Saturday, April 20, 2019

The Club, Takis Wurger



TITLE: The Club
AUTHOR:  Takis Wurgen
PUBLISHER:  Grove Press
PUB. YEAR: 2019
SETTING:  Germany; England
FORMAT:  -  ARC
RATING - 4/5

The Club, is a work of fiction that tells the story of a group of elite, privileged, young men at Cambridge University's Pitt Club, behaving badly.

Hans Stichler, grew up as an orphan. He was shy and bullied and learned to box early on as a way to defend himself.  An invitation from aunt Alex to spend time at Cambridge university where she teaches art history will ensure him a place at St. John's College.  In exchange, aunt Alex needs his help. She needs him to find out more about a secret society, referred to as, The Pitt Club.  The Pitt Club was a long time fixture at Cambridge where the very rich and often very obnoxious, felt as if they could do whatever they pleased without consequences.

Hans, because of his boxing background and likable ways is able to gain access to the club, despite his upbringing and social class being so different than the other club members.  What he discovers is shocking.

This is a very short, concise, well-written novel (fewer than 200 pages). The characters were surprisingly complex for a short work as well.  The book does contain some off-putting passages which include racist overtures, rape and other acts of violence, making this a book some readers might want to avoid.  It does, however, leave the reader with plenty to think about.  The translation, overall, was very good and it's the type of book that can be easily read in one sitting.  I'm happy I had a chance to try it.

7 comments:

  1. The sad thing is, it's probably pretty true to life.

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  2. So many of the upper British and American universities have such clubs and no doubt nasty nefarious things take place so while there may be uncomfortable situations described, they are no doubt realistic. Unfortunately.

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  3. I do like the sound of this one, and I especially enjoy books with complex characters that give the reader a lot to think about. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. I'm glad you enjoyed this book!

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  5. You read an international bestseller! Cool.

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  6. Oh, this one sounds good. I like these types of stories.

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