Book of the Week

The Rotters’ Club by Jonathan Coe
Recommended by Alex Marshall

The Rotters’ Club was written by English novelist Jonathan Coe in 2001 and is set in 1970s Birmingham around the time of the IRA conflict, mining strikes and three-day week, car industry strikes and general industrial unrest.

The book is drawn from experiences during Coe’s time at school in the 1970s and the plot revolves around a group of friends at King William’s school and their experiences of growing up. Introduced by Sophie, the niece of the protagonist, some thirty years later, a more modern and nostalgic point of view is evident through the use of various narrators and perspectives throughout the book.

The novel starts on a ‘drizzly’ evening and Ben Trotter, the protagonist, is sat at home with his family by a ‘coal-effect fire’ doing his homework while his mother reads the newspaper. Ben is a studious, innocent member of his group of friends and shares a passion for rock music along with his friend, Philip. His sister, Lois, is busy looking for a man, and finds one, Malcolm, who is described as the ‘Hairy Guy’ in his own introduction in a personal advertisement. Much to Ben’s approval, Malcolm also shares a passion for music and they quickly form a strong bond. Lois’ and Malcolm’s relationship develops quickly, but [spoiler alert] tragedy separates the couple. Lois falls into a state of madness and Ben’s life will never be the same again.

At Ben’s school, we discover a similarly familiar scene to the one at home. Bullies, class clowns, forgotten swimming trunks and banter are all things that we can somewhat relate to and are features of Ben’s life. This is brought out by Coe’s witty and clever comical writing style, which often deploys ambiguity and unusual narrative technique. A key theme in the book is religion. What starts as a desperate call to God to ‘grant [Ben] this one wish’ of a pair of swimming trunks later turns into a true faith. Ben recalls once walking on the coast in Wales with his grandfather when they stopped to admire the view of the rolling hills and the sea. Ben’s grandfather asks, ‘Who could possibly look at this view...without believing in the existence of God?’ Ben remains in awe at this question and then goes on to reveal his true feelings about God. He believes that religious belief is a ‘private thing’ and a ‘wordless conspiracy between oneself and God’. Here, Coe has made clear that this is an essential part of the novel and something he finds very important. Furthermore, as Ben makes more extensive reflections on life, it is clear that he has changed and matured from the start of the story.

The Rotters’ Club holds the record for the longest sentence in English literature. The final section of the book, ‘Green Coaster’, is in fact one sentence, stretching over 40 pages and reaching a total of 13,955 words. This section is Ben’s reflection of his life so far and how happy he is. He is in love with a beautiful girl called Cicely and feels like ‘everything in the world [is] so funny’ and he is in ‘Paradise Place’. Ben has reached a point of complete happiness and the single sentence conveys the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with joy. This is a very satisfactory ending as throughout the book there have been numerous small stories going on between people in Ben’s world and in the end, it only comes down to his own story.

Just before the novel is quite over, we meet Sophie again who has told the entire story to Patrick, the son of one of Ben’s friends. They both agree that Ben was lucky to have ‘known happiness like that’. The final sentence is Sophie telling Patrick that ‘now it’s [his] turn’ to tell her a story. Coe is suggesting that Ben’s life is just a small part of the world and that if he was able to find happiness, ‘even for a moment’, everyone should be able to as well.