Somehow this book only partially captivated me. I found it exciting how the different social classes were described from the perspective of people who are not so favoured but who have great values and dreams. Various topics are touched on, such as the decadent lives of the super-rich who don't care how the rest of the population is doing. Obsession that can lead to death. The food bank and how the people who need it are ashamed that they have to go there to survive. How the participants in the jungle camp are treated. Honestly, I watched this programme once and found it very repulsive. Well, I can't do anything with so-called celebrities anyway. On the other hand, I found it interesting how a simple policeman tries to solve a case and even surprises Scotland Yard in the process. Then there was something paranormal at the beginning and end, which didn't interest me much. And then there was the friendship between Alison and Rachel, who grow closer and separate again and again in the course of the story.
Sometimes it was written very humorously, which made the whole thing worth reading. ( )

This novel picks up the theme of old British horror films that Jonathan Coe first dealt with in What a Carve-Up, but it's primarily a state-of-England novel, like most of his recent books. At the heart of it seems to be the divide between the rich and poor in 21st century England and the whole ”chav” phenomenon, the contempt that rich people, at least in the newspapers, seem to have for the poor. And, of course, he has fun with this whole idea by introducing a character who turns out to be that straw-figure so beloved of angry right-wing columnists, the black lesbian with an artificial leg.

Coe also digs into the way we have in modern society of reducing everything to a monetary equivalent, from the quality-of-life improvement expected from a course of medical treatment to the boost in tourism that an intriguing archeological discovery might bring.

Another theme that runs through the book is the ineffectiveness of political humour. Coe notes repeatedly how making jokes about politicians, or more general satire about the evils of society, has become something which just operates as a mechanism for diffusing our anger — or guilt — and never seems to have any actual effect on the way politics works. This is set against the way right-wing columnists, who are really not so very different from the stand-up comedians, do seem to be able to stir up actual political change with their variety of rant, but Coe doesn’t big very deeply into this distinction.

There's all sorts of other stuff, though. There's an Etonian who's having lessons in arrogance-control in order to get through his Oxford admissions process, there's a professional dog walker who makes more money than some of her rich clients, there’s a billionaire’s-wife who wants to turn her London villa into an underground skyscraper, there’s a policeman who is more interested in publicity than justice and actively seeks out reasons to arrest celebrities. And, as a bonus, we get some giant spiders and a Loch Ness monster. What more could you ask for?

It's a slightly disjointed story, but very engaging and with a lot of resonance for anybody who's got any experience of Britain in the 21st century, which is what Coe is particularly good at. ( )

This book is a sequel – sort of – to Coe’s 1994 novel ‘What a Carve Up!’ I didn’t realize this until after I had started reading it, but it became very clear that you did not need to read the earlier book to enjoy this one (there are some big spoilers for the end of ‘What a Carve Up!’ though, so you might want to bear that in mind).

This is less a straightforward novel and more of a series of novellas which are all connected by one or both of two schoolgirl friends, Rachel and Alison. It loosely follows them from childhood to around the age of 20 and they appear as main characters in some sections, and on the periphery in others.

Each part of the book centres on the inequality and vacuousness of many parts of Britain in the 21st century. People who are struggling to make ends meet going to prison on a trumped up charge of benefits fraud while multi-millionaires cheat the system on a far greater scale by avoiding paying as much tax as they can (just about) legally get away with; millions watching reality tv which in truth is anything BUT reality; generic stand up comedians making generic stand up comedy about easy targets…the list goes on.

This is actually the first book I’ve read by Jonathan Coe, and I found it thoroughly enjoyable and one of those books that I actually looked forward to picking up. My favourite section – albeit also the saddest section for me – was Val’s story. Val is Alison’s mother, who had a one-hit wonder decades earlier and is always trying to recapture her former brief glory. Without giving too much away, this part illustrates perfectly why I neither trust nor enjoy reality television, where humiliation is shown as entertainment and heroes and villains are pre-determined by the program makers.

The only niggle I had about this book was the very bizarre ending, which seemed out of kilter with the rest of the book. I’m not sure what Coe was going for here and maybe I missed something, but somehow that part just didn’t work for me. It didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the rest of the book though and I will definitely be looking out for more by Jonathan Coe. ( )

What Jonathan Coe has done here is in some ways, break new ground. Similar to an episodic TV show, he introduces you to characters, weaving them in and out of 'chapter/episodes' that in some ways read like short stories. In one chapter he introduces us to a "Holmes" element adding more spice to the mix. Then he surprises the reader by adding a dab of fantasy/horror within the context. His style is remarkable as is the creativity used in casting the spell. Bravo Jonathan...well done! ( )

Numero 11 più che un vero e proprio sequel de La Famiglia Winshaw rappresenta una concatenazione di vicende avvenute tra gli anni 2003 e 2015 in Inghilterra tessuta secondo la tradizione simil-calviniana del capolavoro di Jonathan Coe. Il libro presenta vari riferimenti a La Famiglia Winshaw, tuttavia non è necessario aver letto quest'ultimo per comprendere gli eventi narrati, anche se è comunque consigliabile.

Numero 11 è scritto in maniera impeccabile, si legge in un batter d'occhio e presenta una serie di tematiche politico-sociali già sviluppate in altri romanzi di Coe quali La Pioggia Prima che Cada, Circolo Chiuso e La Casa del Sonno. È capace di essere comico e dissacrante in alcuni punti, malinconico e amareggiato in altri, il tutto immerso in un'atmosfera da thriller con ampi riferimenti cinematografici (come ogni romanzo di Coe che si rispetti). Merito in particolare di questo ultimo romanzo è riuscire a descrivere in maniera molto fedele, verosimile e toccante il modo in cui l'uomo degli anni 2010 vive, come i social e i reality show sono entrati nelle nostre vite e come possono avere voce in capitolo sulle nostre ambizioni e sui nostri sogni.

Dopo l'insipido e semi-deludente Expo 58, Numero 11 rappresenta un ritorno in grande stile, un libro da togliere il fiato e intriso di emozioni intense, in cui potranno immedesimarsi coloro che non hanno saputo ancora adattarsi alla società tecnologica – da una parte – e alla negazione del welfare – dall'altra –, ma che porteranno a riflettere persino il più conforme degli uomini del XXI secolo. ( )