What a strange book!
As soon as I saw the title of this book I knew I had to read it! I've been fascinated with the idea of the 27 club for as long as I can remember. I was super intrigued by this book.
The book opens with the death of Kurt Cobain and the way Emma (our protagonist) deals with it.
The book just felt a bit ploddy, with nothing major really happening. I was just hoping for some sort of drama or problem. It just felt like a diary... 'then i went to work, then I went to the pub, then i took some cocaine.' The book was probably 75% of the way through before Dave drops a bit of a bombshell and finally there was a bit of drama. But then after that it went back to being ploddy again.

I really didn't enjoy this book, and don't quite get what the author was trying to achieve with it. I felt it was very poorly written, and just didn't go anywhere.
Disappointing and boring!

In 1994 I was 22 and lost. Hair down to my backside, 10 hole Doctor Martins and working!?!
as a roadie for the short lived Bang Bang Machine. I was living the dream but feeling
extremely lost. Where was I going? As it turns out not very far but i am waffling now. This
is a book review not my autobiography.

So this book sang out to me when I read about it somewhere or other. A 26 year old
who could have been me. It was my voice in the writing . Unsatisfied and feeling
overwhelmed with the whole living and growing up thing.

It may have been an emotional rollercoaster of nostalgia for me but the book is
so much more than that and you really don't have to gone through the 90s to enjoy this book.
The writing and story transcend any timeline. Its a book about anxiety, finding your place
in this crazy world, friendship and life. If you are reading my review you know you want to read
the book. Do it. I never like to read books quickly, but The 27 Club had me hooked from the
start and if it wasn't due to life getting in the way I would of read it in one go.

So to sum up, its a funny, engaging and extremely well written book. Buy it.

A lovely, nostalgic tale of friendship and music. A must read for any Kurt Cobain devotee and a trip down memory lane for early 90’s music lovers, especially those who lived in Hull at the time I should imagine! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review, would highly recommend this book.

Although the death of Kurt Cobain didn't have as much of an impact on me as it did on Emma, a working-class rock music fan from Hull, I still really enjoyed reading The Twenty Seven Club by Lucy Nichol.

Emma works as a sales admin assistant ordering bathroom supplies at the local caravan company, Shaw's Static Holiday Homes, which isn't challenging enough for her. Emma is 26 when her dad, Tel, informs her that Kurt Cobain has killed himself aged 27, triggering feelings of anxiety. It leads to Emma dwelling on the reasons why other rock musicians have died, aged 27.

This novel certainly had me reflecting on my own past times and fond, and some not so fond memories! I felt a great deal of affinity with Emma having lived in Hull myself for a short period. Many of Lucy Nichol's references to bands and brands took me right back to 1994 and that general time period of reminiscences such as dewberry scent, Right Said Fred, D:Ream, Diamond White cider and crispy pancakes.

Regardless of all of Emma's anxieties, the novel exudes warmth and has humour, wit and comedic moments in spades. Lucy Nichol's writing style is an excellent fit for me and makes this compelling tale an easy read. I adored the author's characterisation and found myself rooting for Emma, wanting everything to work out well for her. She had a great way with people and her friendships and relationships, with Dave (Emma's BFF) and her work colleague, Claire, as well as John from Newcastle were all fantastically portrayed.

This moving and side-splittingly funny tale is well worth a look. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Lark via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Didn’t really know what to expect of this, even though I like the same music as Emma would it be too edgy and too cool for me? I was 24 when Kurt Cobain died and I was a fan.
But no, what I read was a funny, relatable story. Childhood trauma, mental health and drinking too much, think most people can relate. Would highly recommend.

So let me start by saying that if, in the early 90’s you found yourself in rock clubs and out partying on a school night a lot, this book is probably going to be one you should check out. However, the year this book was set, I was 6 years old. Not to say I don’t know about the infamous ‘27 Club’ Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix etc but the setting for this book was just a little bit lost on me.

As such I found the story a little hard to get into and it took me a while to warm to the character of Emma as I kind of dismissed her obsession with 27 club, and her upcoming 27th birthday as just what we all feel about getting older I guess.

