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The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
by
Carl Hiaasen
Ever wonder how to retrieve a sunken golf cart from a snake-infested lake? Or which club in your bag is best suited for combat against a horde of rats? If these and other sporting questions are gnawing at you, The Downhill Lie, Carl Hiaasen’s hilarious confessional about returning to the fairways after a thirty-two-year absence, is definitely the book for you.
Originally dr...more
Originally dr...more
Hardcover, 224 pages
Published
May 6th 2008
by Knopf
(first published January 1st 2008)
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I often read fairly frivolous books...just for pleasure...and sometimes those books offer more than simple pleasures. Carl Hiassen, one of the most insanely funny and intensely ecological writers we have, often give me more than simple pleasures in is novels.
It is unfortunate, then. to see him turn his immense talents into a book as poorly crafted and humorless as is The Downhill Lie. The only value I can see in this book might be to pad Mr. Hiassen's wallet. There are enough people who will bu...more
It is unfortunate, then. to see him turn his immense talents into a book as poorly crafted and humorless as is The Downhill Lie. The only value I can see in this book might be to pad Mr. Hiassen's wallet. There are enough people who will bu...more
Carl Hiassen is a very funny guy. If you don't believe me, just check out any of his abusrdly funny novels.
Turning his eye to the non-fiction realm, Hiassen looks at his taking up the game of golf again after a 32-year break. Hiassen's look at how the game can grow into an obsession is wonderfully witty, wryly observed and self-deprecating. The great part is that Hiassen doesn't take himself too seriously, allowing the reader to experience the highs and lows of trying to play the game of golf....more
Turning his eye to the non-fiction realm, Hiassen looks at his taking up the game of golf again after a 32-year break. Hiassen's look at how the game can grow into an obsession is wonderfully witty, wryly observed and self-deprecating. The great part is that Hiassen doesn't take himself too seriously, allowing the reader to experience the highs and lows of trying to play the game of golf....more
My second golf book in a month. I'm not a fan of the sport but after the horrible Tales from Q School it deserved a second chance.
Hiaasen decided to get back into golf after decades away and spent a year and a half, a sizable chunk of change, and many hours of frustration trying to get his stroke back. I knew I'd like him from the first line of the preface: "There are so many people to blame for this book that it's hard to know where to begin."
What makes this memoir better than the Q School slog...more
Hiaasen decided to get back into golf after decades away and spent a year and a half, a sizable chunk of change, and many hours of frustration trying to get his stroke back. I knew I'd like him from the first line of the preface: "There are so many people to blame for this book that it's hard to know where to begin."
What makes this memoir better than the Q School slog...more
I love golf. I watch golf on TV. I subscribe to several golf magazines. I have dreamt about the game numerous times—this week alone. I love golf.
I did not love this book. Actually, I didn’t even like this book, which is the equivalent of the author blowing a 2-inch putt, uphill.
Most of this memoir has all the pizazz of a dieter’s logbook—sliced it here, flubbed a chip, made a seven-footer to save par. Then the next hole. Who cares? And the few interesting stories have the author bludgeoning sm...more
I did not love this book. Actually, I didn’t even like this book, which is the equivalent of the author blowing a 2-inch putt, uphill.
Most of this memoir has all the pizazz of a dieter’s logbook—sliced it here, flubbed a chip, made a seven-footer to save par. Then the next hole. Who cares? And the few interesting stories have the author bludgeoning sm...more
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As much respect and admiration as I have for my fellow Floridian, I have to say this book does seem like an afterthought. Many of the other criticisms are valid. It appears someone had the bright idea to take this gentleman's journal and publish it. Having said that, I read the book quite rapidly and enjoyed it immensely. I have the creeping suspicion I'm a very specific target audience. 1) I recently began golfing again after nearly 20 years of retirement following a lackluster career on my hig...more
Short version: Hiaasen hits ball, ball doesn’t go in hole, Hiaasen feels bad about himself. Repeat for 244 pages.
Long Version: The short version above represents more accurate summarization than snarky criticism. ”A Downhill Lie grows out of a golf journal Hiaasen keeps during a roughly 18 month return to the activity of golf in which he details his deteriorating play, efforts to remedy it and the emotional toll it takes on him. The book lacks true literary merit – it isn’t particularly funny or
The humorist, journalist and crime novelist, Carl Hiassen, returned to golf in his early 50s after not playing for 30 years. This book chronicles his return. It is hilarious and it hit home hard for me. I recommend it to golfers.
