Jonathan Coe

Set in the Midlands and London over the last eight years, Jonathan Coe follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change and disruption in Britain. There are the early married years of Sophie and Ian who disagree about the future of Britain and, possibly, the future of their relationship; Sophie's grandfather whose final act is to send a postal vote for the European referendum; Doug, the political commentator, whose young daughter despairs of his lack of political nous and Doug's Remaining Tory politician partner who is savaged by the crazed trolls of Twitter. And within all these lives is the story of England itself: a story of nostalgia and irony; of friendship and rage, humour and intense bewilderment. As acutely alert to the absurdity of the political classes as he is compassionate about those who have been left behind, this is a novel Jonathan Coe was born to write.

Middle England

Arianna M

I've read this because it's part of my syllabus for a course, and struggled to get to the end. It's well written, mind you, but there wasn't a single character I could really enjoy reading about, which makes for some annoying reading.
Although this is the third book in a series, it stands pretty well on its own — whenever past events are referenced, you always get a couple lines of recap, which is clearly aimed at those who, like me, picked this up without having read the first two.
This is a book that makes a statement pro-Europe and against Brexit, even though the writer clearly understands the reasoning of those who are decidedly in favour of Brexit.

(view spoiler)[One scene I was frustrated by was Colin (Tory, old, middle class, Brexiter, etc) making a long speech on how workers did not have the same rights and opportunities as before and all I could think was "VOTE LABOUR THEN YOU IDIOT" but I just had to get to the end of the page and bear with him a little longer.

One scene I enjoyed (but then was angry about, because of the old Tories in it) is that featuring the London Olympics opening ceremony. I remember that still, it was beautiful. (hide spoiler)]

Klaus Eck

Andrea Bruno

Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by Poundland, and London, where frenzied riots give way to Olympic fever, Middle England follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change. There are newlyweds Ian and Sophie, who disagree about the future of the country and, possibly, the future of their relationship; Doug, the political commentator who writes impassioned columns about austerity from his Chelsea townhouse, and his radical teenage daughter who will stop at nothing in her quest for social justice; Benjamin Trotter, who embarks on an apparently doomed new career in middle age, and his father Colin, whose last wish is to vote in the European referendum. And within all these lives is the story of modern England- a story of nostalgia and delusion; of bewilderment and barely-suppressed rage. Following in the footsteps of The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle, Jonathan Coe's new novel is the novel for our strange new times.

Middle England

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