Sportswriter, The

Rating:
Summary: Read it Again
Review: "The Sports Writer" left quite an impression on me. I felt sick for weeks and thought it was untoppable until I read "Independence Day." I have read both of these books numerous times, and find them equally disheartening with each repeat. I have read all of Richard Ford's works. His short fiction is superb. I especially enjoyed the Parisian portion of "Women with Men," although I prefer the shorter works in general. Richard Ford is an exceptionally concise writer. I cannot say enough how much I enjoy his work, including these two novels, which are my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: A Clever Novel?
Review: Frank, the narrator of The Sportswriter, frequently alludes to his contentment with his lot and yet his story is all about his apprehensive disconnection with anything that could be potentially meaningful to him. Frank is adrift in life, presumably from the loss of a child and subsequent failed marriage, yet he is only half-willing to admit this to himself. He is ambiguous about the chronic bouts of "dreaminess" he has suffered in the past and will not tolerate the notion that the events in his life are of any consequence to his current situation or whether those events have any affect on his happiness. We get the sense that Frank is undergoing a crisis but doesn't realize it or does realize it but is unwilling to face up to it.

The themes of emptiness and disconnection are frequent in Richard Ford's short fiction and I have admired his handling of them. In the stories I have read, Ford does not dwell on sadness or tragedy but on the painful reality of life and the inevitable disconnect people feel. Mother-son estrangement and the missing father are often part of the subject matter in Ford's writing and both appear in this novel. In The Sportswriter we learn Frank's mother was distant but otherwise irreproachable and that the father died when Frank was still a boy. Frank was sent to boarding school at an early age and had little contact with his mother thereafter. She died when Frank was in college. Although Frank has no complaints about his childhood and considers it normal (and not the least remarkable, he stridently insists) we can't help but feel that this is the underlying drama of his life and the reason for his failures as a family man.

In addition to sports writing Frank is a failed literary writer - although he did publish a successful book of short stories after college before becoming a sportswriter - and this makes him wary of making dramatic analogies to his life and cynical about the "lies of literature". He is distinctly insouciant and introspective at the same time, which could be expected from a real-writer-turned-sportswriter ("real" being Frank's word). This dichotomy is the basis for the novel, and what we get is life filtered though the eyes of a sportswriter along with the expected observations and words of wisdom. The great irony of this book for me is that in Frank's narrative he is often unconsciously railing against the very things he claims to value. Frank is generally disapproving of cynicism yet his views and observations are often quite cynical; he is unquestionably a good father yet being a father was not reason to fight to save his marriage; he is always reminding us how content he is and yet the whole novel seems to be about his discontent; he is a straight-talking Everyman who is smarter than everyone by not being smarter than anyone; he sees life in simple terms, not unlike a good sports metaphor, but is quite literary and expressive; he wants love and meaning but is cynical about all the potential manifestations of a meaning in life.

Structurally the novel centers on Frank's love life and two relationships in particular, both of which I found very unconvincing. The first is with his ex-wife (designated "X", for some reason) and is heartbreaking in that Frank and she seem to still be in love and the things Frank did, or neglected to do, to prevent the divorce are inexplicable and highly implausible. For instance, while still married and after the death of one of their three children, Frank assuages his grief by embarking, with tacit wifely approval, on a two-year-18-partner womanizing spree - yet this is NOT the cause of the divorce! The cause of the divorce is an innocuous correspondence X uncovers which Frank could have easily explained but chose not to. The other relationship is between Frank and Vicki. Vicki is a Texan with no patience for deep thinking who speaks in short, canned southern expressions. Frank and Vicki seem to have nothing in common other than being single and attractive, yet they both readily entertain the notion they love each other and could spend their lives together in a happy marriage. What is painfully obvious to the reader, but for some reason not the narrator, is that this relationship is phony and a farce and doomed to fail, exactly as it does.

What this novel amounts to for me is a mass of contradictions, some probably intentional on Ford's part but others clearly not. I cannot give Ford credit for writing a clever novel that lets the reader see faults in the narrator that the narrator cannot see for himself. The faults of the novel cannot be to its credit and still be faults at the same time. Frank is too smart to be unaware of his shortcomings and in the gaping wholes in his worldview. If, and this is quite possible, we are really getting Richard Ford's worldview vetted though his Everyman Frank the sportswriter, then I am very disappointed because I have really enjoyed Ford's short stories and had much higher expectations of him than what is presented here.

