Anti-Social

Paperback Published on: 18/03/2021
Price: £10.99
Free UK delivery on orders over £25, otherwise £2.99
In stock
Usually dispatched within 1-2 days
Make and edit your lists in your account
No stock available in any shop.
In stock
Usually dispatched within 1-2 days
No stock available in any shop.

Synopsis

'Anti-Social is brutally honest, exceptionally funny and terribly sad - a scything indictment of broken 21st century Britain. I could not put it down.' THE SECRET BARRISTER

'A fascinating insight into a job that stitches together the cracks in compassion in our communities' RENI EDDO-LODGE, bestselling author of Why I Am No Longer Talking To White People About Race

'Superb. This hysterically funny and moving memoir of an anti-social behaviour officer is a real eye-opener that hits all the right notes' FRANKIE BOYLE
__________________

Anti-Social is the diary of a disillusioned local authority worker whose job it is to keep people happy, or at least away from each other's throats. That's hard enough at the best of times, but when your day features secret hoarders, violent disputes over dance music and litigious arms dealers, the total breakdown of local society is never far away. The only thing keeping it together are the chronically underfunded officers charged with patching the fraying threads of civilisation, and they have a hard enough time keeping themselves together.

This is an urgent, timely but, most of all, hysterically funny memoir of a life spent working with the people society wants to forget and the problems that nobody else can resolve. This book will make you laugh, cry and boil with rage, all within a single sentence.

Updated with a new chapter for the paperback edition
__________________

'Get this book ... I'm telling you now, you will absolutely love this guy, what he has to say and the book that he has written. In equal parts devastating and dark and incredibly funny.' NIHAL ARTHANAYAKE

'Laugh-out-loud funny. The delivery is punchy and the humour dark - think Irvine Welsh minus the Scottish vernacular' EXPRESS

'Think Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt but with more dead bodies ... It's a gloriously cynical read but it's also sympathetic and deeply empathetic.' KATHY BURKE

'Riveting and brilliantly written... a potent cocktail of heartbreak and horror; wickedly funny, wearily endearing and absolutely enraging' CAROLINE SANDERSON, Bookseller

'A funny, thoughtful look into one of the toughest jobs I can imagine' SHAPPI KORSANDI

'I absolutely loved it. It reads like a novel, has that page-turning quality everyone looks for in a good book but it delivers the punch that only true life can - funny obviously but with humanity and warmth for people at the edges of society most in need of our understanding and compassion' KIT DE WAAL, author of My Name Is Leon

'Brilliant. This deserves to be a huge success - funny, sad and heartbreaking' LORRAINE KELLY

__________________
Reader reviews for Anti-Social:

'The timing of this book could not be better'
'Politicians of all hues should be made to read this book'
'Readable and compulsive'
'Well written and stunningly well observed'
'The author and all his long-suffering, dedicated colleagues deserve dustbin lid-sized medals'
'It had me in stitches, it had me in tears'
'Top-drawer stuff ... utterly riveting'
'I don't often take the time to review books here, but would very much recommend Anti-Social.'

Publisher information

  • Publisher: Cornerstone
  • ISBN: 9781787464995
  • Number of pages: 416
  • Dimensions: 197 x 129 x 25 mm
  • Weight: 290g
  • Languages: English

Customer Reviews

View all
Anti-Social
Unflinching description of an ASB Officer’s work, laced with humour
Well written, with more than an edge of dark humour, this takes us into a field of work, the ASB Officer, unreported until now. With diminishing resources,... READ MORE
Mavis Tiller
Anti-Social
A moving and hilarious view from the margins of society.
This diary of an anti-social behaviour officer is moving, anger-inducing and darkly funny in equal measure. These ‘fly-on-the-wall’ memoirs are a hugely po... READ MORE
Kaye Fraser
Anti-Social
Frank and gripping, one to read
This is the diary of a year in the life of Anti Social Behaviour Officer Nick Pettigrew. Written in the same kind of style as This is Going to Hurt and ... READ MORE
Denise M
Anti-Social
Eye-opening. Not funny
Thank you for the ARC NetGalley and Random House U.K. This book was a deeply fascinating look into a job I literally never knew existed, or really had ever... READ MORE
Beatrice Scott
Anti-Social
Hackneyed
Very badly written in the derivative form of a diary. The hackneyed humour is condescending (god knows why) and not that funny. A very important social iss... READ MORE
Katie Sidwell
Anti-Social
Brilliant
This is the type of book that that makes you laugh out loud, cringe and cry all at the same time. Nick Pettigrew was a anti-social behaviour officer for o... READ MORE
Allison Valentine
Anti-Social
Dark, funny, and necessary.
Brutally candid account of being an ASB with added jokes. Should be compulsory reading.
Sam Whyte
Anti-Social
Interesting
Of all the “new Adam Kay” books that have come out over the past few years this has come the closest to actually meeting the description. It is really inte... READ MORE
Sophie Phillips
Anti-Social
A darkly comic heartbreaking but fascinating read
This book is in turns hilarious, heartbreaking, human and all the other ‘h’s that makes books great. Giving you a fascinating insight into the tough job o... READ MORE
Dan Cardwell
Anti-Social
Housing officer, funny and informative
Talk about an eye opener. Didn't know the job existed and would never want to be one. A glimpse in to the world of social housing with all its complexities... READ MORE
Helen Wilkinson
Anti-Social
My favourite book right now
A book full of insights into today's social system. Sorry for the spoiler, but it's grim. As an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer Nick runs between socially ho... READ MORE
Vroni Holzmann
Anti-Social
A hilarious and insightful look into the life of an ASB officer
Anti-Social is a brilliantly perceptive and darkly comedic memoir of a disgruntled and desparate Anti-Social Behavior officer working for housing estates i... READ MORE
Kendal Jones
Anti-Social
hilarious
What an insight! Anti-Social is hilariously funny alongside being devastatingly sad too. It’s true there are some weird and wonderful people here in the UK... READ MORE
Psmith83
Anti-Social
Interesting but flawed
An interesting read in which I feel the author was trying to listen to "the howl of the powerless" - a phrase he uses in the epilogue. However I did feel a... READ MORE
jean
Anti-Social
The humour 2020 needed
Everyone with a sence of humour, has grown up on a council estate, or worked with the general public in any way at all needs to read this book. Its just br... READ MORE
Ella Dollery
Anti-Social
Great Read!
Nick Pettigrew has worked as an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer for over a decade. This means that if you are unhappy with the behaviour of your neighbours, ... READ MORE
Lynsay Tervit
Anti-Social
Warts and all account
Anti-social behaviour officer Nick Pettigrew has written a brilliantly cynical and funny account of his job. Drug dealers, hoarders, nuisance neighbours (a... READ MORE
MrsElsie
Anti-Social
Eye-opening
Anti-Social: The Secret Diary of an Anti-Social Behaviour Officer is a diary account of the author and their experiences of dealing with anti-social behav... READ MORE
josieinbookland