Rating: 
Summary: A must read!!!
Review: Excellent! A wonderfully entertaining story, beautifully told. The only problem, I wish it had gone another 100 pages! This is one of those stories you wish someone would develop into a screenplay for a movie!
Final thoughts: BUY THIS BOOK! You wont be disappointed!
Rating: 
Summary: Of Nepotism and Naivete
Review: First, the obvious: neither Barthelme brother would have cushy college-teaching jobs had not their eldest brother, Donald, been a trendy post-modernist icon. The younger brother, Steven B., has managed to publish exactly one (1) book of short stories; Rick, the larger, plumper one, has some sort of gossamer reputation among those who like trailer-park fiction. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of better writers with better qualifications who would kill and maim with gleeful abandon for jobs at Southern Mississippi -- and who would devote themselves to those jobs, and to their students, rather than run off two or three times a week to squander Daddy's money at the blackjack tables [disclaimer: the undersigned thinks she is one of those "better writers"]. That said, this slender volume does indeed fascinate: I read it straight through in five hours, and so will most readers of a literary bent. The brothers B. have in fact done me a service, one years of shrink visits and antidepressants have failed to do -- in one stroke, they have made me glad, glad, glad that I abandoned the academy, failed to obtain a Ph.D., and find myself teaching high school English thirty years after my Iowa fiction MFA. Theirs is a cautionary tale, of what may happen to smart people with minimal reality contact and few, if any, day-to-day responsibilities. The cavernous lack of common-sense knowledge they display in their forays to the Gulf Coast casinos would be inconceivable to anyone who's punched a clock or handled an insurance claim. They are actually surprised to find that casinos have a corporate identity! Gee, they thought those people were their friends ... gahh! As for the dead father they apparently despised, I felt sorry for D. Barthelme Sr. His hard work, his habits of deep thinking and attention to detail, become monstrosities in the ham-hands of his two youngest sons, who in fifty-plus years on this planet have not managed to obtain perspective one. The book is good -- the descriptions of gambling's intoxications, the minute processing of each foolish and silly and self-deluding thought as it arises, are executed with consummate skill -- and yet one can't help concluding, as the memoir shrinks down upon itself into a puddle of anticlimax, that six months or so in prison would have been good for these men, taught them a painful life-lesson or two. Crucial to an understanding of the brothers' plight is the fact that neither Barthelme bothered to have children, thus giving themselves the right to be babies forever. They are not so much perpetual adolescents as they are pre-pubescent (wife and girlfriend notwithstanding), mired forever in Fiftiesland where, if you want to be a cowboy, you just put on the hat and yell, "Bang-bang!" They are not intellectual -- or accomplished -- enough for the ivory-tower defense they so quickly assume; what they are, are second- and third-tier journeymen blessed with a famous name and a glib ability to sling the relativist Crisco. While one may end up wishing Barthelme Sr., who unlike his sons appeared to be able to distinguish right from wrong, had willed his inheritance somewhere else, this reviewer is grateful for the folly of his heirs. A job at Southern Mississippi may be gravy, but that thin gruel isn't nourishing. Real life is the real meat.
Rating:
Summary: Of Nepotism and Naivete
Review: First, the obvious: neither Barthelme brother would have cushy college-teaching jobs had not their eldest brother, Donald, been a trendy post-modernist icon. The younger brother, Steven B., has managed to publish exactly one (1) book of short stories; Rick, the larger, plumper one, has some sort of gossamer reputation among those who like trailer-park fiction. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of better writers with better qualifications who would kill and maim with gleeful abandon for jobs at Southern Mississippi -- and who would devote themselves to those jobs, and to their students, rather than run off two or three times a week to squander Daddy's money at the blackjack tables [disclaimer: the undersigned thinks she is one of those "better writers"]. That said, this slender volume does indeed fascinate: I read it straight through in five hours, and so will most readers of a literary bent. The brothers B. have in fact done me a service, one years of shrink visits and antidepressants have failed to do -- in one stroke, they have made me glad, glad, glad that I abandoned the academy, failed to obtain a Ph.D., and find myself teaching high school English thirty years after my Iowa fiction MFA. Theirs is a cautionary tale, of what may happen to smart people with minimal reality contact and few, if any, day-to-day responsibilities. The cavernous lack of common-sense knowledge they display in their forays to the Gulf Coast casinos would be inconceivable to anyone who's punched a clock or handled an insurance claim. They are actually surprised to find that casinos have a corporate identity! Gee, they thought those people were their friends ... gahh! As for the dead father they apparently despised, I felt sorry for D. Barthelme Sr. His hard work, his habits of deep thinking and attention to detail, become monstrosities in the ham-hands of his two youngest sons, who in fifty-plus years on this planet have not managed to obtain perspective one. The book is good -- the descriptions of gambling's intoxications, the minute processing of each foolish and silly and self-deluding thought as it arises, are executed with consummate skill -- and yet one can't help concluding, as the memoir shrinks down upon itself into a puddle of anticlimax, that six months or so in prison would have been good for these men, taught them a painful life-lesson or two. Crucial to an understanding of the brothers' plight is the fact that neither Barthelme bothered to have children, thus giving themselves the right to be babies forever. They are not so much perpetual adolescents as they are pre-pubescent (wife and girlfriend notwithstanding), mired forever in Fiftiesland where, if you want to be a cowboy, you just put on the hat and yell, "Bang-bang!" They are not intellectual -- or accomplished -- enough for the ivory-tower defense they so quickly assume; what they are, are second- and third-tier journeymen blessed with a famous name and a glib ability to sling the relativist Crisco. While one may end up wishing Barthelme Sr., who unlike his sons appeared to be able to distinguish right from wrong, had willed his inheritance somewhere else, this reviewer is grateful for the folly of his heirs. A job at Southern Mississippi may be gravy, but that thin gruel isn't nourishing. Real life is the real meat.