The second half of the book however is where we gain a lot more understanding of why Emma is the way she is and what has triggered this reaction in her & I found watching her finally trying to help herself as a good story through the final few chapters.
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I didn’t love this book, but it would definitely be a good, easy read for someone who wanted to reminisce a little about the early-mid 90’s and wanted a story of a girl just trying to make her way through life, and shake off some of her past demons

A funny, laugh out loud read with a deep undertone.

It's 1994 and one of Emma's idols, Kurt Cobain, is dead. A member of the 27 Club. Emma becomes a little obsessive over this. Is it to do with rock music? Pop stars don't die at 27, do they?

Emma herself is 26 and is stuck in a bit of a rut. Her life consists of going to her local pub The Angel with lifelong best mate Dave, having some beers (maybe taking some cocaine on the side) and working a 9-5 job that doesn't challenge her. Her 27th birthday is coming up fast and she is convinced that she will end up in the 27 Club.

We learn a lot about Emma's family, her mum who cheated on her dad when she was a young child and that fact that her dad has been single ever since.

I love the political tone throughout this book and honestly, it seems like nothing has changed in 2021! Quote of the book about Boris Johnson: "Thank Christ he's a journalist and not a politician." Eek!

The reason I liked this book so much is because I can relate quite a bit. I listened (and still do!) to a lot of the bands mentioned throughout the book and it is just so my scene - even if I was only 2 years old in 1994!

Although it is hilarious and I laughed out loud a lot, it is mainly about Emma finding her place in life, overcoming anxiety and coming to terms with a trauma that she experienced in childhood.

Emma has just found out that Kurt Cobain has died, aged 27. So many other musicians have also died aged 27. Her dad thinks they have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for being genius musicians and the price is death at 27. We join Emma as she struggles with her anxieties about dying. She's almost 27. She wants to know why it's happening so she can stop thinking about death and start living.

This might sound a serious book but it's actually quite nostalgic and funny. Remember spray in Sun In? and when 12 inch and 7 inch were record sizes? Lots of references to the music scene in that era. I'm a similar age to the main characters so it was good to remember the things I had forgotten. Well written with some great characters and thoroughly enjoyable.

Where were you when you heard of the death of Kurt Cobain? It was April 8th, 1994. I heard it on the news in passing, announced briefly on ITN News, and I took myself to my room, the first time I’d felt deeply affected personally by a celebrity death. I was 16. I’d just got my first pair of Dr Marten 1460s.

In Lucy Nichol’s novel, The Twenty Seven Club, main character Emma too is profoundly affected. The death of Cobain triggers an existential crisis, leading her down a rabbit hole of looking at other rock stars who also passed at the age of 27. As Emma is coming up to her own 27th birthday. she questions her own behaviours and life choices so far. Unsatisfied in her job and feeling overwhelmed and preoccupied with potential death and disaster, Emma struggles to find any kind of peace of mind.

It’s not often I pick up a book and read it in one sitting, but I could hear myself in the writing, with Emma asking the same questions of herself that I did through my late teens and twenties. I had to keep reading to try and figure out just how far into my head the author had been digging. It felt incredibly personal, as if she knew me, and the book brought back so many memories.

The music scene and nightlife descriptions felt so familiar and nostalgic, the referencing of bands and brands from the time pulled me straight back to that era. The scenes were so vivid it makes it even harder to acknowledge that the 1994 is twenty seven years ago. [The references to Body Shop Dewberry scent actually made me shudder, as I once used it to cover up the smell of teenage post-ouzo heaving, and even seeing the words on the page brings back visions of that cold bathroom floor and the smell and the clean up. Ugh. I never wore that scent again.]

“That feeling you get when you think everything’s actually going well, and then it hits you. That’s not normal. That’s not what happens.”

The constant chatter of the anxious mind, where things going well come with a high price tag of guilt and suspicion. It’s quite jarring to see your own thoughts pinned to the page by someone else’s words, but it’s oddly comforting. Emma’s not real, but she could be. And it speaks to my own anxiety that as things start looking up in Emma’s life, I begin to worry that it won’t last. Yet despite the anxiety, the novel has a warmth that makes it very easy to read and be swallowed up by. I found myself rooting for Emma, wanting everything to turn out OK. Because if it can turn out OK for her, maybe it could for me.

The Twenty Seven Club is released on 3 March 2021

I received an advance copy through NetGalley for unbiased review.