Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30554 in Books
• Published on: 1999-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 188 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The first page of this excellent debut novel shows a map of Birkenhead featuring the Tranmere Rovers football ground, the train line to Wrexham and an arrow pointing to Chester. Not exactly the definition of chic? Well in 1979, it wasn't far off. Awaydays is about "The Pack", a gang of Tranmere Rovers Hooligans who terrorise those northern towns unfortunate enough to have a third division football team. But Awaydays is also about the implications of Margaret Thatcher's first government, the music of Joy Division and the Only Ones, youth unemployment, the explosion of heroin use, the rise of the casual street movement and what young people do when the world gets tough. The protagonist is caught between two worlds. Called Carty by the lads in the Pack and Paul by his family, he has nine O- Levels and acknowledges a tendency to "lay the accent on a bit thick when I'm with the pack, but I modulate it for all sorts of situations. I can go very posh indeed". When his worlds inevitably collide Carty is forced to making a life-changing decision. Should he stay or should he go? Take an Awayday and find out.

Synopsis
It's 1979 and, in Birkenhead, smack and Maggie Thatcher are still less of an issue than Lois jeans and Adidas Forest Hills trainers. For Paul Carty, 19, life revolves around The Pack, a violent mob which follows Tranmere Rovers around the northern wasteland - but is he getting bored with it all?

Customer Reviews

Nasty Stuff, Brilliantly told.
The review title is shamelessly lifted from the front cover of this superbly well observed piece, one sadly never replicated by Sampson in his latter works.
Birkenhead in 1979 was just as he describes, the post-punk lethargy and the beginnings of the Heroin influx which led to the Wirrals' Capital Town being re-named euphemistically "Smack City". The internicine wars between the WEBB (Woodchurch Estate Boot Boys") the Noctorum and Ford estate equivalents all set aside when Tranmere played away.
Sampson pulls off a rare trick in this,his first,novel, that of being able to evoke a real sense of the young Paul Cartys need to belong to "The pack" whilst simulaneously wanting to be his own man.Cartys journey is a metaphor for many young mens transition from boy to man only his route is a tad more extreme.
Sampson has also translated his Love for the period very well and the references to the Liverpool underground scene via probe Records and Erics take this reader almost literally back in time.
The Violence he describes is almost Gonzo, but I'll forgive him this because the context is correct, you see Sampson takes you to a point where these smartly dressed and stylish lads..well, you want them to win against their unfashionably dressed opponents with, well, style.

For fans of 80's youth culture this is a must have, for students of modern post industrial history this is a must have and for those who just love a fast moving gory youth piece, this is a must have.

Great Read
If you like good modern British writers the you can't go far wrong with a Kevin Sampson book. A very easy book to read (like his others) with everyday English language. If you like writers such as 'John King', 'Colin Bateman', 'Colin Butts' or 'Irvine Welsh', you'll like this.

A book for the Wirral
Yes there'a a million and one books writen by clumsy band-wagon jumpers glorifying 70s hooliganism they probably weren't involved in, but this is not one. Speaking from personal experience, the subtleties of Wirral boroughs and casual couture are absolutely spot on, betraying the author's encyclopaedic knowledge. With a fluent tone throughout, this is a short but fascinating book by a great young author.