Rating: 
Summary: Writers Bust
Review: I agree with most everyone else's arguments that this book was disappointing due to too much family history and the lack of a conclusion to their conflict, i.e., their legal trouble. I won't bother to comment further since these points have already been discussed.My big problem with the book is also the oppressive lack of any sort of humor. Yes, the book is subtitled "Reflections on Gambling and Loss," a serious title indeed, but anyone who has spent any time at a blackjack table knows that playing is supplemented with playful banter between the dealer and the players and even between the players themselves. If you've been in a casino, you've seen the characters and know they are ripe for humorous discussion. The casino is a theater of the absurd, and it was disappointing that the brothers did not exploit that facet of the gambling experience in their memoir. Also, I find it terribly ironic that we're told how humor was part of the family's repertoire of communication and coping skills, and that part of the brothers' distaste for the academy was due to its inhabitants taking themselves so seriously, yet they inject none of their self-described sense of humor into their narrative and end up sounding just like the very stodgy boring academics that they abhor. Even Dostoevsky, who the brothers apparently admire, could manage to make his readers laugh despite his weighty themes. It would have been a much better book if they had done the same.
Rating:
Summary: Double Downer
Review: I am grateful for the lucid description of gambling addiction and the simple storytelling that raised the hair on the back of my neck during an account of a particularly high-stakes blackjack hand. "Double Down," however, comes a little short of a masterpiece for various reasons. I have some experience with gaming addiction, having spent several thousand dollars of my own money, and then several thousand of my mother's money, financing my play on a multi-player fantasy adventure game on Compuserve several years ago. So it was with some interest that I read the brothers' account of their motivations and experiences and their financial losses due to gambling addiction. I, too, was addicted to gaming, albeit in a slightly different way. While the book's reflections are often insiteful and ring true, they tend to get repeated during the course of the relatively short book. In particular, desciptions of the brothers' attitudes and understanding of their experience as it was happening, aware and introspective reflections on their state of mind, appear in at least three separate places in the book, where the first description would have sufficed. Because of this and other instances of repetition, the force of the book is somewhat diluted. I am also slightly disappointed with the conclusions drawn about the big questions raised by the book -- why do people involve themselves in self-destructive addictive habits like gambling, and how do they "cure" themselves of such addictions? The book addresses these questions and does make some interesting points, but fails to really reveal the essence of the author's interest in life and how it lead them into gambling and where it went once they left gambling. Unless the point here is that they really gambled to put off dealing with what they refer to as "the sad vacancy of living." And if this is the case, then the reader is left with the disturbing conclusion that, although the brothers no longer gamble, their essential ennui remains. Hence my title. I am here to tell you that there are legions of MUD addicts on the Internet who have made the addiction part of their lives. My response to my own addiction was not to deny it, but respect it, because after all, it did represent some kind of distorted life energy on my part. It seems to me the brothers take a similar approach when they describe the thrill of gambling while at the same time matter-of-factly noting how they knew that they were playing a losing game. But in such cases, it seems to me that the most attractive path is taking that distorted life energy and redirecting it into a more positive activity or direction. The brothers let their gambling tale end only with talk about their parents' (mostly their father's) deaths. Former drug addicts have become pharmacists, game addicts, game designers, and so on. The book lets the reader believe that the life force that caused the brothers to break out of their dull lives and touch the flame of chance (and get royally singed) will die on the vine, unnourished, now that the vice has been eradicated. Finally, it would have been cool (and added some irony and artistic unity) if the book had 21 chapters, instead of 20.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining but got on my nerves
Review: I found this to be an entertaining tale of two brothers addicted to gambling. A few things got on my nerves though: 1. Most of the book is spent blaming other people or factors for the reasons they kept gambling instead of taking responsibility for it. It's easy to see how the gambling went on so long. 2. They write about being indited for cheating but never tell us how the case turns out. 3. They say they kept their wives informed about how much was being lost and that their wives didn't really mind. I find this impossible. On that same note, I wish they would have spoke more about how gambling affected the people close to them.
