Match Made in Heaven [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Bob Mitchell (Author), Mel Foster (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2, 2006

That’s the question Elliott Goodman hears in the OR as he’s about to have emergency surgery following a heart attack. But it isn’t Elliott’s surgeon who’s asking. It’s God. As in the Almighty. And God has a wager for Elliott. He challenges him to an eighteen-hole golf match. If Elliott wins, he is saved; if he loses…So begins this witty, insightful, and very funny novel about golf and life and the lessons learned from both. To be fair (isn’t He always?), God sends down eighteen legendary opponents to play against Elliott and hopefully teach him a few tricks along the way. From Leonardo da Vinci (nice clubs) to Marilyn Monroe (nice…everything), Babe Ruth (pass the hot dogs), Abraham Lincoln (cheater!), and fourteen other luminaries, including Moses, John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Picasso, W.C. Fields, Socrates, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Beethoven, Gandhi, and Shakespeare, Elliott squares off against some of the most extraordinary people who’ve ever lived. As shots are analyzed, balls enter bunkers, and Freud drives the cart (control freak), Elliott has a chance to examine his life and his form, to see what he can correct or improve before facing his ultimate adversary. Bighearted and delightfully original, Bob Mitchell’s Match Made in Heaven is a grand celebration of golf and a profound parable of traveling our own personal fairways in a game where no effort is wasted, and every failure is just another chance to try again.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Easygoing Elliott Goodman, an amateur golfer, finds himself on the operating table after a heart attack and is confronted by God. The Old Boy wants to know why the entirely ordinary Elliott should be allowed to live and, when Elliott's reasons seem lame, challenges him to 18 holes. Rather than play himself, God sends substitutes from history, including Leonardo, John Lennon, Columbus, Babe Ruth, Gandhi, Joan of Arc, Marilyn Monroe, Beethoven, Ben Hogan, etc. Mitchell doesn't lack nerve: the hole with Socrates is narrated as a Socratic dialogue, and the hole with Shakespeare as a rather dreadful attempt at a Shakespearean play. Much of the story is superficial, and many of the celebrity cameos are unconvincing, but Mitchell, like his hero, strikes an agreeable tone and is often amusing.

John Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Bob Mitchell is a dedicated sports fanatic and the author of seven nonfiction books. He studied at Williams, Columbia, and Harvard, where he received a Ph.D. in French and Comparative Literature. He was a French professor for eleven years at Harvard, Purdue, and Ohio State; served as a creative director at a number of New York ad agencies; and spent a year in Tel Aviv as a special consultant on commercial film writing and production. He lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife, Susan.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged Lib Ed; Unabridged edition (May 2, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423311671
• ISBN-13: 978-1423311676
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,814,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Game's the Thing, June 22, 2006

By 

George Haskell "Josh Haskell" (Painesville, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Match Made In Heaven: A Tale of Golf (Hardcover)

Match Made In Heaven's improbable premise, a life or death golf game orchestrated by God, is matched only by it's surprisingly clever conclusion. The story contains as many intricate twists and turns as the best designed golf course. This is a book about golf for the golfer and non-golfer alike, with as much to say about life as golf, perhaps more.

The philosophy and character of its all-star cast, ranging from Leonardo DaVinci to Babe Ruth, Beethoven to John Lennon, Picasso to Marilyn Monroe, is impeccably captured by an author who is as insightful as he is creative. Sprinkled with a generous dose of light humor, MMIH is a must-read page-turner unlike any other. It should be this year's runaway best-seller. Five stars.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique and ingenius story, June 1, 2006

By 

Rabbit (Washington USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Match Made In Heaven: A Tale of Golf (Hardcover)

Once my wife and I started to read this book, we couldn't put it down. A totally unique story line that features wit and laughter balanced by moments of wisdom, insight and poignancy. In a disarming way, this book teaches us once again that in the game of life (like golf) fulfillment is found not in winning or losing, but in the character of one's struggle in playing the game.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Message and a Great Read, July 5, 2006

By 

James W. Lynn "voracious reader" (Sparks, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Match Made In Heaven: A Tale of Golf (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially since I am both an ardent golfer and a former heart surgery patient. The book's message that in both golf and life ..."it is all about heart" is so true. And "Match Made in Heaven" presents that message in a brilliantly written, quirky, humorous fashion that should be a must read for every golfer and everyone who has ever had something life threatening in their lives, and anyone else who values life's "mulligans".