Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Rotters' Club cover art

The Rotters' Club

By: Jonathan Coe
Narrated by: Nicholas Burns
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Brief cover art
Crossing the Lines cover art
Ed Reardon's Week: Series 1-4 cover art
Staying On cover art
A House for Mr. Biswas cover art
Blue Sky Adam cover art
And the Land Lay Still cover art
The Dandelion Years cover art
Curious cover art

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.  

Unforgettably funny and painfully honest, Jonathan Coe's tale of Benjamin Trotter and his friends' coming of age during the 1970s is a heartfelt celebration of the joys and agonies of growing up.    

Featuring, among other things, IRA bombs, prog rock, punk rock, bad poetry, first love, love on the side, prefects, detention, a few bottles of Blue Nun, lots of brown wallpaper, industrial strife, and divine intervention in the form of a pair of swimming trunks.    

Set against the backdrop of the decade's class struggles, tragic and riotous by turns, packed with thwarted romance and furtive sex, The Rotters' Club is for anyone who ever experienced adolescence the hard way.

©2019 Jonathan Coe (P)2019 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Rotters' Club

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    74
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    69
  • 4 Stars
    22
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    61
  • 4 Stars
    27
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Uncomfortable to listen to

Couldn't finish this - and I really did try. For me, it's a sort of very poor version of Adrian Mole with a lot of uncomfortable scenes. I did recognise and "get" the 1970's slant, but not with a sense of nostalgia - just a lot of embarrassing references which are best left back where they belong. I was looking forward to reading this as it was reviewed as a humourous coming of age novel, but was very disappointed. Not one for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful book

If you grew up in the UK in the 1970s this well-narrated book sums up that decade in all its pain and glory. If you didn’t, it’s a great story about love, loss, growing up and the politics that put us on the path to where we are today.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good romp, but...

I enjoyed this book overall, there were some terrific laugh out loud moments, plus some poignant ones. I think it was too long and some chapters just seemed to ramble uncontrollably and tediously (I realise this was part of the characterisation in some instances!) but it needed some severe editing. Enjoyable though and I will try some further Jonathan Coe novels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb from start to finish

A brilliant set of tales from people growing up in the 1970s. Full of emotion, humour and tragedy, this is a book that will live with you for years.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly written, brilliantly narrated.

Can definitely recommend, thoughtfully structured and written. Funny, interesting, and animated characters. It’s a nice story, one you can look forward to and enjoy being involved in, and it describes a familiar and personal world.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A funny-sad novel about growing up in 70s Birmingham

The characters are fully drawn and the change of narrative viewpoint is refreshing
There are so many resonances with the 70s and how different things were then
Just before punk and Thatcher
Music references that would quickly seem prehistoric. Other political and personal perspectives more contemporary

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant!!

Transported me back to the 70s and the growing pains of teen-hood. Coe is a master of social commentary and his characters simply leap out of the page. Simply brilliant.

Can’t wait to read book2 and continue the journey.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Funny and dark at the same time

I read this book many years ago and absolutely loved it.
Listening to it again it’s still a gem of wit.
One his best books in my opinion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb! I don’t mind leaving a review..

Superb in every way. I love Jonathan Cow’s writing and this is my favourite. The reader was perfect so highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Oh hum, here we go again

l'm the reader, not the writer, why do I have to put words when I only want to give a star rating?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!