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Untorn Tickets
Dave and Andy are two classmates from a strict Catholic School in 70s London. Dave is desperate to escape his stifling Irish home life and Andy the cultural trappings of his traditional Polish family. Both dream of opportunities afforded to the strangers on the silver screen. And by chance, they end up working part-time in their local cinema in Notting Hill. They soon discover that being heroes of their own lives and impressing the stars on the ground is a challenge. They embark on a voyage of discovery far more exciting than anything they've seen on film. But when the cinema is threatened with closure, they realise that more than their new found freedom is at risk!
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published July 4, 2002
2 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Paul Burke
53 books14 followersHis advertising work has won him almost every award in industry including campaigns for Barclaycard, VW, PG Tips, British Gas and Budweiser. At the same time he pursued a parallel career as a DJ on radio, in clubs and has worked for LBC, GLR and Heart 106.2. He has also written for the Guardian, Tatler and The Sunday Times.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 27, 2023
This has no plot
Although there were parts that were interesting and funny, the sad thing is that there were just so much unnecessary stuff written in the novel and found myself flicking through pages of boring parts that weren’t even relevant.
Although there were parts that were interesting and funny, the sad thing is that there were just so much unnecessary stuff written in the novel and found myself flicking through pages of boring parts that weren’t even relevant.
May 16, 2021
Essentially a coming of age tale.
Notting Hill 1978, the story focuses on Andy Zymancyk and Dave Kelly the teenage offspring of staunchly Catholic Polish and Irish families. Both are pupils of St Bede's Roman Catholic Grammar School for Boys, an institution whose "manifesto of academic and sporting excellence, religious fervour and iron discipline" is described by headmaster, Father "Johnny Mac" McLafferty, as "work hard, play hard and pray hard".
Part-time jobs in Westbourne Grove's Gaumont Cinema provide the boys with rather a different kind of education which changes their lives in more ways than they can imagine.
They become friends and together develop a scam whereby they resell untorn cinema tickets and recycle coke cups to supplement their meagre wages--just the thing when old soul 45s, mod suits, Vespa scooters, Ford Cortinas and girls appear infinitely more interesting than school work and Catholic piety.
At the cinema, Dave meets and falls in love with Rachel, a glamorous Jewish girl, who, like him, craves freedom from unquestioning religious conformity. Andy too is in love, unfortunately, the recipient of his infatuation is his cousin, Alison.
With schemes afoot to transform St Bede's sixth form into a separate college, and plans to turn the Gaumont into a bingo hall, the future looks less than rosy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's very funny, poignant and nostalgic with great characters.
Notting Hill 1978, the story focuses on Andy Zymancyk and Dave Kelly the teenage offspring of staunchly Catholic Polish and Irish families. Both are pupils of St Bede's Roman Catholic Grammar School for Boys, an institution whose "manifesto of academic and sporting excellence, religious fervour and iron discipline" is described by headmaster, Father "Johnny Mac" McLafferty, as "work hard, play hard and pray hard".
Part-time jobs in Westbourne Grove's Gaumont Cinema provide the boys with rather a different kind of education which changes their lives in more ways than they can imagine.
They become friends and together develop a scam whereby they resell untorn cinema tickets and recycle coke cups to supplement their meagre wages--just the thing when old soul 45s, mod suits, Vespa scooters, Ford Cortinas and girls appear infinitely more interesting than school work and Catholic piety.
At the cinema, Dave meets and falls in love with Rachel, a glamorous Jewish girl, who, like him, craves freedom from unquestioning religious conformity. Andy too is in love, unfortunately, the recipient of his infatuation is his cousin, Alison.
With schemes afoot to transform St Bede's sixth form into a separate college, and plans to turn the Gaumont into a bingo hall, the future looks less than rosy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's very funny, poignant and nostalgic with great characters.
April 22, 2020
The sad thing is, I was really rooting for this book. I thought the synopsis was lovely and exciting but the way it’s written? Not so great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s witty. But it’s also so impersonal. It’s hard to get invested in a friendship that really isn’t all there — Dave and Andy have a handful of conversations at best and all of a sudden they’re best friends? What does their school even have to do with anything? Everything felt pointless and weird — Andy a cameraman, what? This is exactly why writers should show, not tell, which is exactly what Burke does. Tells us that Andy and Dave are best friends and have an amazing bond and we’re just supposed to believe it. The ending was terrible too — lazy and not well thought out. Also, what’s the point of Andy falling in love with Alison? It’s poot.
July 10, 2017
Some parts of this novel were really funny, laugh-provoking and well-written. I found the lives of the two main characters Andy and Dave quite reproducible, though I don't have any connection to Polish or Irish life in the UK in the 1970s, or ultra-catholic families and the implications that come along with that, but I really believed the boys' troubles and burdens that they had to overcome. At times, the book got quite lengthy and a bit boring, but I liked the twist of fate in the last part of the book, though the end came rather abruptly and left some things unsaid.
January 7, 2017
Cute, and in my 'a bit more than chick lit' category, but not by much.
The most interesting thing is the referral to music. But what's disappointing is the quick ending, muddled thru really... Was he running out of time to make the deadline.
