BILLY BOY

Name: BILLY BOY
Author: Bud Shrake
ISBN: 0-7432-2480-9

by Bud Shrake ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 2, 2001

Sentimental but never treacly, sweet but not cloying: a sprightly jeu d’esprit, with some solid golfing advice thrown in for...

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Texan sportswriter Shrake is probably best known as Harvey Penick's co-author (Harvey Penick's Little Red Book and If You Play Golf You're My Friend, 1993), but he’s also written eight novels solo (The Borderland, not reviewed, etc.) before this brief coming-of-age tale.

Like his close friend, fellow Texan, and occasional co-author Dan Jenkins, Shrake has an affinity for the golf courses of his home state and the heroes who walked their fairways, particularly Ben Hogan, who plays an important role here. The title figure is a 16-year-old boy who, at the story’s outset, has come to Fort Worth in the early 1950s with his handsome, raffish widower father, a drinker, gambler, rodeo champion, WWII vet and golfer. But when daddy Troy loses their entire savings in a dice game while drunk, Billy leaves him in a rage. Troy reenlists in the Army with tragic results. In the meantime, Billy has taken a job caddying at Colonial Country Club, where he is buffeted by the winds of wealthy eccentric Dr. Sandpaster, Sandpaster's gorgeous granddaughter Sandra, and the arrogant young club champion Sonny Stonekiller. One night Billy finds a mysterious 7-iron in the grass in a public park and is adopted by its owner, a no-less-mysterious man who claims to be John Bredemus, the legendary designer of Colonial and countless other Texas courses. Shrake spins his tale in a warm, burnished prose that has the glow of fond memory, with charming cameos by such Texas sports and gambling legends as poker whiz Amarillo Slim and even Shrake's own golf mentor Harvey Penick. Although the finale, with a tense golf match between Billy and Sonny, with Billy's future riding on the outcome, is a little predictable, the result is a book of considerable charm.

Sentimental but never treacly, sweet but not cloying: a sprightly jeu d’esprit, with some solid golfing advice thrown in for good measure.

Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2001

ISBN: 0-7432-2480-9

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
AND IF YOU PLAY GOLF, YOU'RE MY FRIEND
by Harvey Penick with Bud Shrake

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.