Catherine's review
The Sportswriter by Richard Ford
The Sportswriter is the first in a trilogy about Frank Bascombe, a sportswriter living in New Jersey in the mid-'80s. It takes place over the course of an Easter weekend and, well, there's not much more to say about the plot than that.
I usually hate books like this, that is to say navel-gazy. I'm just so uninterested in reading about "tortured" middle class white people, especially when there's no plot involved. I have high disdain for people who are so caught up in themselves that they can't recognize the world around them. But for some reason I kinda liked Frank Bascombe. I found his romanticism of ordinary life endearing. Unlike most characters inself-reflective novels, he doesn't seem to feel sorry for himself. He just wants to live a solidly ordinary life and avoid all the potholes that life keeps putting in his way. That Ford was able to carry a whole novel on the musings of what seems to be a pretty boring guy (who everyone should be able to relate to) is qu...more
I usually hate books like this, that is to say navel-gazy. I'm just so uninterested in reading about "tortured" middle class white people, especially when there's no plot involved. I have high disdain for people who are so caught up in themselves that they can't recognize the world around them. But for some reason I kinda liked Frank Bascombe. I found his romanticism of ordinary life endearing. Unlike most characters inself-reflective novels, he doesn't seem to feel sorry for himself. He just wants to live a solidly ordinary life and avoid all the potholes that life keeps putting in his way. That Ford was able to carry a whole novel on the musings of what seems to be a pretty boring guy (who everyone should be able to relate to) is qu...more
Let me know when you're ready to start this trilogy and I'll try to read it at the same time. I have all 3. I think The Sportswriter is the first in the series.