Mostly, Hiassen describes his frustration at the difficulty of the game while he pokes fun at his own highly inflated expectations for how he will score on the course. He spices the narrative by including funny stories about his friends in golf, David Feherty and Mike L...more
Mostly, Hiassen describes his frustration at the difficulty of the game while he pokes fun at his own highly inflated expectations for how he will score on the course. He spices the narrative by including funny stories about his friends in golf, David Feherty and Mike L...more
I'm not a golfer -- I don't even play putt-putt that often and I almost never use a driver there -- so why did I choose this book? (1) I like the author and (2) I wanted to learn enough golf terminology that I could discuss it in casual conversation. (Yes, I do read about many things so that I can converse semi-knowledgeably about them later. That's a skill, not a flaw, I read somewhere.)
I just don't get the golf addiction thing. Maybe it's that I'm not a perfectionist or maybe it's that I like...more
I just don't get the golf addiction thing. Maybe it's that I'm not a perfectionist or maybe it's that I like...more
Carl Hiaasen's funny and self-deprecating memoir about returning to the sport after a 30 year hiatus. My hairdresser recommended this author to me since he writes about the oddities of living in Florida. I visit this state a couple times a year for family and I am constantly riddled with a WTF-face whenever I step outside the house.
Anyway, in Florida alligators are considered lateral water hazards and local wildlife can and do fly off with your ball. Consult with the USGA rulebook to see how tho...more
Anyway, in Florida alligators are considered lateral water hazards and local wildlife can and do fly off with your ball. Consult with the USGA rulebook to see how tho...more
Background: I'm a big time golfer, but have had insane difficulty in learning the sport and playing well.
I don't know anything about Carl Hiaasen and his previous books. What I do know is this book speaks to anyone who's had a remote difficulty with the game. So many of his stories were practically my autobiography with the sport of golf, despite my 30 years of age difference between myself and the author. I laughed out loud more times than I can remember during this book.
This book is the real...more
I don't know anything about Carl Hiaasen and his previous books. What I do know is this book speaks to anyone who's had a remote difficulty with the game. So many of his stories were practically my autobiography with the sport of golf, despite my 30 years of age difference between myself and the author. I laughed out loud more times than I can remember during this book.
This book is the real...more
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The Downhill Lie
Will He Ever Feel Good About Golf?
One of the hardest things about golf is quitting for 30 years, than playing well when you’re 50. This is exactly what Carl Hiaasen did. We will follow his journey returning to golf, and let’s see what happens.
The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiaasen is a great memoir about this fantastic author’s golf life. In 2007, Carl Hiaasen’s journey with the game started in Florida. Mike Lupica, David Feherety, and Mark Leibo help Carl with his golf outings. I giv...more
Will He Ever Feel Good About Golf?
One of the hardest things about golf is quitting for 30 years, than playing well when you’re 50. This is exactly what Carl Hiaasen did. We will follow his journey returning to golf, and let’s see what happens.
The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiaasen is a great memoir about this fantastic author’s golf life. In 2007, Carl Hiaasen’s journey with the game started in Florida. Mike Lupica, David Feherety, and Mark Leibo help Carl with his golf outings. I giv...more
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I received this book as a gift right when I took up golf at age 44 - I guess my friend wanted to give me insight as to what I was getting in to!!
I found it to be a fun, lighthearted biography of a golfers quest - and as I described some of the book to my father and his friend - lifelong golfers - they were nodding their heads and weighing in with stories of their own ruinous golf stories.
A quick read, tongue-in-cheek, and a few chuckles along the way, and after 4 years on the links, some of the...more
I found it to be a fun, lighthearted biography of a golfers quest - and as I described some of the book to my father and his friend - lifelong golfers - they were nodding their heads and weighing in with stories of their own ruinous golf stories.
A quick read, tongue-in-cheek, and a few chuckles along the way, and after 4 years on the links, some of the...more
This book is very different from Hiaasen's usual hilarious romps with quirky characters from Florida. The Downhill Lie is actually a journal, and documents Hiaasen's life as he takes up the sport of golf (a sport he really doesn't seem to enjoy) in middle age after not playing the game for decades.