Having said that, it's a good one for by the pool!
The most interesting thing is the referral to music. But what's disappointing is the quick ending, muddled thru really... Was he running out of time to make the deadline.
Having said that, it's a good one for by the pool!
October 8, 2017
A little wary after seeing an average 3 star rating I almost didn't read this book but loved it. Loved the characters, the story and the humour.
September 14, 2019
Another great read.
January 24, 2020
A pleasant but not riveting coming-of-age story. Thought it would make me laugh a bit, but it didn’t.
February 24, 2024
No idea where I got this book, polish and Christian so like ???
January 17, 2026
I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It fully immerses you in the story and the 80s setting, leaving you with a sense of nostalgia by the end.
August 2, 2009
I was delighted to find this book on the shelves at Wynberg Public Library - having read and loved 'Father Frank' and having thoroughly enjoyed 'The Man Who Fell In Love With His Wife'. However, I was a little disappointed with this offering, it felt like something that had been dashed off fairly quickly - using ideas that had perhaps been left on Father Frank's cutting room floor.
Paul Burke is great when he writes about music and vibe, and anti-trend trendsetters :) This could have been a much better book if he had taken a bit more time to think through his concept.
Also, it bugged me that one of the characters was said to have a Trappist uncle in the first half of the book, but in the second half the uncle was suddenly Cistercian. A subtle but significant difference, I know - but this seemingly minor inconsistency was the last straw that served to seal the quick-and-nasty effect for me. What a pity!
Paul Burke is great when he writes about music and vibe, and anti-trend trendsetters :) This could have been a much better book if he had taken a bit more time to think through his concept.
Also, it bugged me that one of the characters was said to have a Trappist uncle in the first half of the book, but in the second half the uncle was suddenly Cistercian. A subtle but significant difference, I know - but this seemingly minor inconsistency was the last straw that served to seal the quick-and-nasty effect for me. What a pity!
October 19, 2012
From the sublime to the..... well how to descibe this - gently amusing but ultimately pointless.
So gentle its untrue - it tells the stort of a polish lad and irish lad going through puberty in London in the late seventies.
They work in a cinema and run a scam that allows them to indulge in their pleasure - a cortina for Irish Dave and a Scooter and the first revivalist mod in London for Polish Andy.
Usual stuff happens, they meet girls, the are family dramas and dramas at the cinema, but ultimately they is no message and no meaning to this book.
It really is just a story.
Read it quickly so not a waste of time but you look at updikes story, full of what life should be and you think that this is literature.
So gentle its untrue - it tells the stort of a polish lad and irish lad going through puberty in London in the late seventies.
They work in a cinema and run a scam that allows them to indulge in their pleasure - a cortina for Irish Dave and a Scooter and the first revivalist mod in London for Polish Andy.
Usual stuff happens, they meet girls, the are family dramas and dramas at the cinema, but ultimately they is no message and no meaning to this book.
It really is just a story.
Read it quickly so not a waste of time but you look at updikes story, full of what life should be and you think that this is literature.
July 18, 2010
Author Paul Burke and I went to the same school in north west London - but at different times so I never knew him. Since we have exchanged a few emails. Ironically the book is centered aroung a cinema where I used to work as an usher on the weekends 15 years prior to the time of the book. I enjoyed Untorn Tickets - believable characters that interested me, a credible plot, amusing - I thought I may be predujiced as I was so close to it all. So I gave it to my wife to read - she was born in Texas with no knowledge of my school, the cinema or north west London - she unhesitatingly gave it the thumbs up.
August 28, 2016
Notting Hill - 1978. Dave Kelly and Andy Zymanczyk are classmates at a strict Catholic school. Both, desperate to escape their stifling backgrounds, get part-time work in the local cinema. Here they form a binding friendship and, with the help of one charismatic cinema manager, embark on a voyage of discovery. Dave falls in love with Rachel, a Jewish girl who also wants to escape from her strict religious background, while Andy falls for a girl he knows he can never have. When the cinema is threatened with closure, the boys realise that more than their new-found freedom is at risk.
March 4, 2009
FINALLY. it took me what seems like months to finish this. don't get me wrong: the premises sounded really great - two boys, london in the late 70ies, growing pains etc. but seriously, it was poorly written and disappointing. :(
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January 4, 2012Read this on holiday last year. I quite like Paul Burke, although I think my favourite so far is 'Father Frank'. He writes light, easy to read books, perfect for relaxing in the sun, or on a wet day (Summer in NZ in other words!).
April 26, 2014
Narrates the coming of age of Notting Hill and its young residents in the late 70's and early 80's. Funny, poignat at times, its charismatic characters will keep you cheering throughout for a happy ending. Very uplifting.
January 12, 2015
A gentle story where not a lot happens, but with a great deal of charm, reminded me very much of "The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4" which I loved when I was young. Very different from my usual fair but I liked it, and you can ask for much more than that.
August 6, 2011
Very funny.
February 23, 2014
I liked it, an easy light-hearted read
May 5, 2014
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12654963
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12654963
September 15, 2012
Received in my goody bag at the London Bookcrossing Convention in 2008!! Funny, easy read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews