Customer Reviews

The Franchise Babe: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As an old Dan Jenkins fan, I found this one disappointing. His protanganist, a witty, sophisticated golf writer keeps lapsing into moronic red neck political commentary that is totally out of character for him. He includes a scene of a group of leftie's picketing against the FRENCH, as if that were some kind of liberal cause as opposed to a Bill O'Reilly obsession.

Aside from playing out his fantasies of animal magetism with the sexiest woman in sight, an understandable indulgence for an aging writer, a good bit of the plotting is predictable and boring.

Sorry to see such a weak effort from the old pro.

Let me preface my review by saying I'm a Dan Jenkins fan and devotee. But, his latest novel "The Franchise Babe" was a disappointing and short read. He recycles many old jokes and character profiles from previous novels; "Ya Gotta Play Hurt", "Dead Solid Perfect" and "Slim and None". The lead character, Jack Brannon, is basically Jim Tom Pinch lite. The jokes aren't as funny the second time around.

The only fun part about the novel was Mr. Jenkins cynical assessment of the PGA and LPGA tours. The new wave of female stars; Creamer, Gulbis, Kerr, etc. (Lolitas in Jenkin's slang) really are a breath of fresh air. I agree that Tiger is whipping up on a bunch of "fat & happy" slugs content with Top 10 finishes, wine cellars and their investment portfolios.

I've read them all...from Dead Solid Perfect to this one. Jenkins sometimes wavers a tad, but just between you and me, every now and then you need a Dan Jenkins novel to scrape off the crust of the politically correct climate out there and get down to the nitty gritty of life and not take things so seriously.

You either like this type of writing or you don't and clearly some on here who have reviewed this novel have their knickers in a bunch and that's OK, because if some people don't react that way, Jenkins hasn't done his job.

My only real complaint about this book is that it should have been longer. It is just too much fun reading the thinly veiled satire of the PGA Tour as well as the LPGA Tour management. For instance, Ginger Clayton could have had a few more problems on her way to being the "franchise babe."

Jenkins still has a lot of hop on his politically incorrect fastball which is one of the reasons that I love his writing so much. Those of us who follow the tours understand where Dan is coming from. Carolyn Bivens, the current LPGA Commissioner is never mentioned by name, but she is very much the one in the book who is "off to Denmark" during the playing of an LPGA major which she has turned over to a Frenchman who has some really politically incorrect aspects of his businesses.

Well done satire is an art and Jenkins confines his to what he knows best...sports. If it is your cup of tea, hop on board. Better yet...make it a Bombay Sapphire martini with four olives and get into the spirit of the thing.

There is so much reflecting on the past, that anyone under 60 or even 50 is gonna be lost. The repartee ain't funny, Magee. The plotting doesn't exist. His business about a "point misser" doesn't make sense. Save your money.

One more very funny,suitably sexist,terrifically politically incorrect, bit of DeadSolidPerfection...on the LPGA tour. Cynical Sportswriter finds enlightenment via TeenGolfGoddess & her mom, with the richly portrayed wacked characters,real tour insight,golf historiography,& drop your putter one-liners we expect from Dan Jenkins. Not the outragously rich bawdy banquet of earlier works,but continuing proof that nobody can spin a hilarious,insightful,satisfying sports yarn better. BBC

Long-time Dan Jenkins readers will recognize a lot of punch lines when they read "The Franchise Babe", but not a single one that isn't still funny a second, third, or fourth time around. Jenkins' irreverent, non-PC take on the world of golf, as previously visited in "Dead Solid Perfect", "The Money-Whipped, Steer-Job, Three-Jack, Give-Up Artist" and "Slim and None", is still laugh out loud funny.

I liked the continuity with his earlier novels, casting his new sportswriter character Jack Brannon - still a Texan, still from Fort Worth, of course - as a protegé of his character sportswriter Jim Tom Pinch (who crossed over between Dan's football novels and his golf novels, with one foray into his own book, "You Gotta Play Hurt"). The LPGA Tour in this novel is inhabited by "Lolitas" who knock the ball a country mile and have gams that stop traffic, Mommy-Dearest golf moms, and a drop-dead gorgeous Lolita Mom as a love interest for the lucky Jack (Dan's characters ALWAYS score well in the babe department!). Knowing that Mr Jenkins is no spring chicken, I'm grateful for every sentence that comes off of his geezer-codger typewriter, but I wish that he could have graced us with more than 224 pages in his latest effort.

The Franchise Babe: A Novel

I feel most qualified to be reviewing the latest novel by Dan Jenkins: the Franchise Babe. I became hooked on Mr. Jenkins pants-wettingly funny prose back in 1980 when my Daddy passed on his copy of BAJA OKLAHOMA to me. Since then, I have read every new piece of fiction Jenkins has produced, as well as most of his older novels.

Let me start by saying that Baja Oklahoma is the funniest book EVER WRITTEN- bar none, by Jenkins or anyone. That said, The Franchise Babe is a C+ work of fiction. I give it a B- for funniness.

We have met characters like these before in Jenkins fiction.. This tome is pretty much identical in form to other novels in which an over the hill pro athlete and or writer, thrice divorced, finds true love and happiness with a give slack dirty leg in 217 pages. (If you don't know what a give slack dirty leg is, you don't know your Jenkins-isms).

If a really funny golf novel, served up with some golf history, is what you are looking for, skip this and instead read Dan Jenkins THE MONEY- WHIPPED STEER-JOB THREE-JACK GIVE UP ARTIST.

If you are looking for Jenkins' best work ever, read BAJA OKLAHOMA.

This is a lightweight novel that I won't remember tomorrow. It has some cute, stock characters and some clever Native American names that I'm sure Native Americans would find very offensive. Jenkins goes out of his way to insult almost anyone who isn't him, and his main character is obviously him. I bought this book to add to my golf novel collection; it would have been better for the collection if I hadn't actually read it, thereby risking smudging the dust cover and breaking the spine. Oh well...

I really, really enjoy Dan Jenkins, when I saw this advertised I purchased for my Kindle, half way through and love it

This is a good one, a look at the world of women's golf and Jenkin's wit i enjoyed it