I have no interest in golf whatsoever and a lot of the stroke by stroke descriptions of his golf games were lost on me. Still, Hiaasen can tell a good story, so his study of the game, analysis of the m...more
I have no interest in golf whatsoever and a lot of the stroke by stroke descriptions of his golf games were lost on me. Still, Hiaasen can tell a good story, so his study of the game, analysis of the m...more
Maybe I'm missing the fun because I'm not a fan of golf - but this reads like a cleverly witty but mostly mundane blog. Being a fan of Hiaasen's fictional Florida, I decided to read this to see if his point of view of the "activity" (thank you George Carlin) of golf was truly worth my time to pursue.
Sure, there are some great stories in here (some involving using annoying animals as golf balls - take that PETA!) but as an entire work this book is wholly unremarkable. I still don't get the appeal...more
Sure, there are some great stories in here (some involving using annoying animals as golf balls - take that PETA!) but as an entire work this book is wholly unremarkable. I still don't get the appeal...more
My x-girlfriends mom, which already scares me because of my history, gave me this book but she said I would enjoy it. Carl Hiaasen is a Florida writer, and returns to the sport of golf after helplessly given up. A humorous story of a novelist whom isn't very good at golfing, but relates to anyone who sucks at golf. As a writer I learned how to document a progression of events through a diary type chapter style. This novel gave me many ideas on how I could improve his idea, and take it across the...more
If you are looking for a funny read to fill your spare time, this book will do the trick. There is not any kind of major plot to this book, other than to make you laugh...a lot. I found myself laughing almost every page of the book. It is a quick read, so if you dont feel like you have accomplished anything after reading it, at least you didnt waste too much time on it. If you want to understand this book you will need at least a beginners knowledge of golf, and a love for the sport. If you dont...more
Part two in my series of sports books about sports that I don't care for by authors who I like. Though I don't consider golf a sport, so I'm not sure I should include this one.
In the end, despite the fact that I enjoy Hiaasen's other works, I didn't really care for this one much. Part of it is because the book primarily deals with his trials and tribulations returning to golf. There's too much of him complaining about his bad play and the fact that he either doesn't improve or actually gets wors...more
In the end, despite the fact that I enjoy Hiaasen's other works, I didn't really care for this one much. Part of it is because the book primarily deals with his trials and tribulations returning to golf. There's too much of him complaining about his bad play and the fact that he either doesn't improve or actually gets wors...more
I have never read anything of Carl Hiaasen, but always wanted to. Since I am very interested in Golf (but don't play yet) and stumbled on this, it became my first read of his work.
I think its great. I can't compare it to his other works yet, but on its own its pretty funny. I love jargon laced descriptions of sporting events (Grishams "Bleachers" comes to mind here), so his accounts of his games and the tournament were great.
Even better were the times he either remembered something about his fat...more
I think its great. I can't compare it to his other works yet, but on its own its pretty funny. I love jargon laced descriptions of sporting events (Grishams "Bleachers" comes to mind here), so his accounts of his games and the tournament were great.
Even better were the times he either remembered something about his fat...more
I am not a golfer. When I was a kid I would go with my gramps while he golfed, he would let me drive the cart and when we were out of sight of the clubhouse he would roll a ball out into the fairway for me to hit. I loved that time we spent together, but it never made me want to play golf. This is a very funny book about Hiaasen taking up golf agian after a layoff of many decades. I picked it up because I have read a lot of his fiction and loved it. This was just as good. Whether or not you are...more
Hiaasen is a fav of mine, and I like his kids books and adult books as well. He's a gifted storyteller.
As a hacker in his teens, he had given up golf until mid-life. This book is a diary of his efforts to exceed his best teen score, having wondered what it would be like to play the game again.
It's a fast read, and anyone who has ever attempted to play the game will chuckle and smiloe with each turn of the page.
I'm sending my copy to my brother first ( a good golfer) with a note that he send it t...more
As a hacker in his teens, he had given up golf until mid-life. This book is a diary of his efforts to exceed his best teen score, having wondered what it would be like to play the game again.
It's a fast read, and anyone who has ever attempted to play the game will chuckle and smiloe with each turn of the page.
I'm sending my copy to my brother first ( a good golfer) with a note that he send it t...more
Jul 26, 2011
Ron Arden
added it
You have to read this book, if you have ever played golf or attempted it like me. Carl Hiaasen played when he was in his teens and he foolishly decides to pick it up again in his 50s. A good friend convinces him to keep a gold diary, which is the basis for this book.
