A Gentleman's Game

Nicholas Sparks

A wise and wonderful debut, one that makes you think about the choices you make in life. Tom Coyne is a writer to watch.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The unsung, often downtrodden heroes of the golf world the caddies stand at the center of Coyne's ironically titled debut. In 1985, 13-year-old Timmy Price shows a mastery of golf that inspires awe in adults and envy among his peers, though his father can barely afford to play at the exclusive Fox Chase Country Club in suburban Delaware. Timmy becomes the youngest junior state champion in history, but is forced by his father to work as a caddy; through his foul-mouthed, eccentric co-workers or "loopers," as they are known he discovers a seamier side of the game he loves. He learns hard, disillusioning lessons when his opponent cheats in a tournament and the adults he meets, though rich and powerful, are dishonest, drunk and often morally bankrupt. Timmy becomes friends with a disadvantaged caddy, Jamie Byrne, who not only comes from a bad home, but has lost his thumbs in an unexplained accident. When Jamie suddenly and mysteriously stops coming to the club, Timmy discovers an even darker secret about one of its powerful members, a secret that changes his whole outlook on life and golf. There are a few unmet expectations in the plot, such as one concerning Timmy's violent and antisocial brother, who lives in the attic and is like a gun placed in a drawer in act one but not used in act five. Although Timmy's final decision about where golf fits in his life will leave some readers puzzled, this appealing first effort is a satisfyingly idiosyncratic coming-of-age story dealing with class, family and the elusive challenge and fickleness of the sport. Agent, Dan Mandel, Sanford J. Greenburger. (May) FYI: An independent film version starring Mason Gamble and Gary Sinise, directed by Mills Goodloe and shot where Coyne once caddied, is scheduled for release in late 2001. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Timmy Price seems to be a natural golfer. Though he plays every chance he gets, his talent seems independent of him, a gift he can only marvel at, and one that promises to open doors for him private lessons, camps, and even colleges, though he's only 13. Taking a summer job as a caddy at his dad's country club, Timmy gets exposed to the way the other half lives. Some of the caddies (or "loopers") are lifers, with few prospects and terrible problems, which they deflect with raunchy humor. They open a window that lets Timmy see the dark side of country club life. Coyne shows a gift for characterization, which redeems the golf-is-life blather that nearly sinks this first novel. Reader Dylan Baker creates a credible voice for Timmy, inexperienced but sensitive. Recommended. John Hiett, Iowa City P.L. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

An unsparing debut about golf reaches the green in reasonable shape, but then leaves the putt short. The title is ironic. Around the course at suburban Delaware's Fox Chase Country Club gentlemen are, in fact, a scarce item, though fakes and phonies are not. Check out "the caddy hole," however, and if you're the right kind of observer you'll find more authentic types, even a gentleman or two-not in the conventional sense, of course, but in terms of bedrock worth. To young Timmy Price it's all a revelation, a nonstop parade of often confusing, sometimes wrenching experiences. It's been discovered that Timmy, at age 11, is a natural golfer gifted with a swing so "pure" that it sets him instantly apart and makes him the object of rapt attention whenever he addresses the ball. From his father, the attention is mostly anxious. An inept though unquestionably caring parent, the senior Price decides that hubris is involved and draconian measures are called for. As a result, Timmy is suddenly consigned for his own sake to the caddy-hole subculture. He makes friends there, but he encounters a lot that 11-year-olds shouldn't have to confront. The caddies are a disparate group encompassing the fiercely competitive, the near-heroic, and the hopelessly abject. Too soon, Timmy is forced to conclude that there are only "two kinds of people in the world, people who carry things and people who own the things they carry." By age 14, he's confirmed in a cynicism that saps his pleasure in a game he once loved and perhaps will darken the rest of his life as well. Honest to the point of bleakness, but too loosely constructed to be really involving. And yet the talent is unmistakable.