Rating:
Summary: A real storyteller
Review: I am always mystified at critics who don't like the way a fictional hero behaves or speaks or thinks. This is Richard Ford's story, and Frank is his Frank, dealing with life the best way he can. There are parts of Frank in men I know, and there are observations on American life (especially at holiday time: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) that resonate with me, as an observer and an escapee from the colonies who is thirsty to know what makes (some) Americans tick. I am learning a lot from good novels by male authors and am swallowing whole Ford and others like Richard Russo, Richard Yates, John Gardner et al. Richard F, please write more.

Rating:
Summary: Slightly Flawed, but Well Worth Reading
Review: I've had a few months to sit on this book, and here's what I've come away with.

The Sportswriter is well worth reading and is, for my money, a more disciplined effort than its more highly celebrated sequel. Ford has an almost Jamesean eye for the psychological undercurrents of the most mundane interactions, particularly those between men and women.

Had the narrator brought this level of dissecting scrutiny to himself alone, I'd second the criticism that appears elsewhere in this forum, namely that the novel suffers from a "relentless self-analysis and an all-too-familiar need to assess every moment of every situation." But that simply isn't the case.

What is the case is that the novel's dialog is mannered and will not age well. As others have observed, at a certain point, the fact that the narrator uses a person's name at the end of every statement ("Well, I don't know, Jim.") and does this repeatedly suggests either that he is subject to a verbal tic that I've never encountered before in a single human being or that Ford is faking it. I think Ford is faking it and that he should should preserve both this novel and Independence Day by revisiting this issue. Otherwise, in fifty years, we'll be reading these conversations with the same pained embarrassment with which we now read some of the sillier exchanges in Hemingway's novels.

Rating:
Summary: No sports interest necessary
Review: In contrast to some of his earlier work, this is the novel that Ford found the voice that he went on to perfect in Independence Day. However, because I had first read that award winning work, I found the Sportswriter ultimately less satisfying. The weaknesses of the story are the unresolved quality to some of the events-these are due to the style of following Bascombe's thoughts over a few days of time. However it is a style that is engaging, and inevitably, I couldn't stop reading.

The characters are well defined, some much too vividly, others with a mere gesture so as to appeal to the imagination (His descriptions of his children while he casually observes them, for instance). Often we are left with underlying questions about character motivation, and merely skim the surface of a life lived. To his credit though, it is often understood implicitly what Bascombe's motives are.

Whether or not one is a sports fan (it is not required), the story appeals on its observations regarding attitudes toward trying to live the good life. As with most good literature, this makes the reading worthwhile. The story does feel true to life, albeit one that the reader might get drawn into reluctantly. Ford as Bascombe regularly spins out a yarn of self-deprecating humor, heavy with cynicism. At the beginning, I found the effect frustrating. Several pages later, however, the tangential thread is clarified as part of the grand design, and, as Bascombe works through the thicket, the cynicism is transformed. By the end the reader has become Bascombe's coeval, rooting every turn toward hope.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't finish it -- 2 1/2 stars
Review: Richard Ford and Richard Russo are mirror images, differing in last name only. Each writes about life in a small town: the personal relationships, the petty politics, the damaged families hiding behind vinyl siding. I have yet to finish a novel by either, however. In EMPIRE FALLS, Russo takes 100 pages to set the scene and introduce us to his characters' histories. Ford does the same in THE SPORTWRITER, a melancholy work about one man rebuilding his life after the death of his son and the break-up of his marriage. This is a sad book that I'm sure becomes less sad over the course of the long weekend of the book's many pages, but after the first day I couldn't stand it anymore. These books lend themselves better to film: see NOBODY'S FOOL, based on the Russo novel of the same title -- a brilliant film, one of the best I've ever seen. The film works because the scenery and character description are summed up in one panoramic shot, and the film cuts to the personal relationships and what happens now, not what happened then.

I had hoped to enjoy Ford's fiction, but I was disappointed. I might catch up to Ford's protagonist in INDEPENDENCE DAY, but I don't know if I feel like feeling that sad again for a while.

Rating:
Summary: A great book, necessary for Independence Day
Review: Richard Ford is a great writer. This book was considered a marvel in its time, a writers book passed around by writers, though it didn't have much "buzz" beyond the fiction writing community. Seeing it on here makes me want to take off a day, go by the beach and reread to end up the way Mr. Bascomb does. There is something in the modest respect for the real details of life and its limitations and an eye for the realities of life in this and all of Ford's work.

