Memoir of the Bookie's Son

Recommended by Larry Lee Palmer as one of his all-time Ten Best books on horse racing, it shares a remarkable similarity with another Palmer nominee, My Days With Errol Flynn, by Buster Wiles - neither is really about horse racing at all. Buck Offit could not have been any more unlike the general idea of what a bookie is like. He was studious, stoic, low-key, introspective, honest, and absolutely opposed to having anything to do with organized crime figures. He raised two remarkable sons, led a spartan life despite his wealth, and remained in love with his wife for his entire life, which ended in his 96th year. Nothing fazed him - nothing! Not even when his 20-1 longshot in a Kentucky Derby - who actually lost by a nose - was mistakenly (and famously) misidentified by the radio announcer as the winner, did he express dismay that a forty-thousand dollar payday had come so close and then vanished. And when his career ended due to an event that had a one-in-a-thousand chance of occurring, that too was something about which he never expressed regret. The only thing that is missing in MBS is that Sidney never once allowed his sense of humor to emerge, to be interwoven into the perceptive commentary about this remarkable man. There's a subtle lack of vitality in the narrative, due to this omission, that ever so slightly deflates the impact of what otherwise is a solid, perceptive biography of a most unusual individual.

Very entertaining book that details the family life of a bookie and his two sons (one of whom narrates the book). Interesting dichotomy between the son (now a professor at NYU) and his father who left school after 4th grade but had a Ph.D from the school of hard knocks. Dialogue between the family members is especially memorable.

Sidney Offit is a writer's writer. In this elegant memoir of his father the bookie, Offit has evoked the sense and sensibility of his Baltimore childhood and his father's shady dealings with a fresh and often surprising grace. It's a great read for the details and texture of time and place, but it's also a truly fine piece of writing. A very under-appreciated book by a writer who really should have written something great by now, and perhaps he still will.