It is a riot with typical Hiaasen humor and insanity. From frog golf, to turtle golf to ridding the world of a scourge or vermin, I laughed myself silly. He has a lot of technical golf stuff in this book to satisfy those who understa...more
It is a riot with typical Hiaasen humor and insanity. From frog golf, to turtle golf to ridding the world of a scourge or vermin, I laughed myself silly. He has a lot of technical golf stuff in this book to satisfy those who understa...more
For the guy who doesn't golf much, tends to experience slicing, topping the ball, sand traps, putts that are too short (or too long) and smacking the chip shot a mile (when you are trying to loft it close softly to the pin), this book is a must read. Funny one-liners. Hiaasen captured the emotional whirlwind that only golf seems to provide - the highs and lows.
I enjoyed it... and it will help me to keep the game in perspective... ok - done, now I'm going to play a quick 9 holes....
Thanks Kate f...more
I enjoyed it... and it will help me to keep the game in perspective... ok - done, now I'm going to play a quick 9 holes....
Thanks Kate f...more
When I opened the book and counted how many of Hiaasen's books that I'd read before this book and thoroughly enjoyed (11 including the two young readers' books) I was reminded that his fiction was always a "sure thing". I'd be changing planes for instance, bookless, and needed something to take with me from an airport bookstore that was sure to entertain me. I could always count on one of Hiaasen's books to grab and hold my attention. I'm sorry that Downhill Lies wasn't such an adventure. This s...more
Originally drawn to the game by his father, Carl wisely quit golfing in 1973, when “Richard Nixon was hunkered down like a meth-crazed badger in the White House, Hank Aaron was one dinger shy of Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and The Who had just released Quadrophenia.” But some ambitions refuse to die, and as the years—and memories of shanked 7-irons—faded, it dawned on Carl that there might be one thing in life he could do better in middle age than he could as a youth. So gradually he v...more
The Downhill Lie: A Hacker’s Return to a Ruinous Sport by Carl Hiaasen is gleefully funny. Carl’s Dad was a graceful, dedicated golfer. Sunday was golfing day, the rest of the week he toiled in his law practice. Carl first took golf club in hand to accompany his father on those Sundays spent golfing. Where his Dad had an effortless, grace, Carl tended to attack the ball, do battle with the clubs and withdraw a defeated snarling mess. His Dad died while Carl was in college, golf no longer held th...more
pretty funny book about author's year-and-a-half comeback, culminating in a two-person-teams local tournament, to golf in his mid-fifties after a hiatus of a couple decades. If, like me, you are not a golfer, you might find some of the diary entries a little repetitive (I bought a new putter someone recommended; I still 3-putted half the greens and shot 95.......).
However, there is a nice mix of reminiscing about playing with his Dad when he was younger, and enjoying his son's interest in the ga...more
However, there is a nice mix of reminiscing about playing with his Dad when he was younger, and enjoying his son's interest in the ga...more
First off, I have to say that I love Hiaasen's novels. However, this is not a typical Hiaasen book. There are no idiot criminals or people being eaten or sexually violated by wild animals...but Hiaasen does still have his gift for analogies "Like linguini detonated on the screen" or "As comfortable as bowel cramps" or that "Tiger Woods' stare could cause a suicide bomber to wet himself" and there are interesting encounters with animals (using a driver to clear a yard of bofurus toads).
For anyon...more
For anyon...more
One long autobiographical whine about how bad Hiaasen is at golf. He keeps notes on his game upon taking it up again after a 30-year hiatus, and his publisher convinces him to turn it into a book. It's so bad he even resorts to pasting in self-effacing email exchanges with his buddies about his exploits on the links.
Because it is Hiaasen, portions are actually entertaining. The book is more appealing to fellow golfers in a 'misery-loves-company' way. But non-golf-nuts should stick to his novels....more
Because it is Hiaasen, portions are actually entertaining. The book is more appealing to fellow golfers in a 'misery-loves-company' way. But non-golf-nuts should stick to his novels....more
Novelist and newspaper columnist Carl Hiaasen stopped playing golf in his youth, only to return to it in middle age, thirty plus years later. This book chronicles his return as part diary and part memoir. Anyone familiar with his novels probably knows whats coming: caustic humor with the occasional screed against developers and politicians. Although this book is something of a one-trick pony, he keeps it light and occasionally touching, especially when talking about his father's affection for th...more
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Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his family. After graduating from the University of Florida, he began writing for the Miami Herald. As a journalist and author, Carl has spend most of his life advocating the protection of the Florida Everglades. He and his family still live southern Florida.
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