Official Review: Hooligans by Chaz Fenwick

[Lg_99]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hooligans" by Chaz Fenwick.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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I have to say one thing about this book: WOW. It took me less than twenty four hours to finish this story. It was so good, and so incredibly over-the-top that my mind is still trying to process all of what I have just read. Hooligans by Chaz Fenwick is a brutal story about hatred and rivalry between gangs, and the internal struggle each member goes through by being stuck in a situation where they have to do everything and anything, whether it is moral or not, to live another day. This book does not try to sugarcoat the audience with half-truths and leaving things to the imagination. It portrays a crude representation of violence, revenge, and a lot of gore in its pages. This is not a tale for those weak in the stomach.

When the Russian beauty, Trisha Williams, decides to throw a party with her group of metalhead friends, this becomes the talk of the town. Everyone is looking for ways to sneak into the party and get some free alcohol and drugs. However, this event also brings unwanted attention. When The Westside Gangstas, an organization notorious for its illegal activities and who also happens to be the metalhead's greatest rival, gatecrash the party, a fight is unavoidable. After Dayne Hetfield, a metalhead, is caught in a compromising position with one of the gang member's girlfriend, both groups declare war on each other. The streets become a battlefield, and there is chaos everywhere. Loyalty is tested, friendships are strained and broken, people betray each other, and no one is safe from the bloodshed. The battle will not end until one of the two groups is completely gone.

The story takes place in the poor neighborhoods of Sydney, Australia. The book has several points of view, alternating between the members of both the Metalheads and the Westside Gangstas. Each character faced their own personal demons, and had different reasons as to why they chose the gangster's lifestyle. I liked the way these characters were portrayed. Some of them acted all tough on the outside, but they were insecure and scared of dying on the inside. Also, the book shows how peers can easily influence someone's decision-making capacity and force them to do whatever they want; and how a traumatic event can seriously affect a person's personality for the worse. The characters were not saints; they were all willing to sacrifice anyone in order to save themselves. The author did a good job bringing flawed and human characters to the story. They were raised in a "to kill or be killed" environment, so their way of seeing the world made sense to me. Just a fair warning: Do not expect a hero in this story, because there is none.

Besides the characters, I loved how the plot was developed. Mr. Fenwick gave a realistic image of how it felf to live in the gang world. It was dark, abusive, and once they were in, it was almost impossible to get out. The book had very detailed descriptions of violent acts that did not leave anything to the imagination. The plot was consistent from beginning to the end. Although predictable sometimes, the story still manages to keep the reader interested. Also, this book reminded me a lot of The Outsiders by S.M. Hinton. There were a lot of similarities between the two books. For example, the special characteristics that represented the members of each group: The Westside Gangstas wore red and orange clothes while the metalhead people wore black clothes; one group liked hip hop while the other liked heavy metal. In The Outsiders, on the other hand, the Greasers wore black while the Socs wore light colors. Perhaps the author took this book as an inspiration to write, or maybe, it just was his love for heavy metal. Nonetheless, I did not find this resemblance bad, but funny instead.

Now, I will be focusing on what I disliked about the book. I found ridiculous the relevance the author gave to the dispute between the two groups because of their music preferences. Those who belonged to the hip hop gang were prohibited from listening to anything related to heavy metal, and viceversa. Apparently, the concept of having a varied taste in music was foreign to them, and liking the same music genre was a requisite for dating: “'But …' Sari felted crushed; she thought the brief fling they had would’ve hooked him. 'I’m like you, I’m a metalhead.'” I found this unnecessary to the story. Also, this book made me wonder about the efficacy of Australia's police force; they took hours to show up to a crime scene, and the same three cops were in charge of every investigation. They seemed to be lacking personnel. Lastly, the biggest disappointment was the grammar. The book looks like it did not go through a thorough editing process. Although I understand that the characters are gangsters thus they are not supposed to have the best vocabulary, the author should have kept the slang within the dialogues and avoid using phrases like "Cappa bitched", instead of "Cappa exclaimed or said". This made the writing look unprofessional. There were also a few comma splices and run-on sentences.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I did not give it a perfect rating, because there was a considerable amount of grammatical errors and things that I found nonsensical. These mistakes were difficult to ignore. However, I still enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it to almost anyone. Since the book contains a lot of serious topics, such as rape, suicide, and depression, it is not appropriate for people under sixteen years old. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

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Hooligans
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Like Lg_99's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Eldar]

the book is amazing, very nice story

[Kat Berg]

I always have a difficult time with this kind of violence, especially when you add in rape, etc...add to that the editorial problems and it is unlikely I will read this, but thanks for the review! I am glad you enjoyed it despite some of its problems.

[kandscreeley]

It sounds a little too serious to me. I also don't like the multitude of grammatical errors. That would definitely be off-putting. I think I'll avoid this one for now. Thanks for the review.