Scott Gummer

FIRST things first: "The Golfing Machine" by Homer Kelley is not available in ebook form on Amazon, which is unusual. So, when someone like myself searches for "The Golfing Machine" the only thing that pops us is this book, which as you can see from the thumbnail above, seems to be "Golfing Machine" and since it has the name Homer Kelley in the title AND is the only book that comes up under the search ... well ... you get the picture. Or maybe you don't. It's this: I thought I bought Homer Kelley's "The Golfing Machine" when I purchased this using my Kindle (it doesn't help that the Kindle has a small black and white screen too ...)

In any event, I read it, and it was mildly interesting. There really isn't enough content, let alone drama, to justify an entire book.

SPOILER: This guy was obsessed with golf and studied the golf swing from a technical point of view and wrote a technical book about the mechanics of the golf swing that broke new ground because such a technical book hadn't been written before.

The book, which is really a biography about a book and it's author and some of the author's friends and family, really didn't delve deep enough into Kelley's character, to really hold interest. The author spends a lot of time on tangents writing about the lineage and families of related characters, e.g. Bobby Clampett's mom and dad, etc.

The author, Scott Grummer, is a pretty good writer. He turns a phrase here and there, and he did a good job drawing a book out of not a whole lot of anything interesting.

As a golf nut who is technically minded, he did primer (warn) me about the book I really want to read. And, if there is any book that might need a book to preface it, it sounds like the Golfing Machine might be such a book.

If this review sounds a little catty, my apologies, but I feel like the guy who downloaded a song that was a cover of the song I really wanted to download, listened to it and thought, eehhh.

Now I'm off to read "The Golfing Machine".



… (mehr)

Here's the main reason I didn't like this book: I find the topic of Little League Baseball to be quite boring. So the vast majority of the novel did not hold my interest one bit. I kept hoping maybe things would turn around and get interesting. What's more, Parents Behaving Badly read, well, badly. At the beginning of the book I had a hard time keeping straight which character was which. Part of the problem is the author never really spent any time telling me who was who and the other part of the problem was they all had boring and generic names. Anyway, I kept reading without trying to figure it out because I didn't really care.The title suggests the parents in this book are going to be behaving badly. But there wasn't much of that going on. They thought a bit about cheating, but they thought about it passively and never actually considered going out and cheating. That's not actually behaving badly so much as it is contemplating behaving badly. Snore. Then there was a little incident at the end of the book, but other than that, there wasn't much behaving badly going on that I noticed.On the plus side, though it was a very, very minor part of the plot, I did have to admire the family for moving across the country when Grandma starting getting really forgetful. Not too many families would do that that these days. This book might be excellent for some people, and I'm sure there are people who would find this book hilarious (I giggled once or twice) and relatable, but overall, it just wasn't for me.*Disclaimer: I won an advanced copy of this novel through a Goodreads giveaway. Trust me, that fact did not influence my review in any way.… (mehr)

Parents Behaving Badly, by Scott Gummer, is a fun read. Several scenes are hilarious, but the sweet, tender side to this story makes it most memorable.

Ben and Jili move back to their hometown, where many broken and unfulfilled dreams are buried. As they adjust to their once familiar surroundings, they learn to deal with the ghosts of their pasts. Old flames flicker, secrets are revealed, and unspoken questions receive answers.

To be honest, I feel the beginning of the story is a little slow and confusing—too many characters to follow and not enough background to feel grounded in the story. That quickly changes when the characters burst to life and the storyline becomes infused with humor. That’s not to say the entire story is fun and games. It also touches on the frustrations, insecurities, temptations and questions that Ben and Jili’s marriage faces.

The author does a great job of projecting imagery through his words. Although the physical descriptions of the characters (with an exception here and there) are not as crisp as I would have liked, the scenes are vivid, lively and full of color.

I’m not a baseball fan, so many of the coaching references, plays, and strategies go over my head; but my lack of knowledge does little to thwart my enjoyment of the story and its satirical undertone. There are two basic storylines: Ben’s relationships with his family and friends, and the mad goings-on of little league baseball. The tales meld together nicely; glued together by pain, frustration, fear and laughter.

As a parent, even though my children did not participate in team sports in school, I can relate to a large part of this story. The small town of Palace Valley contains residents with big problems. There are several characters I swear live down the street from me ... the middle-aged Barbie wannabe, the obsessed and obnoxious little league coach, the gorgeous temptress who wants nothing more than to steal someone else’s man, and the insufferable know-it-all. Let’s not forget the children caught in the middle of the madness, forced to live the dreams of their parents.

*I received this book as an early release. It did not influence my review or rating.… (mehr)