Flatbellies
-
-
4.5 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $17.99
-
- $17.99
Publisher Description
"Reads like a combination of American Graffiti and Hoosiers put on pages with humor and wit. It's a wonderful story.... I loved it."—Associated Press
It's not about golf. It's about life. Set in a small Oklahoma town in the mid-1960s—a simple place in a confusing time—Flatbellies is partly about the seemingly unreachable goal of a high school golf team: to win the state championship. But mostly it's about the way Chipper, Jay, L.K., Buster, the unforgettable Peachy, and their friends learn to deal with love, loss, friendship, fear, triumph, tragedy, growing up, and growing together. Fictionalized from the author's teenage years in the heartland of America, Flatbellies is a memorable and moving coming-of-age story.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The quest for a state title has been a staple of sports novels for decades, but first-time novelist Hollingsworth adds some unexpected twists in his sweet tale of five Oklahoma high school golfers growing up in the 1960s. The narrator is Kyle DeHart, who excels in sports and academics but finds a home for his perfectionist tendencies on the golf course. Kyle's fellow underdogs, who compete together to win the state championship, are a diverse and engaging crew: nerdy, dictionary-quoting Jay Justice; brash, macho Peachy Waterman; mercurial Buster Nelson; and "jock supreme-o" L.K. Taylor. Hollingsworth's golf writing is folksy, incisive and funny, but he is less consistent in his descriptions of teenage social life. The major subplot is a clunky romantic triangle in which Kyle is forced to choose between his gorgeous and precocious girlfriend, Amy Valente, and an erratic former childhood friend named Gail Perdue, who resurfaces and claims that destiny has brought them together. Stronger strands of the story describe Jay's effort to cope with the death of his dad in a plane crash and L.K.'s clashes with his own tyrannical father. There's some stock coming-of-age material, and the treacly finale is especially clich d, but Hollingsworth's portraits are vivid and affectionate. A solid effort that will please sports fans.
