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Pack Men
What would make you want to go back? Friendship? Family? Football? What if going back meant actually enjoying being one of the lads again, on a bus rocking with familiar football songs? Having to deal with old tensions simmering among you all? Or finding yourself trapped in a pitched battle between fans and police?
- GenresFiction
263 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
June 30, 2012
Yet more evidence for my theory that Bissett is the younger, more working-class Iain Banks. I've always been something of a footballing atheist and as such the weird pantomime of Scottish football sectarianism is not something I've ever been able to understand (save to say that I can't see anything about either religion or football which would be improved by mixing them) but from a distance, I'd say Bissett does a great job of getting under the skin of the rabid fitba fan (certainly, having once, for reasons too longwinded to go into, having found myself in a coach full of drunken England fans in Germany, it rang all too true). Thought the dust-jacket needed editing to deal with a massive plot spoiler though, and its not quite as good as Death of a Ladies Man...
July 7, 2021
This was a great book and I had put it off for a while assuming Bissett’s writing style and for some reason, stupidly, me not being drawn in by the cover.
How wrong was I.
Yes it’s about football hooliganism and supporters which I’m not big on and despise partly but this book only has this as one of its ingredients, and definitely not the main one or theme.
Kind of like how people consider Welsh’s Trainspotting is all about drugs: it’s not but that is one of the main ingredients running through all the characters.
I found in this book, my second Bissett after the wonderful Adam Spark, Pack Men had similar lingo to Welsh’s books which I can see how people may see it being copied but it’s not insofar as the writing style is very different as well as the topics and characters. Not as beautifully crafted as Welsh but still incredibly real and relatable.
I had also noticed Bissett used analogies on many numerous occassions which were all great but some could feel it could be a bit repetitive and possibly that Bissett found something he really liked and thought cool so just did it all the time.
(Note: ill add examples for the above later)
I really enjoyed this book and hadn’t realised it was a sequel to BoyRacers which I’m keen to read more of Bissett now.
How wrong was I.
Yes it’s about football hooliganism and supporters which I’m not big on and despise partly but this book only has this as one of its ingredients, and definitely not the main one or theme.
Kind of like how people consider Welsh’s Trainspotting is all about drugs: it’s not but that is one of the main ingredients running through all the characters.
I found in this book, my second Bissett after the wonderful Adam Spark, Pack Men had similar lingo to Welsh’s books which I can see how people may see it being copied but it’s not insofar as the writing style is very different as well as the topics and characters. Not as beautifully crafted as Welsh but still incredibly real and relatable.
I had also noticed Bissett used analogies on many numerous occassions which were all great but some could feel it could be a bit repetitive and possibly that Bissett found something he really liked and thought cool so just did it all the time.
(Note: ill add examples for the above later)
I really enjoyed this book and hadn’t realised it was a sequel to BoyRacers which I’m keen to read more of Bissett now.
September 15, 2022
In 2008 Glasgow Rangers FC reached a major European final.
That is the sentence that made me pick up and buy this book.
Firstly, I am not a Rangers FC fan. In contrast, I am actually watching Celtic FC games every weekend even though I can't really call myself a fan since watching their game is optional for me.
Secondly, I am a big football fan, any book that has a football element will easily catch my attention.
Thirdly, I didn't read the rest of the synopsis, so it threw me a bit when I realised this is not (just) about a European final.
Sectarianism is always a big topic in Scottish football (or fitba) since they have a long long history of it. And when it comes to it, the topics of one's philosophy, beliefs, and sexual preference will usually also come to the surface. As a football fan and a reader, it feels nice to read a book about this. Because I know that however taboo these topics are, however archaic the football community is when acknowledging these topics, this is happening behind the scene. Some Rangers fans got an epiphany when visiting the Catholic Church and some football fans come watching a game across the country merely for the brotherhood.
In the end, football can be just a reason to take a breather, to remember who we were back when we were 13, to come back home or bring it with you when your home is a group of people, and to find yourself while you're at it.
That is the sentence that made me pick up and buy this book.
Firstly, I am not a Rangers FC fan. In contrast, I am actually watching Celtic FC games every weekend even though I can't really call myself a fan since watching their game is optional for me.
Secondly, I am a big football fan, any book that has a football element will easily catch my attention.
Thirdly, I didn't read the rest of the synopsis, so it threw me a bit when I realised this is not (just) about a European final.
Sectarianism is always a big topic in Scottish football (or fitba) since they have a long long history of it. And when it comes to it, the topics of one's philosophy, beliefs, and sexual preference will usually also come to the surface. As a football fan and a reader, it feels nice to read a book about this. Because I know that however taboo these topics are, however archaic the football community is when acknowledging these topics, this is happening behind the scene. Some Rangers fans got an epiphany when visiting the Catholic Church and some football fans come watching a game across the country merely for the brotherhood.
In the end, football can be just a reason to take a breather, to remember who we were back when we were 13, to come back home or bring it with you when your home is a group of people, and to find yourself while you're at it.
January 10, 2025
A few scenes stick particularly in the mind from this absorbing novel about Scots, football and male bonding (without giving spoilers).
