The Downhill Lie: A Hacker's Return to a Ruinous Sport
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Originally drawn to the game by his father, Carl Hiaasen wisely quit golfing in 1973. 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 ventured back to the dreaded driving range, this time as the father of a five-year-old son-and also as a grandfather.
"What possesses a man to return in midlife to a game at which he'd never excelled in his prime, and which in fact had dealt him mostly failure, angst and exasperation? Here's why I did it: I'm one sick bastard." And thus we have Carl's foray into a world of baffling titanium technology, high-priced golf gurus, bizarre infomercial gimmicks and the mind-bending phenomenon of Tiger Woods; a maddening universe of hooks and slices where Carl ultimately-and foolishly-agrees to compete in a country-club tournament against players who can actually hit the ball. "That's the secret of the sport's infernal seduction," he writes. "It surrenders just enough good shots to let you talk yourself out of quitting."
Hiaasen's chronicle of his shaky return to this bedeviling pastime and the ensuing demolition of his self-esteem-culminating with the savage 45-hole tournament-will have you rolling with laughter. Yet the bittersweet memories of playing with his own father and the glow he feels when watching his own young son belt the ball down the fairway will also touch your heart. Forget Tiger, Phil and Ernie. If you want to understand the true lure of golf, turn to Carl Hiaasen, who offers an extraordinary audiobook for the ordinary hacker.
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Reviews for The Downhill Lie
60 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Novelist 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 the game and his own son's growing love for it. His sarcastic e-mail exchanges with sportswriter Mike Lipica among others are fun, as are his encounters on the course with monkeys, alligators and other wildlife including fellow golfers. Oh yes, he also manages to drive a golf cart into a lake... While fans of his fiction will no doubt find a lot to enjoy here, this book will be best appreciated by those who play the game. They will enjoy the company of a fellow traveler.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love Hiaasen's sense of humor. He makes even a potentially dry subject like golf laugh-out-loud hilarious. Written partly as a journal as his own golf come-back and partly as an expose on amateur golf in general, I really enjoyed this book and devoured it in less than a day.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At times hilarious, it's mostly an excellent reminder that the game of golf is never as easy as the pros make it look.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Carl Hiaasen is amusing as always, but this book is not very accessible to nongolfers - there is a great deal of golf specific terminology that's not explained.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A bit of a memoir and very funny.