A Gentleman's Game

This book was recommended to me by a friend and I have since passed on this recommendation to others. Though not a golfer, Coyne's descriptive narrative actually increased my desire to try to experience the magic of a game that thus far, I have not attempted to play. Golf, like life, is a just as much a battle with yourself, as it is a battle with others. A Gentleman's Game superbly depicts the personal struggles of a young boy, both on and off the golf course. I've always felt that how one acts on a playing field is a true reflection of the character of the individual, and Coyne's characters echo this sentiment. I think Coyne also presents the idea that "success" is not, or at least should not be, measured by status or skill, but by being true to oneself. Foster Pearse, Timmy, and Mr. Price all know who they are and do not try to be anything different. Perhaps one of the best facets of the book is that the characters all seem real. And in his description, the surroundings come alive and the dew on the grass and the heat of a humid August afternoon all seem tangible. The book is a great read and it made me want to wake at 7 am on a Saturday, walk down a fairway, socks soaked from the dew of the wet grass seeping through my shoes. I am looking forward to Tom Coyne's next.

As a woman and non-golfer, I did not expect "A Gentleman's Game" to interest me -- but to my surprise, Tom Coyne has written one of the best novels I have read in a long time. Although the story evolves in and around the golf course, this book is more about the people who play (and those who love them) than the game itself. "A Gentleman's Game" speaks to a universal audience, a story written for both men and women alike involving such important issues as race, class, and gender. Tom Coyne has written an excellent first novel-- I highly recommend it!

"A Gentleman's Game" is a book by a talented writer who enjoys playing golf, rather than one by a golfer who plays at writing. For me, this book was more about the relationship between a father and a son than about golf, yet it emphasized the fact that attitudes on a golf course reflect life's experiences. Reading about a boy growing up in a country club environment and a dysfunctional family, befriending members of the seamier side of life in the caddie "hole", and watching wealthier people waste their lives, made me think of "Angela's Ashes". But the comparison was based on the emotions expressed. Tim never wanted for food or other necessities of life. But his treatment by his father, a man who felt out of place in his posh club, his troubled mother, and his disturbed brother made for a less than happy childhood. His enlightenment on the final day at golf camp, the stolen championship, and the "omerta" of those he had considered his friends, is a passage to adulthood. This is an absorbing book to read in a few session. I will look forward to more by Tom Coyne.

While professional golf has descended(?) into a world where the gallery shouts the phrase above, after every putt and tee shot, Tom Coyne provides a look at the "real" world of golf. In his book, Coyne expertly mines the subtlety and culture that lie at the heart of the game of golf. His descriptions; of the course, a shot, a person, or a building are terrifically evocative, and always original. Likening the caddy's room ("hole") to the "inside of a boxer's mouth" let's the reader almost feel the heat and stench and pain. As a reviewer before me pointed out, Coyne's clever phrasing isn't limited to the action on the golf course. The relationship and interplay between father and son, and between son and father, is smart, funny, and sad all at the same time. Coyne could have easily fallen into the (sand)trap (sorry for the pun) of allowing his novel to veer too drastically in one direction, but he does not. He doesn't let his book become a diatribe against the evils of class and the prejudice begotten by privlege, nor does he wade too deep into an analysis of father and son. Instead, Coyne seems to tell it like it is, or how it could be. A Gentleman's Game is a well written book about golf and life and the sometimes tumultuous intersection of the two. Coyne ends his book with a tip of his hat to the average weekend golf hack, and as a member of that army, I'll end my review with a tip of my hat to the writer.

Tom Coyne has turned in a wonderful debut novel. His incredible phrasing and descriptions will be sure to please both golf-lovers and prose-lovers alike. Fans of the game will smile with a tinge of longing and envy as young Timmy Price makes the seemingly unconquerable game look so easy. And fans of the written word will delight in how Coyne crafts a sentence, his words on the page acting as the different clubs as he takes us through a round of literary golf. I've never read a better sports novel, at once both a love letter to the game of golf and villification of class system and country club hypocrisy that so often accompany it. The examination of the father-son relationship, the dynamics of a middle class suburban family, and the struggles of adolescence add a universal weight to Coyne's story. If you've ever played golf, and if even once have hit a shot that made you stand back and feel proud, and ask, "Wow, where the heck did that come from?" you owe it to yourself to read A Gentleman's Game. Coyne's wonderful prose can have the same effect.