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The Sportswriter

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The Sportswriter Cover

ISBN13: 9780679762102
ISBN10: 0679762108
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

As a sportswriter, Frank Bascombe makes his living studying people — men, mostly — who live entirely within themselves. This is a condition that Frank himself aspires to. But at thirty-eight, he suffers from incurable dreaminess, occasional pounding of the heart, and the not-too-distant losses of a career, a son, and a marriage. In the course of the Easter week in which Ford's moving novel transpires, Bascombe will end up losing the remnants of his familiar life, though with his spirits soaring.

With finely honed prose and an eye that captures the beauty and strangeness of our most neglected landscapes, Richard Ford creates a novel whose portrait of heroic decency is guaranteed to linger with us long after we have turned its last page.

Review:

"Transcendent....[A] large-spirited novel." Boston Globe

Review:

"Richard Ford is a daring and intelligent novelist [with an] ear for dialogue and the ability to create an everyday life with stunning accuracy." New York Times Book Review

Review:

"One of the finest writers of his generation." Norman Maclean, author of A River Runs Through It

Review:

"This painfully funny addition to Ford's two other masterful novels (A Piece of My Heart and The Ultimate Good Luck) establishes the author among the best realist American writers today." Publishers Weekly
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About the Author

The author of five novels and two collections of stories, Richard Ford was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Independence Day, the first book to win both prizes. In 2001 he received the PEN/Malamud Award for excellence in short fiction.
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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 3 comments:
rgippin, May 21, 2009 (view all comments by rgippin)
It deserves all the accolades and I intend to dive right into Independence Day and Lay of the Land, but I couldn't disagree more with the reviews that call Bascombe "heroic." And if I have any understanding of what Ford intended with the character, he must be grinning with ironic satisfaction at that characterization. Bascombe abandons everybody and everything to which he owes any obligation for the sake of his own equilibrium. That sort of narcissism definitely HAS passed for heroism in America, especially in the quarter-century of Reaganism in which the novels are set. Especially looking back from our new Obamist perch, I hope people will see the Bascombe of Sportswriter as a model of how NOT to live life.
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Mary Moore, June 6, 2007 (view all comments by Mary Moore)
This has been on my list to read for years, and now I wonder why I waited so long. So beautiful, but so sad as we watch as it all just turns to dust on our narrator. Made all the sadder by his continued insistence, that's he's OK, you're OK, we're all OK. Even when no one is.
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Sheera, April 5, 2006 (view all comments by Sheera)
One of my top ten favorite books.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679762102
Author:
Ford, Richard
Publisher:
Vintage Books
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Divorced men
Subject:
Sportswriters
Subject:
Divorced men -- United States -- Fiction.
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Middle aged men
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
1986
Edition Number:
2
Edition Description:
Trade paper
Series:
Vintage Contemporaries
Series Volume:
no. 11
Publication Date:
19950631
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
384
Dimensions:
7.94x5.28x.85 in. .60 lbs.
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Related Subjects


Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
History and Social Science » Journalism » General

The Sportswriter Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$3.95 In Stock
Product details 384 pages Vintage Books USA - English 9780679762102 Reviews:
"Review" by , "Transcendent....[A] large-spirited novel."
"Review" by , "Richard Ford is a daring and intelligent novelist [with an] ear for dialogue and the ability to create an everyday life with stunning accuracy."
"Review" by , "One of the finest writers of his generation."
"Review" by , "This painfully funny addition to Ford's two other masterful novels (A Piece of My Heart and The Ultimate Good Luck) establishes the author among the best realist American writers today."
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