Quadrophenia

by Alan Fletcher

Quadrophenia the novel, by Alan Fletcher. Corgi edition published 1979. First publication in Great Britain.

192 pages

First published September 28, 1979

Reviews

[Hugh]

Not that crazy about the film, but thought the novel did a pretty decent job. Trouble is, you still SEE Sting when you're reading about the Ace Face, try as you might...

[Realini Ionescu]

Quadrophenia – written by Dave Humphries, Martin Stellman, Franc Roddam, and directed by the latter is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find thousands of notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...


8 out of 10

There are some phenomenal actors in this motion picture, one of them is Ray Winstone https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... before the days of his Sexy Beast, The Departed, Last Orders, or even Cold Mountain filmed near my house in Rosenau, about twenty five years ago

Jimmy Cooper is the hero, or anti -hero maybe a better description, of this movie, released in 1979, forty-seven years ago, and he looks like a Rebel Without a Cause -incidentally, this is the tattoo which this psychologist has, the one I meet at the gym, who got me into some trouble, little mess, bust still, I am upset
I was talking about the definition of psychopath, and referred to the Harvard Professor Tal Ben-Shahar https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... who said that one should be happy to have emotions, because otherwise one is either dead, or a psychopath, ergo the meaning:

That is a fellow who has no empathy – you find this defined by the Webster and Britannica – but I had to argue with Ammoniac – the man who is like Chili Palmer in Get Shorty https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... only without the charm
Chili is in this room with Gene Hackman and then two gangsters walk in and he says ‘I am the one telling you the way it is’ – our Ammoniac assumes this role, telling you about Frankenstein, what a psychopath is, on the latter issue, he maintains that a psychopath can have emotions for a dog, except I feel he gets the animal to kill it

And the psychologist first said that the psychopath has obsessions and then let is down to he has emotions – the expert has written Rebel Without a Cause https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... in ink over his chest, somehow I disagree
Quadrophenia is a good motion picture, albeit I would not include it in my own Best 1,000 Movies of All Time, unless I reach the limit and find I have some empty places…you even have Sting in it, just like he featured in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, or was it Snatch…no, it was the former, both directed by Guy Ritchie

Timothy Spall, a fabulous thespian, features in Quadrophenia, although it is almost a cameo, he is the projectionist and they play some cards in that room, nonetheless, he is one of my favorites https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... more recently seen in Mr. Turner

[Stevolende]

I think this may be what the writer was aiming for. The kind of novel that a young teen would want to read a bit like the Skinhgead series but featuring Pete Townshend's character Jimmy who's so messed up he's become Quadrophenic. Like 4D Schizoid.
I think this follows the film story not the original album one.
Not bad for what it is but it has been a good 40 years since i read it so maybe its not even a Richard Allen.

[Sam]

Started before Xmas and finished up in the NY. Quite a short book, overall I liked it. Especially liked reading about the mod culture in the areas I know - Margate, Brighton etc. But the ending was a little open for me. Did Jimmy go off the cliff with the bike or was he just done with the culture. I guess I prefer being told the ending!!

[Ethan Warren]

The best album was made into a really terrific movie was turned into a not that hot book

[Mungo]

captures adolescent frustration and nihilism succinctly; salinger meets foucault but with amphetamine psychosis

[Paul Pryce]

I read it as I couldn’t get in to see the movie in 1979. It was a good read at that time but I’ve read it again since was horrified. Teen pulp, follows the movie line for line. It does set the scene but in a way I wished I’d read something more constructive.