A small boy sits on a bus full of his father's rowdy, tipsy friends, all convivially journeying to a football match, and his father attempts to explain to the boy what he ought not to have heard.
A crowd, turning restive, finds itself boxed in by riot police. A police officer warns a wild young man, "Don't swear at me", then, when the warning goes unheeded, responds with great force.
A young man, the central character, nurses a secret.
Highly recommended (and I enjoyed it despite having no interest in football).
A small boy sits on a bus full of his father's rowdy, tipsy friends, all convivially journeying to a football match, and his father attempts to explain to the boy what he ought not to have heard.
A crowd, turning restive, finds itself boxed in by riot police. A police officer warns a wild young man, "Don't swear at me", then, when the warning goes unheeded, responds with great force.
A young man, the central character, nurses a secret.
Highly recommended (and I enjoyed it despite having no interest in football).
July 14, 2019
Was it for me?
Anything deep and scholarly I usually swerve and grab the nearest bit of crime of the shelf instead.
But since my daughter played a part in the local am-dram group and I learnt Bissett had written the script I felt compelled to read one of his books.
I thought the characterisation was brilliant. And the tension suffocating. I now have the strange desire to visit Falkirk- and to read more Bissett.
Anything deep and scholarly I usually swerve and grab the nearest bit of crime of the shelf instead.
But since my daughter played a part in the local am-dram group and I learnt Bissett had written the script I felt compelled to read one of his books.
I thought the characterisation was brilliant. And the tension suffocating. I now have the strange desire to visit Falkirk- and to read more Bissett.
October 30, 2018
Never judge a book by it's cover, nor by its subject matter. If anyone told me I'd love a book primarily about a UEFA cup final I'd have considered them mad. But love it I did. One of the most enjoyable, honest and relatable books I've ever read. Not for the football but for the cleverly tackled (see what I did there!) themes and issues addressed.
Read
June 20, 2020Another belter from Alan Bissett. I'm not a Rangers fan and I've never been to a football match, but I've now experienced both. Alan Bissett has a knack for pulling the reader into his story to join his characters on their many adventures. I don't read his books, I live them.
August 2, 2018
How can you not love a book that mentions Red Dwarf?! :D
This also brought back great memories of travelling to hockey away games although the violence was always on the ice. Well, mostly.....
This also brought back great memories of travelling to hockey away games although the violence was always on the ice. Well, mostly.....
November 19, 2012
PACK MEN, by Alan Bissett
Pack Men is Scottish writer and playwright Alan Bisset's fourth novel. A group of friends, Rangers supporters from Falkirk, make their way to Manchester in a hired minibus to see their team compete in the 2008 UEFA Cup final. The journey down the M6 introduces us to the narrator, Alvin a recent graduate disillusioned with his life in Edinburgh and his old mates: dependable Martin with his 7-year old boy in tow and his best friend, Frannie, loyal but relatively unreconstructed. Cage, a brawny hardcore bigot and his flirty middle aged wife also feature heavily.
Setting the tone early, the first page hits us with the most famous sectarian ditty in the extensive repertoire of the Rangers legions. Music plays a big part in the early stages. Disagreements over what musical soundtrack will accompany the Bears down south begets a examination of the pseudo-religious prejudices of many people in Scotland.
Being a Scottish novel, there are copious quantities of bevvy consumed throughout. Early on in Manchester, the banter is hilarious if slightly predictable as it dawns on the gang that they are drinking in the city's gay-friendly Canal Street area. This is the calm before the riot; when the giant video screen in the Fans Zone fails, tens of thousands are left frustrated, drunk and stranded with no where to watch the match. Mayhem ensues. Unaware it has gotten nasty in some parts of the city, the guys squeeze into a bar, get even more inebriated and the issue of how far Alvin and his mates have drifted apart, or not, comes to a head. The big match and Rangers defeat become a side issue.
Telling the story of the trip to Manchester in the present tense gives the events a sense of immediacy and excitement. Interwoven are flashbacks highlighting Alvin's troubled teenage home life and his four years at the place where he finds liberation – Stirling University campus. Alvin's big secret emerges towards the end and leads to an encounter between Alvin and Frannie that is moving, almost tender.
Pack Men is ostensibly a modern Scottish road trip laced with sarcastic humour and written with verve and confidence. But it also deals with serious social issues in Scotland as well as the changing nature of friendship. As a Celtic fan for over 40 years, this book made me somewhat uncomfortable; a couple of times I cringed and even felt my hackles rise. But it is not for that reason alone that I will be going back for more of Alan Bissett.
Pack Men is Scottish writer and playwright Alan Bisset's fourth novel. A group of friends, Rangers supporters from Falkirk, make their way to Manchester in a hired minibus to see their team compete in the 2008 UEFA Cup final. The journey down the M6 introduces us to the narrator, Alvin a recent graduate disillusioned with his life in Edinburgh and his old mates: dependable Martin with his 7-year old boy in tow and his best friend, Frannie, loyal but relatively unreconstructed. Cage, a brawny hardcore bigot and his flirty middle aged wife also feature heavily.
Setting the tone early, the first page hits us with the most famous sectarian ditty in the extensive repertoire of the Rangers legions. Music plays a big part in the early stages. Disagreements over what musical soundtrack will accompany the Bears down south begets a examination of the pseudo-religious prejudices of many people in Scotland.
Being a Scottish novel, there are copious quantities of bevvy consumed throughout. Early on in Manchester, the banter is hilarious if slightly predictable as it dawns on the gang that they are drinking in the city's gay-friendly Canal Street area. This is the calm before the riot; when the giant video screen in the Fans Zone fails, tens of thousands are left frustrated, drunk and stranded with no where to watch the match. Mayhem ensues. Unaware it has gotten nasty in some parts of the city, the guys squeeze into a bar, get even more inebriated and the issue of how far Alvin and his mates have drifted apart, or not, comes to a head. The big match and Rangers defeat become a side issue.
Telling the story of the trip to Manchester in the present tense gives the events a sense of immediacy and excitement. Interwoven are flashbacks highlighting Alvin's troubled teenage home life and his four years at the place where he finds liberation – Stirling University campus. Alvin's big secret emerges towards the end and leads to an encounter between Alvin and Frannie that is moving, almost tender.
Pack Men is ostensibly a modern Scottish road trip laced with sarcastic humour and written with verve and confidence. But it also deals with serious social issues in Scotland as well as the changing nature of friendship. As a Celtic fan for over 40 years, this book made me somewhat uncomfortable; a couple of times I cringed and even felt my hackles rise. But it is not for that reason alone that I will be going back for more of Alan Bissett.
July 6, 2012
I loved this book. Follows up the story of Alvin, Frannie, Dolby and Brian, started in Boyracers.
Tension starts immediately on the minibus down to Manchester to see the UEFA cup final between Rangers and Zenit in 2008. Over 100,000 Rangers fans are also travelling down and it is well recorded how this match and support of it ends. It is really atmospheric, I felt I was there on that day too and could feel the fear and tension mounting.
Alvin is not really a Rangers fan but wants to recreate some of the old camaraderie. Since leaving Falkirk for Stirling Uni he has drifted slightly and is struggling with where he wants to go in life.
The book covers alcoholism, sectarianism, sexuality and class. The Falkirk banter and humour is there throughout though. Good to see what has happened to the characters since Boyracers.
Tension starts immediately on the minibus down to Manchester to see the UEFA cup final between Rangers and Zenit in 2008. Over 100,000 Rangers fans are also travelling down and it is well recorded how this match and support of it ends. It is really atmospheric, I felt I was there on that day too and could feel the fear and tension mounting.
Alvin is not really a Rangers fan but wants to recreate some of the old camaraderie. Since leaving Falkirk for Stirling Uni he has drifted slightly and is struggling with where he wants to go in life.
The book covers alcoholism, sectarianism, sexuality and class. The Falkirk banter and humour is there throughout though. Good to see what has happened to the characters since Boyracers.
September 30, 2011
Sad, funny and hopeful, this book looks at Scots male bonding in the context of an historic football match over the border in England and where the city is unprepared for the mass invasion of Scots fans. It's Scottish Nationalism, football hooliganism, class mobility, and the meaning of growing up, moving on and the evolution of childhood friendships in Scottish vernacular. Alan Bissett is new Scots writing at its best.
March 19, 2012
I've never felt more Scottish than the night I propped up the bar at Pitlochry Festival Theatre, reading this book and sipping a can of irn bru... it's excellent, very funny and a nice look at the way people change but don't change when they escape small town Scotland for the bright lights of the big city.
November 7, 2012
Following characters from one of his earlier books who had all grown apart and now come together for a roadtrip to see Rangers in the UEFA cup final in Manchester. At times some of the characters felt a wee bit thinly written and two-dimensional but other moments had a more genuine and rounded feel. Are there so many self-aware Rangers fans out there as are portrayed in the book? Perhaps.
June 10, 2014
With all the themes, characters, flashbacks, popular references, and other happenings, Bissett may have bitten off more than he can chew. Even being a bit unwieldy, however, the novel takes hold and you find yourself surprised how the personal concerns of the protagonist connect with the larger concerns of Scotland as a nation.
September 11, 2011
Excellent, his best novel to date! Brilliant portrayal of the uncertainty of 'Being a MAN' coupled with exciting twists and flashbacks of university life. Also loved returning to the characters in Bissett's first novel and discovering how their lives turned out.
November 17, 2014
"A unique and special novel. I honestly haven't read anything as impressive as this from a Scottish writer in yonks"
(Irvine Welsh)
Well you must have reading some shite Irvine because this book is pure pish !!
(Irvine Welsh)
Well you must have reading some shite Irvine because this book is pure pish !!
April 10, 2015
Would have given this a solid 3.5 stars if I could have. Was my first book from this author and it was very Scottish, which I liked. The writing style took some getting used to though.
September 29, 2012
Loved this book. Made me laugh out loud in some parts and emotional in others. I loved the characters, even the ones that didn't seem very loveable when first introduced.
April 11, 2016
Excellent book! Darkly funny and also very touching in parts.
March 24, 2012
Pure awesomeness !!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews