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Buddy Cooper Finds a Way: A Novel
When you lose for a living, it's pretty hard to fail.
Once, like all of us, Buddy dreamt of success. He and his wife, Alix, had just bought a new place, not too far from the beach. Their daughter, Brook, was out of the hospital. And the fans were cheering him on as the Invincible Man, one of the rising stars of the Southeastern Wrestling Confederacy.
Then everything fell apart. An argument over Monday Night Football somehow crossed the line, Alix kicked him out, and Buddy moved in to the Motel 6. After that, winning just didn't seem right, so he traded in his golden cape for a latex mask and became one of the anonymous losers that fans love to hate. Every few weeks, he'd get a new mask, rechristen himself, and step into the ring to get beat all over again -- as the Grave Digger or the Widow Maker, the Deadbeat Dad or the Unknown Kentucky Terror. In the four years since the divorce, his record is 0-186, but that's okay by Buddy.
Free of mad notions like happiness and success, he pops pink pills to control his rage and copes with his insomnia by watching John Wayne westerns and QVC. He has his job, his apartment, his truck, his once-a-week visits with Brook. Life as a failure isn't that bad, or so he's convinced himself.
But now in an effort to boost pay-per-view ratings, Buddy's boss threatens a shake-up. As part of the plan, Buddy will have to end his safe days as a professional loser. He's actually slated to win a match. What he'll learn, though, is that like all new scripts, this one comes with its own cast and a phone psychic living in fear, an alien-abductee with the secret to salvation, a championship match interrupted by a violent fanatic, what could be faith healings, and perhaps the most unlikely miracle of all -- a second chance to believe.
A touching and wonderfully unpredictable literary debut about a professional loser who's forced into a rematch with life, Buddy Cooper Finds a Way announces the arrival of a fresh and original voice in American fiction.
Once, like all of us, Buddy dreamt of success. He and his wife, Alix, had just bought a new place, not too far from the beach. Their daughter, Brook, was out of the hospital. And the fans were cheering him on as the Invincible Man, one of the rising stars of the Southeastern Wrestling Confederacy.
Then everything fell apart. An argument over Monday Night Football somehow crossed the line, Alix kicked him out, and Buddy moved in to the Motel 6. After that, winning just didn't seem right, so he traded in his golden cape for a latex mask and became one of the anonymous losers that fans love to hate. Every few weeks, he'd get a new mask, rechristen himself, and step into the ring to get beat all over again -- as the Grave Digger or the Widow Maker, the Deadbeat Dad or the Unknown Kentucky Terror. In the four years since the divorce, his record is 0-186, but that's okay by Buddy.
Free of mad notions like happiness and success, he pops pink pills to control his rage and copes with his insomnia by watching John Wayne westerns and QVC. He has his job, his apartment, his truck, his once-a-week visits with Brook. Life as a failure isn't that bad, or so he's convinced himself.
But now in an effort to boost pay-per-view ratings, Buddy's boss threatens a shake-up. As part of the plan, Buddy will have to end his safe days as a professional loser. He's actually slated to win a match. What he'll learn, though, is that like all new scripts, this one comes with its own cast and a phone psychic living in fear, an alien-abductee with the secret to salvation, a championship match interrupted by a violent fanatic, what could be faith healings, and perhaps the most unlikely miracle of all -- a second chance to believe.
A touching and wonderfully unpredictable literary debut about a professional loser who's forced into a rematch with life, Buddy Cooper Finds a Way announces the arrival of a fresh and original voice in American fiction.
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 29, 2004
About the author
Neil Connelly
27 books33 followersBefore returning to his home state of Pennsylvania, where he teaches at Shippensburg University, Connelly was director of the MFA program at McNeese State University. He has published five books and numerous short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 25, 2010
I can only tell you what I know of the first couple chapters, but basically it's a story about a pro wrestler (as in WWE-style) who is a loser by choice--that is, someone who loses the matches. For some reason all of his friends are doctors outside of the ring. I never quite understood that. He's had a recent divorce and sees his daughter every other weekend.
The opening chapters were too hard to accept. I never had the chance to suspend disbelief enough to get into this one. I decided that, instead of forcing my way through it and regretting having picked it up, well, I should just put it down and start another. So that's what I did. And I don't feel regret for having made that choice.
The opening chapters were too hard to accept. I never had the chance to suspend disbelief enough to get into this one. I decided that, instead of forcing my way through it and regretting having picked it up, well, I should just put it down and start another. So that's what I did. And I don't feel regret for having made that choice.
January 29, 2013
Prepare yourself for a rocket ship of a ride, fueled by brilliance and vision, through Buddy Cooper Finds a Way. Here you'll find alien graffiti, oracular lobsters, drive-by cavemen, and asteroids that fall from the clear blue sky. Neil Connelly's characters walk the same streets as us, yet they see the subliminal and sublime, and in every detail, no matter how funny or fiercely imagined, is the secret script of the human heart. How can a book be both startlingly new and timelessly wise? You'll find out when you turn the last page of this grand debut, and suddenly feel like it's always been with you.
July 14, 2009
Started reading it but it's not the type of book for someone that's been reading semi serious thrillers
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews