THE SPOILS

In Thompson’s novel, a 31-year-old man in Los Angeles with few career prospects begins coaching middle school lacrosse.

It’s 2014, and Ryan Wilson is a 31-year-old aspiring screenwriter who’s become disenchanted by the film industry and upset about his general lack of success: “I was supposed to have things…Tennis lessons and Aesop hand soap. New restaurants I just had to try. The finer things. Thread counts.” This leads him to accept a position as a lacrosse coach at the private Brentwood School. He’s immediately annoyed by the self-important athletic director, Keri,as well as his co-coach, Colby Cuthbert, who lacks appropriate experience and seems more concerned with performing his best approximation of a coach in between comedy gigs. Despite his initial misgivings about the job, Ryan quickly takes to his preteen charges, building a rapport and giving them unique nicknames. He establishes a similar bond with a few of the parents—most notably, Camilla Tourney. Ryan is instantly taken with her, particularly after he learns her husband is a major producer and director. As their friendship, which begins as flirtatious banter, transforms into a full-blown affair, Ryan is torn between his desire for Camilla and his desire to sell a script. Later, the lacrosse team, which has improved under Ryan’s tutelage, makes it to the championship. However, despite Ryan briefly having everything he wants within reach—team victory, romance, a genuine career opportunity—he can’t help but get in his own way. Indeed, as a protagonist, Ryan frequently seems at odds with himself; his internal monologue is full of hyper-specific references (“Venice, California is the Wilco of Los Angeles neighborhoods”), yet in dialogue, he’s mostly vague, though affably irreverent.

Thompson’s tale of one man’s downward spiral into adulthood is, by turns, charming and cringe-inducing—the latter mainly when readers see Ryan falling headlong into a bad decision. However, the novel can be slightly frustrating at times, as some of the more esoteric references during scene-setting could warrant further explanation: “a guy who looked like he produced Doug Liman movies…was probably working at Lakeshore or Bad Robot or HoneyBucket.” For the most part, though, the story’s cultural references are its greatest strengths, as when one character notes how he’d be okay if his wife cheated on him with the actor Matt Dillon: “He’s just threatening enough to be bummed out about but for some reason I could get over it.” However, the dense prose gives the story a meandering fell, and sometimes even undermines the jokes. For example, after a disastrous sexual experience, Ryan muses about Camilla, and his aside lessens the impact of his one-liner: “She finally got the nerve to adulterize—yes, yes: it’s not a noble practice but at the very least the impudent act takes some gall—and all she got was the second to last verse of ‘Desolation Row.’” Thompson is obviously talented, but his constant, fastidious quips sometimes detract from the heart of the piece.

A funny and charming Hollywood tale, but one that could have been tighter.