Compared to this, Caddyshack is Shakespeare.
Though the stuffiness of the Masters tournament and the protocols of Augusta National are prime targets for satire, this scattershot novel fails to distinguish funny from dumb.
Dan Jenkins has set a standard for sports hilarity that this slapdash fiction (subtitled “A Particularly Allegorical Comedy of Real Bad Manners”) never approaches. Instead, golf writer and marketer Sentell subjects the reader to an onslaught of weird names, outlandish situations and run-on sentences that never add up to much. His protagonist is Waymon Poodle, a bank-teller who specializes in customer service, though his appearance suggests inbreeding or alien life-forms. Waymon’s fiancée is hairdresser LaJuanita Mumps, who keeps attempting to convince Waymon that their pending nuptials give them permission to fornicate. They live and work in Mullet Luv, Ga. Whatever Waymon feels for LaJuanita can’t compare to his passion for golf and obsession with Augusta National. He had searched for an apartment until he discovered an available one with the number 1931, the year Augusta was founded. He drives a green beater and talks on a green telephone, both in homage to the green jacket awarded the Masters champion. He has painstakingly assembled a miniature model of the golf course in his apartment’s spare bedroom. Yet Waymon is somehow unaware of the conditions under which he might be permitted to play Augusta National, his life’s dream. The bulk of the short novel concerns Waymon’s quest to involve himself with the Masters and eventually play a round at the course. In the process, he thwarts a woman who has threatened to expose her “Bermuda grass” at the tournament, much to the consternation of Augusta chairman Leonard “Huge Pecker” Leboeuf. Waymon ultimately has a climactic encounter with Jack Nicklaus, who keeps referring to himself in the third person as the “Golden Bear.” Mayhem and alleged mirth ensue, as Waymon fulfills his fantasy and the non-golfing LaJuanita becomes the first female member of Augusta National.
Compared to this, Caddyshack is Shakespeare.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2007
ISBN: 1-60164-005-6
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Künati
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2006
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
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
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