Offsides: A Novel [Hardcover]

Kerry Madden-Lunsford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

The daughter of a college football coach, Kerry Madden-Lunsford grew up in a series of hometowns, transplanted from one place to the next with the changing of the football season, uprooted from childhood friends with almost no warning. It is this hectic, whirlwind lifestyle which Madden-Lunsford draws upon in writing her first novel, Offsides.

Adored by Diane Keaton, who praised it as "a tremendously funny and touching book," Offsides captures the bittersweet humor behind a girl's coming-of-age under unusual circumstances, in a world where last season's clothes are traded in for new ones in the latest team colors, where the "coacheswives" plan fashion shows to boost team spirit, and where the coaches--fathers and husbands--make only irregular appearances.

Bristling with sharp humor and keen, detailed perception, Offsides is more than the story of an intelligent, thoughtful girl; it is about challenge of growing up and the yearning for a life outside the one we are born into. It is a novel which strongly evokes the spirit of the football world, where life centers around winning the big game, and where people find unusual ways to deal with the intricacies of growing up.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Madden-Lunsford scores some early points with her clever, quirky use of sports jargon and metaphors in her coming-of-age first novel, but ultimately the situations she explores are so familiar that burly cliches eventually sack some graceful, lively writing. Narrator Liz Donegal, the oldest daughter of a college football coach, resents her father's hard-driving ways as well as the itinerant lifestyle he imposes on his family. A narrative pattern quickly emerges: Liz lands in a new college town, struggles to make friends, edges toward various forms of self-discovery and, ultimately, becomes heartbroken when Dad switches jobs and she must move again, leaving her friends behind. Despite the inherent tedium of this structure, there are occasional flashes of humor and eloquence, most notably in the family-oriented dialogue and the characterizations of Liz's mother and father, the former once a college beauty queen and the latter a surprisingly compassionate foil despite his type-A shortcomings. Equally poignant are the sections dealing with Liz's relationship with a gay uncle, her discovery that her favorite aunt has been institutionalized without her knowledge and the obligatory but well-told first-boyfriend chapters.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Growing up the oldest daughter of a football coach in a Catholic family is not easy. Liz Donegal's father is constantly on the road and expects full support of his football activities. When his team has a bad season, he simply moves on and expects his wife and children to adjust to their new environs. Awkward and ill at ease with herself, Liz invariably suffers from these transitions (eight of them before she graduates from high school). Fortunately, she has an extraordinary aunt and uncle who offer unconditional love and reach out to make her feel special at a critical juncture of her life. By the novel's end, she experiences a series of firsts, including a best friend and a boyfriend. After a long struggle with self-acceptance, Liz learns the answer is in "remembering who you are and claiming it." An impressive debut; recommended.?Kimberly G. Allen, networkMCI Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; 1st edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688149359
• ISBN-13: 978-0688149352
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,596,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heroine's eye-view of All-American sport: college football, March 4, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Offsides: A Novel (Hardcover)

Hilarious, touching, insightful. An impressive and wonderful first novel in the best traditions of American coming-of-age novels like "Catcher in the Rye." "Offsides" adds to the genre with its uniquely appealing protagonist who speaks with the insight and voice of an outsider who both longs for and is repulsed by what it means to be an insider. Liz Donegal is a complete and complex character, the subject of her own universe, aware that hers overlaps somewhat with that of her own family, yet she experiences the world almost wholly apart from their comprehension-from the very thin line which exists right at the the ever-shifting edges. Liz is a vulnerable yet scrappily perspicacious, intellectual yet hopeful, precocious but not yet cynical, girl-stretching-yearning-and-sometimes-stumbling-toward-independent-woman in the context (and epitome) of America's "boys will be boys" heartland-the world of college football. Even so, the voices of the other characters are distinct and memorable, particularly the enduring and often difficult to endure father of the clan, Coach Donegal whose recurring line is a snarlish "Get your ass in the car." You don't have to be female or a football fan to crack up in hysterics (often) or feel a few sniffles coming on while enjoying this jewel of a book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Novel As Charming As Its Author, July 15, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Offsides: A Novel (Hardcover)

I only began reading this novel because I was at a Writers' Conference where Kerry was an instructor, but I found that I couldn't put it down. I was staying up 'till 2 or 3 in the morning reading this book. The story of Liz and her moves is heartbreaking, yet she manages to survive in a way most people neer could. She is wonderfully funny and incredibly strong. Madden-Lunsford's characters are lovable, yet serious. But the novel's real appeal is the way in which we can all see elements of ourselves in Liz. Don't miss this book!

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite light reading books., November 11, 2008

By 

Hard2Please (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Offsides: A Novel (Hardcover)

First, in the interests of full disclosure, I am the daughter of a football coach, so I related to a lot of the setup, especially quirks of the football family lifestyle like the change in wardrobe color schemes with every new job, and the coach's "rub some dirt on it" responses to his daughter's common adolescent traumas.

This book is everything I love in a light read: Characters are original and well-drawn, the pathos are balanced with humor and nobody and no situation is all good or bad. The narrator is likeable without being perfect, as are the rest of the family and friends introduced throughout.

I read it as an adult, but I'm sure teen girls in particular would get a kick out of this one, although there is some adult material--so Mom, read it first, and decide whether it is appropriate.