A MULLIGAN FOR BOBBY JOBE

Name: A MULLIGAN FOR BOBBY JOBE
Author: Bob Cullen
ISBN: 0-06-018554-6

by Bob Cullen ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2001

For the converted, certainly, though this warm, funny, poignant tale full of people to like and aspirations to admire could...

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A wonderfully entertaining tale about second chances in life, a game almost as hard as golf.

And few bitten by the bug would find that an untoward construction, certainly not Cullen’s heroes: long-hitting golf pro Bobby Jobe and long-put-upon Henry Mote, his caddy. Though their styles differ sharply, both are flawed creatures, and both—at the outset of the story—are about to face a grim string of double-bogeys: supertalented Bobby because he's simply not serious enough, self-effacing Henry because he's never dared to value himself sufficiently. On the 15th hole of the last round of the PGA Championship, Bobby—distracted by a busty blond—loses a two-stroke lead and the services of his disenchanted caddy. Henry returns to Allegheny Gap, Virginia, home of the nine-hole course built by his father. He tries to keep busy, tries not to watch golf on TV since it makes him miss the Tour too much. In the meantime, disaster catches up with Bobby. He's struck by lightning and permanently blinded, after obstinately ignoring warnings to duck out of a thunderstorm. Eight months pass. Enter Angela Murphy, a young woman hired as a rehab specialist who’s convinced true rehabilitation can happen only if Bobby plays golf again. She wants Henry to be his eyes. At first, the notion is abhorrent to both men, but Angela, as sweet-natured as she is iron-willed, persists. They try, they fall short; Henry will place a ball awkwardly, Bobby will over- or under-swing; they'll want to quit, but little by little the task works its magic—and in the process is fully recognized as the metaphor it is.

For the converted, certainly, though this warm, funny, poignant tale full of people to like and aspirations to admire could well earn former Newsweek correspondent Cullen (Why Golf?: The Mystery of the Game Revealed, 2000, etc.) his first large audience.

Pub Date: June 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-06-018554-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.