Coe, Jonathan: *1961

The Closed Circle, 2004 - Information about the Book

  • General Information
    • The novel aims to be both a big, broad state-of-England saga and a close-up on an accountant, failing husband and would-be author of an epic "novel with music." It is the sequel (or as Coe prefers, the mirror image) to "The Rotter's Club". At the end of the book you find a summary of "The Rotter's Club."
    • Information from Wikipedia
  • Reviews
    • The dread hand of Thatcher over us all. "It's easy to forgive the odd instance of automatic phrasing and the occasional clunky piece of character development." The Independent; September 5, 2004
    • Squaring the circle. "It is all extremely readable and often entertaining. There is a consistent level of narrative facility and prose comfort that keeps the pages turning. But the major problem is that the novel feels rushed." Steven Poole, The Guardian; September 4, 2004
    • The Pale People. Jenny Turner, The New York Times; June 19, 2005
  • Interviews with the author
    • Interview conducted by Alex Mitchell. "I have always written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control." April 2005
    • From an evening with Jonathan Coe at the Literaturhaus, Zurich, Switzerland. Host: Thomas Bodmer. SwissEduc; May 8, 2006:
      • Talk about becoming a writer, "The Rotter's Club", "The Closed Circle" and why the chapters are numbered backwards.
      • British politics, New Labour and its problems, and its influence on "The Closed Circle".
      • The Meaning of the title "The Closed Circle".