The Closed Circle: ‘As funny as anything Coe has written’ The Times L

A sequel to the Rotters Club that brings to a conclusion all the plot strands left hanging. We learn what happened to Claire's sister; what happened after Benjamin and Cicely made love; how Paul called in the offer of help from Rolf (whose life he had saved in the Rotters Club in an episode that seemed somewhat far from the main plot); what the future held for Sean Harding, Steve Richards and Culpepper. And who lived/did not live happily ever after. At the same time Coe examines 90s Britain - road rage, the mingling of left and right in politics, far right movements, the war in Iraq, fat cats and so on.The plot turns out to be thoroughly Dickensian - by which I mean, based on the wildest chances and coincidences, though skilfully contrived. That doesn't make Dickens any less enjoyable, and it shouldn't make Coe less enjoyable - indeed you can enjoy his ingenuity - but it does mean you don't primarily read the novel for the unwinding of the narrative. (I was interested, though.)The level of comic invention here - something that carried The Rotters Club, for me - is lower here though (no doubt intentionally so - there is less of Harding and Harding has changed; and life is more for real - this isn't school). And I felt that while the 90s in general were well characterised, and it's interesting to be reminded of the early stages of the final fate of Longbridge, Coe's attempts at writing about the life of an MP weren't convincing. You just couldn't be essentially loyal to the government, 6 years in, an opinion former in the media, and have no Ministerial office - unless you were devoid of talent. And surely you don't write to the Prime Minister - as Paul here does - when you resign as an MP but (if anything) you address your constituents. (Your write to the PM when you resign has a Minister, but that's because he has appointed you to the post. He hasn't appointed you to the House of Commons.)So, in the end, I enjoyed reading this - but not nearly so much as The Rotters Club

This sequel to The Rotters Club (which I thought was pretty good) revisits the characters from the first book 20 years on and covers the period from the end of the 90s to the early years of the 21st century. Benjamin's younger brother Paul takes a much bigger part in his new book, having become a New Labour MP in the 1997 election and this provides Coe ample opportunity to make somewhat heavy-handed political points about Blair's government (although, to be fair, he is bang on in his criticism of the illegality of the decision to go to war in Iraq).If you liked The Rotters Club then there is a huge amount of closure to be gained here as Coe revisits all the major characters and shows us both how they turned out and also goes back and analyses major events from the 70s and puts some of these in new contexts. All this is quite satisfying, but this is offset by sme big problems for me. The biggest of these is the amount of coincidences that are strewn thoughout the book. I think any more than one coincidence in a story is too many and here there are too many to count. Other problems arise from clunky dialogue and prose (just bloody call it Have I Got News For You and have done with it, rather than "a topical humorous news quiz) and a belief that people in their forties go around constantly thinking and taking about events from their teens in great details All The Time.So despite the closure and good intentions, I think 3 stars is all this deserves sadly. If you liked TRC I'd recommend this just for the updates and readability (which can't be denied), but it's not as good and is no masterpiece.

I can understand that some people have been disappointed by this follow-up to 'The Rotters' Club', where far too many coincidences lead the characters' lives to interweave at every page. And I know how unreal are many of the answers given to misteries left open at the end of the previous book. But, despite all that, I did really enjoy this novel, and I think that, after all, this kind of unrealistic atmosphere is part of Coe's narrative style, take it or leave it. In the 'The Rotters' Club' it was not so present just because probably he was sparing himself for this sequel.So, if you like unveiled misteries, stop at 'The Rotters' Club'; but if you are left with too much curiosity, just take the "risk" and enjoy the reading!

Realistic characters. I can see that Coe did try to make the rotters club and this his version of a dance to the music of time. Paul Trotter is clearly a Widmerpool style character. Hence it was captivating to read. I found it odd that the characters who had been to university didn't seem to have any university friends but simply came back to school friends. That struck me as unreal. Making your niece pregnant and then carrying on a relationship is very odd too. The last 50 pages or so seemed contrived - I had assumed that the reappearance of Emily would take 50-100 pages in itself to discuss, but it got about a paragraph. This was central to the central character's life so seemed too lightly treated. Hence it seemed to be finished in a rush. Good to read overall and better than that rightly described "upper class soap opera" A dance to the music of time, but not without flaws.

As the sequel to the Rotters club, we meet the characters 20 years later.I loved it, clever, intelligent writting