Customer Reviews

Slim and None

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

 

 

Figuring out how many stars to give a Dan Jenkins book requires some experience in reading this most entertaining author. I can assure you that you will most likely look a long time to find one of his efforts on the shelves at Barbara Streisand's home and Maureen Dowd probably hasn't had the pleasure either. However, from time to time there is just no substitute for a trip through the imaginitive mind of the various characters fashioned by Mr. Jenkins.

In this instance we are returning to the PGA tour with an older, somewhat wiser and thrice divorced Bobby Joe Grooves. We have been there before with Bobby Joe in "The Money - Whipped Steer - Job Three - Jack Give - Up Artist," and this novel is a decided improvement on that one.

Somehow, Bobby Joe has managed to stay on the tour for some time and now as he turns forty-four he realizes "forty-four is not a good age for a pro if he has never won a major...and I'd clean forgotten to do that in my eighteen years on the tour."

In addition to failing to bag a major, Bobby Joe has failed in his efforts to find a life partner other than his caddie, however things begin looking up in that aspect of things as he encounters Gwendolyn Pritchard, a major league "shapely adorable" and the divorced mother of a new teen age phenom on the tour, Scott Pritchard.

The story opens with these two lines, "It had to be the first bare navel on the Master's veranda. Luckily it came with a shapely adorable."

And it only gets better as we follow the twists and turns of Bobby Joe's efforts to become the winner of a major championship through the four venues where they are played that year. The story is replete with interesting and exaggerated characters and situations and you will find yourself chuckling and laughing through all 243 pages of Jenkin's latest.

Having read all of his other fiction efforts and some of his non-fiction books, I promise you that if you are a golfer, enjoy a healthy dose of non PC humor and have spent any time in Texas, there are just two chances that you will not enjoy this latest one...........

I must first admit that I have been a Dan Jenkins fan for the past several decades. His recent books (according to some) have waxed and waned over the past decade but "Slim and None" in my view is one of his finest efforts ever--it should be ranked with "Semi-Tough", "Limo" and "Dead Solid Perfect" as his best works. True, it is not very long, but as one reviewer noted, there are numerous passages where you will spontaneously break out in audible laughter. I found this to be a lean, concise, hysterical read and I recommend it very highly.

Dan Jenkins has twice before introduced us to Bobby Joe Grooves, PGA Tour player - each time in ways that made us identify with his quests for love, fame, and of course, golf championships. Each time Bobby Joe has gotten married, divorced, won some and lost some.

Slim and None is a novel that builds on what readers have enjoyed in Jenkins' past books. Now, however, Bobby Joe is 44. Only seven men have ever won a major championship after that age and he thinks this is his last best chance, especially since he's playing well.

But then life gets in the way. 1) Scott Pritchard, the 19-year-old phenom, whose recently divorced, drop-dead gorgeous Mom may become the fourth Mrs. Grooves, and 2) A USGA official rules against Bobby Joe in several critical tournaments, each time costing him the win he so badly wants.

Jenkins is a master of peppery down-home dialogue that introduces us to language that is to say the least, colorful- and downright funny most often. There are the "inside the ropes" names for golfers we know - like Elvis Woods, Madonna Els, and Britney Mickelson. And when a fellow competitor is paired with 17-year-old golf prodigy Tricia Hunt, who out drives him by 50 yards, we hear that she successively "Americaned" him, "Continentaled" him, "Fed-Exed" him, and "Goodyear blimped" him - all colorful ways to let us know that she flew right by him.

www.ArmchairInterviews says golfers will love all the golf history that is so seamlessly woven into the story line. And observers of human nature will find plenty to watch as this story unfolds.

Author Dan Jenkins takes the career of fictional pro linkster Bobby Joe Grooves to the weekly crossroads of a veteran journeyman; the king of the 19th hole is now age 44 and is chasing a real long-shot....winning a major tournament before the sun sets on his career.

But in his path on the course is a pesky teenage phenom, Scott Pritchard, and on the cart path after the round is the 19-year-old's mother, Gwendolyn. The ongoing saga for Grooves is either headed for the water hazard or a hole-in-one with so much in play.