Rating:
Summary: The powerful addiction of gambling
Review: I have been wanting to read this book for over a year and was waiting for the paperback. I devoured it in a couple of days. This book offers the advantage of being authored by two prolific writers with an excellent command of the language. I have read some of their fiction - ironically, also dealing with gambling. The book offers a peak into their family of origin and the roots of their addiction. It takes you inside the casinos which is a great trip since no cameras are ever allowed in there. We have a real feel of the roller coaster ride of winning and losing which the brothers explain do not feel all that different. We understand that there is no way to figure out how the cards will come up - anyone who thinks he or she can do that is really hooked. How did their wife/girlfriend forgive them for blowing this small fortune? Where were they in all of this? Not all gambling addicts get involved in lawsuits but this experience offered more insight into the terror of addiction. A must read for any family or individual involved in any way with addictive behavior. Thanks for letting me share.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific memoir
Review: I suppose I liked the book mainly for its insight into the betting mind. When the Barthelme's tackled the obsessive, self-destructive tendencies of one in the thrawl, the prose hummed and reverberated. The sections on their parents were less successful, not because they were poorly written, but because they seemed to provide a neat excuse for a messy situation. I found their reaction to their mother and father's death poignant, but it read more like a novel (character motivation, et al) than a memoir. But who am I to judge? I still have my parents... The twist at the end was terrific--unnerving and surreal--and the Barthelme's did an excellent job rendering the bizarre circumstances.
Rating:
Summary: Drowning in Grief by Losing Their Shirts
Review: I thought this book was excellent: a memoir by two brothers who lost $250,000 in riverboat casinos. They describe in detail how they would spend 12 hours or more losing thousands in the slot machines, or, more often, at blackjack. And how it escalated slowly, and then how the addiction got completely out-of-hand after both of their elderly parents died. Apparently, their pattern on each gambling spree was to lose a lot, and then spend the rest of the night (and sometimes day) winning back the lost amount. What amazed me is that even after they were indicted for a crime allegedly committed while gambling, they continued their addiction, albeit in another casino. Astounding! This memoir is remarkable on many counts. For one, it is beautifully written (both authors are writing professors), and also, they attempt to analyze their behavior, the big "WHY"? I commend them for revealing so many intimate details. It seems that perhaps the loss of their father, who had been a brilliant architect but an insensitive father to both, put them over the edge. Raised not to show feelings, coupled with their belief that their parents were their only true "community", perhaps put them in a hard, "no win" position when they died. And the only way to "win" (or attempt to) was at the casino. They are excellent at drawing out the allure of gambling - that, no matter win or lose, they were finally "feeling" something at the blackjack table. A sad tale of an attempt to deal with loss in a desperate, impossible way.
Rating:
Summary: Recommended
Review: I thought this book was very good and would recommend it. I did have three criticisms, which, cumulatively caused to to take away a star. First, I thought that there was a bit too much time spent on the family history (particularly in the first half), which made me think I was reading a (not fascinating) biography in disguise, and inviting cheap psychoanalysis of how the brothers became what they became. Second (and more minor),what's with the photographic section? We get dozens of photos of the authors' family (most of which were apropos of nothing), but nothing after the mid-1950's. What's up with that? Did the family camera break in 1956? I would have liked to see something more recent than 45 years ago. Finally, while the prologue tells us that the charges against the brothers were dropped, there is no discussion of that whatsoever in the book. What happened? How was that decision reached? This should have been discussed. Nevertheless, I still think it was a fine book.
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