For many people watching football is mere entertainment, to some it's more like a ritual; but to others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself. For Nick Hornby, his devotion to the game has provided one of few constants in a life where the meaningful things - like growing up, leaving home, and forming relationships, both parental and romantic - have rarely been as simple or as uncomplicated as his love for Arsenal. Fever Pitch is his tribute to a lifelong obsession. Part autobiography, part comedy, part incisive analysis of insanity, Hornby's award-winning memoir captures the fever pitch of fandom — its agony and ecstasy, its community, and its defining role in thousands of young men's coming-of-age stories. Fever Pitch is one for the home team. But above all, it is one for everyone who knows what it really means to have a losing season.
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0I started this book because even though I finally found the courage to start the Goldfinch a few days before I realized I needed something much more lighthearted to read during an exams session, and I had no idea of what this book was like. It's the second time I buy a book by Hornby expecting a novel and then it turns out to be something else - but I must say that this time as well I haven't been let down because this book is SO FUNNY. It's hardly a book about sports at all: it talks about his own life and how it tangles with his obsession for Arsenal, most specifically about the hard life of the football maniac (or fan, as he points out that attending every home game of your favourite team is hardly the worst one can do) and the ups and downs (mostly downs) of being a football fan in England.
I know about football as much as anyone else born in Italy does, and although I enjoy it on a certain extent I'm far from being an expert of it, let alone the English teams and attitude towards it. But the best thing about this book is that you really don't need to know anything about it to enjoy the book. He does sometimes refer to specific actions and details, but he's also extremely good to let you understand without ending up being too scholastic or boring. You just need to have a vague idea about how it works. Hornby does all the rest, describing the degrees of madness that define obsessed fans like himself. I feel that you can actually relate to what he feels and thinks regardless of the object of your obsession.
I'm pretty sure Hornby would be able to make any subject entertaining and funny. There were parts in which I was positively giggling but although he seldom ever talks about silly or stupid episodes he manages to make even moments of utter despair (from a footballing point of view) desperately funny.
So even if you don't know anything about the subject I definitely recommend it. I just hope next time I'll manage to read an actual novel by him.
0After 4 years of sitting on my currently reading shelf , and 4/5 through this book, I give up. I had something totally different in mind when I started this, since this book inspired The Perfect Catch , but let's just say this wasn't a romantic comedy.
I was stubborn enough to keep it on my shelf for this long, but I have to admit defeat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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