Flatbellies: It's Not about Golf. It's about Life.

This is just a well-written book on adolescence in small Oklahoma community. I as the other reviewers was entranced by the book, couldn't put it down. Devoured it in two days. Great finish, and one that didn't leave me cold or wandering or even wanting more about the characters lifes, due to the Epilogue.It's about a group of guys who grow up together and eventually happen to win the state golf tournament. Intertwined in this is their love life, expectations, and the fluid-raunchy mouth of one Peachy. Fascinated by the interjection at many points of faith or lack of towards God, and ending up of Jay.Loved every minute. I too hope Hollingsworth writes more like this.

What a great weekend read! The struggles of golf do recapitulate the struggles of life, so in slight contradistinction to the subtitle, this book is about golf AND it's is about life. Reminiscent of Dan Jenkins' Baja Oklahoma, but somehow with a more poignant side, A. B. Hollingsworth spins a great story about a small town Oklahoma high school golf team set in in the 1960's. For me the book evokes memories of the hormones, the love, cockiness and the fear that surrounded adolescence. Perhaps it is solely because I grew up in small town America during that era; perhaps because I can identify with several of the characters, but its pages held me close. At times it made me laugh, and at times made me stare right into a passing rain storm. Any book that can do that is wonderful. If A. B. Hollingsworth can find more stories to tell, I'll find time to read them.

Even a female, non-golfer like me found this book delightful. The fun, fear, eagerness and poignancy of growing up is common to us all. Hollingsworth has combined the innocence of a time gone by with a generation who believes nothing is impossible. The ending will astonish you!

Growing up in Oklahoma in the 1960s could be like a ride on a rollercoaster. Girls, cars, sports, even bullies - all the things that we teenagers were so involved with. Alan B Hollingsworth has managed to capture every sudden swerve and rolling upturn in his first novel, Flatbellies. Richly populated with characters drawn from his high school years, Hollingsworth has recreated in the not-so-mythical hamlet of El Viento the world as he knew it. I found myself drawn into the lives of his characters, heroes and villains alike. This became one of those books where you say, "I just have to read another chapter, even if I do have to get up in the morning to go to work!" You too will find it was worth it.

Flatbellies is a brightly lit trip back to the best side of your last smooth ice. Hollingsworth weaves together the innocence and awakening of a group of friends on the brink of fun, heartbreak and life its ownself. Golf is a great backdrop for a coming of age story that is more about love and faith than a white knuckle six iron from behind the trees. I am no night owl, but I could not put this down until I finished it at 2:58 a.m.