, and Rasmus Hardiker as Phillip Chase. The UK indie band Neils Children featured as the band playing at the 'live' concert in the programme. The song used was one of their own, after the band turned down the song supplied by the musical director of the show.


Reception

In a 2002 review, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' praised The Rotters' Club as "richly constructed and brilliantly ornamented." ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' characterized the book as an "ambitious... moving, richly comic novel," according to the publisher's website. A review in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' was more ambivalent, critiquing Coe's tendency to introduce larger social and political issues into a coming-of-age story, arguing that various characters "undergo rites of passage that make no difference."


Sequels

Coe has published two sequels to the book. '' The Closed Circle'' picked up the characters' lives at the very end of the 1990s. '' Middle England'' opens in 2010 and addresses issues such as Brexit and climate change.


Influence

*The British Punk band The Rotters named themselves after the novel. The band was known for featuring a young Faris Badwan on drums.


References


External links


BBC2 adaptation of ''The Rotters' Club''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rotters Club, The 2001 British novels Novels by Jonathan Coe Novels set in Birmingham, West Midlands Fiction set in the 1970s Viking Press books Novels about music