Of course, this is necessary reading because Ford's sequel with the same character, married and a decade or so later was his Independence Day that won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, a larger more ambitious work, but with the same accuracy, modesty, and wisdom.

Rating:
Summary: A great book, necessary for Independence Day
Review: Richard Ford is a great writer. This book was considered a marvel in its time, a writers book passed around by writers, though it didn't have much "buzz" beyond the fiction writing community. Seeing it on here makes me want to take off a day, go by the beach and reread to end up the way Mr. Bascomb does. There is something in the modest respect for the real details of life and its limitations and an eye for the realities of life in this and all of Ford's work.

Of course, this is necessary reading because Ford's sequel with the same character, married and a decade or so later was his Independence Day that won the Pulitzer and the National Book Award, a larger more ambitious work, but with the same accuracy, modesty, and wisdom.

Rating:
Summary: Story of an everyday man
Review: Richard Ford's "The Sportswriter" by now has become the only slightly less heralded prequel to his Pulitzer Prize winning "Independence Day". While critics have been nearly unanimous in their praise for Ford's breakthrough novel, readers have been more divided about its merits. Some allege its lack of plot, others complain about the seemingly interminable stream of consciousness styled interior monologue of its central character. But what makes failed novelist turned sportswriter Frank Boscombe such an enduring figure in American literature may be his more than passing resemblence to Willy Loman and his litany of everydayman insecurities. Surely, the dank whiff of failure about Frank's middle aged crisis struck existence is a condition that most educated American males can relate to.

Bereaved of a child and divorced from a wife (referred to only as X) whom he still vaguely regards as part of his environment, Frank finds himself drifting into a permanent state of "dreaminess", which when he explains himself turns out to be a place we've all been before though few would care to admit it. X and sportsmen in general, he calls factualists. Their lives are purposeful, defined, nailed down by very specific goals. Sportswriting allows Frank to abdicate from making any real decisions because his duty is only to report. Should it surprise that Frank scores a big zero on the relationship front ? Dreaminess isn't conducive to the making of any real friendships. With women, there's at least sex, though his fling with Vicky proves to be another rudderless affair. With men, there's even less incentive to fake interest. When fellow divorced men's club member Walter confesses his dark secret, Frank doesn't want to know, so when Walter finally chucks it in, Frank's response is one of incomprehension.

The quality of Ford's writing is consistently excellent and never less than satisfying. Literate, sensitive and honest, he manages even to win sympathy for a hero whom many less charitable may regard as a wimp. For all Frank's faults, we root for him because we recognise something of us in him. The novel ends on a hopeful note which leaves a smile on our face. "The Sportswriter" is a wonderful novel.

Rating:
Summary: Writing is masterful - story moves a little slowly.
Review: Richard Ford's hero, Frank Bascombe, accomplished the most important thing in his life when he published a book of short stories at the age of 25. Since then, to the open wonderment of his peers, he has labored in an act of love, by writing feature stories on a variety of sports, across the country.
And, although his stories are published in top-drawer publications, it seems as though everyone who comes in contact with Frank wonders why is the quality of his life's work so, so mediocre....is that all there is?

Frank's been cheating on his wife for a long time, and is now divorced from her, pretty much against his will. His love affairs post-divorce have all the character of a married man still cheating. The death of their son has led each of them to indifference and sadness.

In this ultimately sad portrait of the divorced, middle aged American male, Ford has crafted the ultimately flawed hero. He brings us into Frank's search for himself. He's a cynic who cannot accept
what happened to his son and his marriage, but ultimately still has an underlying sense of optimism.
The pace of the novel is somewhat slow, and initially, Frank's passing acquaintance with an even more pitiful divorced male, who ultimately commits suicide, is puzzling and out of character.

Somehow, just somehow, through Frank's emotional awakening, Richard Ford re-introduces us to everyman, and, in doing so, presents the theory that we all grow into, and that many of us cannot acknowledge or accept ..... that sometimes our lives turn out to be less than our promise, less than they way we could have lived them. But, despite that, there is always a way to turn a corner, to make the future brighter than it once was. The book is not for everyone, much as most of Ford's
novels. For the reader that truly enjoys a writer who is accomplished at his craft, and one who is ultimately trying to get under his readers' skins, "The Sportswriter" is an eloquent and excellent read.

"Independence Day" - a companion novel about Bascombe, is equally as well-written.