Customer Reviews

Balling the Jack

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is incredible. I've heard a lot of people complain that the book is shallow, but come on, that's real life. Tom Reasons, the lead guy, is more human than many of the "deep" characters that you read about. Sure, he drinks a lot, he objectifies women, he gambles, and he doesn't do anything of any worth, but doesn't that describe us all? This character is truer to most guys I know than any I have ever read. If you're looking for deep symbolic meaning and extended metaphors look elsewhere. If you're looking for a real-life character in a great plot, without a ton of pretentious attitude this is your book. If you're not buying this book you're sitting in your beret, discussing existentialism, and reading books by Hume and Foucault that you really don't understand. Tom Reasons is the True american male.

While I often find it hard to laugh out loud at a novel, Frank Baldwin manages to get me to crack on numerous occasions with his first novel. While reading the philosophy espoused by the main character, Tom Reasons, I found it hard not to laugh. I highly reccomend this book to anyone in need of the best medicine.

"Balling the Jack" is a perfect example of a light, summer read. The novel is fast-paced, thick with interconected plot lines, and it just feels real. Perhaps the greatest thing about the book is the sympathy we feel for the main character even though he is a perpetual loser who does it to himself. "Balling the Jack" won't win any awards or praise for its depth or importance in the world of literature, and I'm sure it won't end up in any University's canon anytime soon, but that is what makes it such great fun. The book doesn't take itself to seriously. It is funny, it is moving, it paints a very real picture of a young single man's life in NYC. Speaking of which, the setting is marvelously handled as are the supporting characters including various bar owners, dart buddies, and girlfriends. All of the supporting characters are given enough depth to make them round, but none is given so much weight that they distract from the main character. Despite all of the exciting window dressing, this book really boils down to a story of a young, single man coming to terms with his own immaturity. Balling the Jack is a fantastic read and the kind of book you will want to lend to your friends. As my friend did for me. That being said, I definitely think that men will enjoy this book more than women. It is certainly a "guy" story, but I think both genders will get a good, fun read out of Balling the Jack. Hopefully, Frank Baldwin will get another book out to us very soon. By the way, toward the end there is a great moment between Shakespeare and Keats. You have to read it to believe it.

I really liked this book- very quick and easy to read. My heart was pumping during the last baseball game bet- and I thought he did a great job of developing the characters.

difficult to believe people on this page are actually comparing baldwin to jay mcinerney. baldwin is a gallant trier, and that's no sneer, but he's not in mcinerney's league, let alone bracket. baldwin's style is unadventurous, his dialogue usually false, his gags usually telegraphed and his editor usually lazy - every third sentence is flab (might have been intentional to make the voice offhanded). none of which means this isn't a cool first novel. baldwin is charged up and for that he's to be welcomed. nice to see a book about people who like a good time - the odd scene really does smoke. but to all you swooners: some perspective, please. if you're looking for fast lane fiction try nettie jones' "fish tales" or richard price's "ladies man", both set in 70's nyc. or mcinerney's "story of my life". or jimmy carroll's "basketball diaries". or australia's justine ettler or andrew mcgahan or christos tsouslakis. try walter teavis's "the hustler".

frank baldwin's done okay here but his editor let him down. and his 'irish' characters don't seem authentic, not even remotely. the character 'duggan' is a half baked cartoon. in short, the book lacks grit. it aint ever dark. show me the ghosts that come for a person's soul, even if only for a glimpse.

weird thing is, somehow i dug 'balling the jack'. narrator tom reasons is like a kelpie at your heels. fiction needs vigour and fiction needs speed and this book does has tons of both. and baldwin's plot has the juice. good luck to him. if he finds an editor sharp enough to sharpen him, he'll gleam.

happy new year all.

A smile...a giggle maybe...but rarely does a book make me laugh out loud. Balling the Jack did it to me again and again. It was like reading a letter from an errant brother. I would be sitting there, shaking my head, thinking "what a cad this Tom Reasons is." But I couldn't put it down and I found myself rooting for him til the end.

In fact I find Baldwin's writing style pulls you in more than Jay McInerney. What this book lacks(in contrast to McInerney) is social commentary- I can't truly elaborate on that without spoiling a number of significant plot points. I do highly recommend this book, with one caveat- if you don't relate to people with compulsive behaviors (who doesn't) the main character of Tom Reasons will disgust you. I love him. I look forward to Baldwin's next book. NOTE: The McInerney comment isn't meant as a put down, I like Baldwin better.

Balling The Jack is the most energetic novel I've read in a long, long time. Baldwin writes in a hip, edgy style that propels the reader forward, making it a fast, fun read. However, its quick pacing doesn't mean that Baldwin doesn't have some important things to say. Balling The Jack (which is slang for risking everything all at once) shows a guy who finds life too safe today and has to go out looking for thrills. He finds it in gambling, and this -- of course -- leads to trouble. There's a definite theme of risk and renewal (Risk and reward, baby. Risk and reward.) that shows there is more to Baldwin's writing than showing a guy night on the town. It's about finding something to believe in during an age of cash machines and less and less human contact. All in all, Balling The Jack is a book for everyone. Men will identify with Tom, and women will find him charming -- even if they don't admit it.

I just finished this book. It was an eerie read. There were stunning moments - Baldwin knows how rock and roll lyrics can become a code for lovers. His taste in music is impeccable - i.e., he likes what I like. He understands the raw adrenaline rush of gambling. But, after a few chapters, I didn't care about Reasons and I didn't believe the author---Baldwin seemed to write not from "The Life", which, at bottom, is a foul mess, but from his MFA story about the life.
He's got the chops. Given that Balling the Jack was published in 1997, I wonder what Baldwin is working on now. It might be time for him to dance on his obsessions, rather than in them.

This novel is harmless fun; good airline or beach read. I read some of the other reviews where people were comparing this work to Jay McInerney or other authors and blah blah blah...This novel stands on its own as a funny, smart book. There are not a whole lot of lessons, and Tom Reasons, the protagonist, even says at the end, "Don't ask me to add everything up. It's too early in the morning, and I've never been any good at spotting the moral." This book is about gambling, darts, 80s and 90s music, single life in NYC, and, what I think a lot of the other reviewers missed, a novel about friendship. He treats his friends like a jerk, and, like true friends, they are still there to bail him out. Just read it for the fun of it.