Nick Hornby has long been one of my favorites, so I figured that it was about time that I read his first book (also, I got it at Recycled Books in Denton, which is the best place to find pretty much anything). Fever Pitch is a really insightful memoir. Sure, it is about soccer (which I have to agree with the British, should really be called football), but what Hornby does is weave his life so seamlessly into his experiences at the Arsenal pitch so well that he keeps the reader interested.
The parallels to Arsenal's (his team) season and the seasons of Hornby's life are certainly there and certainly not veiled, but in fact, are often pointed out by the author. The humor is classic Hornby, especially classic in the sense that his memoir sets out the humor that we, the readers, are to see in his later books. The biting wit and sarcasm comes through the page as bright as ever.
The book certainly features the character of Nick Hornby, but I would argue that perhaps bigger characters are the Arsenal squad, the Arsenal pitch, and the Arsenal crowds. Hornby's name as a character is mentioned but a few times in the book. Hornby tries to convey himself through the events at the matches that he is chronicling. I found that it was important after each section to consider what the football event could mean for Hornby.
I am certainly no more interested in soccer than I was at the beginning of the book. I think watching soccer is as boring as hell, if truth be told, but I would still recommend this book to most anybody. In all reality, I was excited to see the names of English soccer teams tick across the bottom of ESPN the other day and see that I retained some knowledge of the events and teams that participated in the book. It is really one of the best memoirs I have ever read, and any Hornby that is new to me is good Hornby.
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