Official Review: Hooligans by Chaz Fenwick

[Hendmosaad89]

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

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1 out of 4 stars

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Hooligans by Chaz Fenwick was published in January 2015 by Chaznet Publishing. Although I accepted to review this novel as a Young Adult book, it is NOT appropriate for young readers due to language, violence, drugs and sexual content.

Two factions of Hooligans run the streets of urban Sydney. The Metalheads is a group of misfits who like to party hard, get drunk all day, and listen to metal bands. The Homeboy Westside Gang is a group of criminals who run the streets with violence and threats. When the Westside Gangsta targets the Metalheads and starts beating and abusing them, the Metalheads swear to fight back with the same level of cruelty and viciousness that ultimately lead to a bloodbath.

As I mentioned before, I accepted to review this book knowing that it is a young adult novel. I read enough young adult novels to know what they should and shouldn’t contain. As far as I know, young adult novels should not ever contain sexual contents, drugs, language and violence. What is quite alarming is that this book has excessive amounts of each and every one of those proscribed elements.

Furthermore, there were other flaws that were too prominent and significant to ignore. In the beginning, for example, the writing was not smooth and easy to follow. On the contrary, I had to reread many paragraphs to grasp what the author is trying to say. At first, the teenagers' language was too informal and foreign for me to comprehend easily, but as I proceeded with the story, things got clearer. Also, all in one chapter, the author has introduced all his characters, who were more than ten teenagers from both sides, and this caused me some confusion in the beginning.

Although there are many characters in this novel, I think the author has intended for Het, Trisha and Sari to be the protagonists in this story. To help the reader understand or relate to any protagonists, the author must provide sufficient history or background of these characters. Unfortunately for me, Fenwick did not give enough information to help me relate or even understand these protagonists' behaviors. What's more, I believe that the plot would have been quite refreshing if the author has added more depth to the society and characters in serious situations, such as death or rapes.

Moreover, I encountered a few scenes that I thought were a bit illogical. One of them is a rape victim agreeing to have sex with a complete stranger (a street junkie) after only a few days of her rape incident! As far as I know, that is not a NORMAL human behavior.

Finally, I believe this book would be better suited if categorized as Thriller or Other Fiction. This book is about disillusioned youth that is full of vengeance, violence, cruelty, rage, and drugs. Due to the false genre and the fatal flaws I just mentioned, I'm not sure who this book would appeal to. I sadly give this book 1 out of 4 stars.

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Hooligans
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Like Hendmosaad89's review? Post a comment saying so!

[ChazFenwick]

Hmmm, I don't know what I was thinking categorising the book under young adult, I will change that. Would you be willing to PM me the scenes that you thought were illogical? If so, that would be much appreciated.

[zeldas_lullaby]

Great review. This book sounds too "realistic" for me. The right reader might like it.

[Hendmosaad89]

Great review. This book sounds too "realistic" for me. The right reader might like it.

Thanks:). Yes, I believe it is too realistic for me too.

[BColeman]

Great review! I'm not sure that i would enjoy reading it, but I do know some people who might enjoy it. Introducing all of the characters in the first chapter does seem overwhelming and confusing.

[bookowlie]

Great review. It definitely seems like the book should not be categorized as Young Adult fiction, due to the subject matter.

[Hendmosaad89]

Great review! I'm not sure that i would enjoy reading it, but I do know some people who might enjoy it. Introducing all of the characters in the first chapter does seem overwhelming and confusing.

Thanks:).
Yeah, the first chapter had more than 13 names and the author didn't describe any of them physically, so it was too confusing for me.

[gali]

Nice review indeed.

[Hendmosaad89]

Great review. It definitely seems like the book should not be categorized as Young Adult fiction, due to the subject matter.

Thanks:) Yes, that's what I thought.

[ChazFenwick]

Great review. It definitely seems like the book should not be categorized as Young Adult fiction, due to the subject matter.

Thanks:) Yes, that's what I thought.

Thanks for the PM. I'll get back to tweaking some of the scenes.
I couldn't reply to the PM as the site won't let me for some reason?