A Gentleman's Game: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: IT'S IN THE HOLE !!!
Review: While professional golf has descended(?) into a world where the gallery shouts the phrase above, after every putt and tee shot, Tom Coyne provides a look at the "real" world of golf. In his book, Coyne expertly mines the subtlety and culture that lie at the heart of the game of golf. His descriptions; of the course, a shot, a person, or a building are terrifically evocative, and always original. Likening the caddy's room ("hole") to the "inside of a boxer's mouth" let's the reader almost feel the heat and stench and pain. As a reviewer before me pointed out, Coyne's clever phrasing isn't limited to the action on the golf course. The relationship and interplay between father and son, and between son and father, is smart, funny, and sad all at the same time. Coyne could have easily fallen into the (sand)trap (sorry for the pun) of allowing his novel to veer too drastically in one direction, but he does not. He doesn't let his book become a diatribe against the evils of class and the prejudice begotten by privlege, nor does he wade too deep into an analysis of father and son. Instead, Coyne seems to tell it like it is, or how it could be. A Gentleman's Game is a well written book about golf and life and the sometimes tumultuous intersection of the two. Coyne ends his book with a tip of his hat to the average weekend golf hack, and as a member of that army, I'll end my review with a tip of my hat to the writer.