Though the quick read doesn't deliver a bevy of birdies, it is consistent enough for a solid par score.

May just be the funniest novel I have ever read regarding golf,
Agusta, and the game that keeps us all hooked. What a fun look from a insiders perspective. Hilarious!

A typical Dan Jenkins book---no real redeeming social value, but a good, quick and fun read...that's what makes Dan Jenkins great...Mindless, humorous fiction about a game that's easy to love and to hate..kind of like life and love....if you like the game of golf, like to laugh and ponder the sometimes somewhat raunchy side of life, especially golf, this book is for you...perfect book for spring when golf is picking up again!! And there's always the question--"How much of this is fiction and how much is fact?"

Not quite a "Dead Solid Perfect," but in that neighborhood.

Author Dan Jenkins provides a follow-up to his earlier golf fiction work, "The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist," returning PGA golf professional Bobby Joe Grooves onto the Tour in "Slim and None."
Grooves is a forty-four year old tour pro who has the unpopular label of having yet to win a major championship and the clock is ticking.
"Slim and None" follows Grooves on the tour and during his rounds at all four professional golf majors, giving the reader the behind the greens look at what life on the PGA tour is like.
Jenkins utilizes his experience following the game, utilizing real-life nicknames, facts, and subbing several characters for current real-life golf personalities. Along with the names and faces, Jenkins provides real-life voices as well as profanities from several of those characters forcing some readers to wish they took a "mulligan" on their decision to pick up the book early on.
Only a few golf professionals over the age of 44 have won a major championship, Jack Nicklaus, Hal Irwin and Lee Trevino to name the few, Grooves feels that he is destined to join them.
More surprising to Grooves than the reader, is a romance that blooms between the golfer and a young rivals stunning mother along with trials and tribulations of any new relationship.
With a rye sense of humor, Jenkins ensures his work is filled with laughs, including the reference to a new female-liberal, Augusta-hating feminist in the fictional Anne Marie Sprinkle doing battle with new fictional Augusta chair, K.S."Kisser" McConnell. Not to be lost is Jenkins' referral to fictional golf novelist, Irv Klar of the Washington Post, leading the reader to base his character on another well-known, often pretentious author with a much longer last name.
While Grooves starts the fictional work lucky in love, he isn't regarding his golf game when a rules official makes a ruling sending Grooves into a fit, ruining his round along with his chance at the Masters Championship.
The next chapter takes the reader and Grooves to the U.S. Open where another younger phenom takes to the links, a six-foot tall teenage long hitter in 15-year-old Tricia Hurt.
In his second straight major, Grooves finds himself in a pinch with a rules official. This time, it is courtesy of a question by his partner for the final round, Hurt. Making another notable appearance to assess the damage was official Jarvis Phillip W. Burchcroft, again ruining Grooves' round and chances at a major.
Jenkins confirms all of the lore and history of the British Open, along with the rumors of horrendous food, lodging as well as weather.
Grooves once again is in contention before taking a turn for the worse and another memorable run-in with Burchcroft, who was attending as a guest official.
Three majors, three missed opportunities for a title.
Leading up to the final round in the U.S. Open, Grooves is paired with Scott Pritchard, leaving his competitors mother and his his own love interest, Gwendolyn, torn for who to cheer for more, son or new lover.
Just as the rules gods seem prepared to strike Grooves again with a lightning bolt, our hero finds his latest heroine in Hurt. The ending is not surprising, but predictable for the books hero.
The author of nine fictional works, including "Semi-Tough" and seven other non-fiction books along with his monthly column in "Golf Digest" Jenkins knows the game, the players and obviously, the rules.
Jenkins provides an insight into the game, often overlooked or politely left unwritten about in "Slim and None." The characters are amusing, colorful and realistic, but be warned that the language used may not make "Slim and None" the ideal "gift for elder duffers.

Slim and None is very easy to read. The chapters are short. There are not many characters so it's easy to follow. The plot is simple -- a golfer at the end of his career is trying to win a major championship. The reader is taken through the twists and turns as each major unfolds. I found myself laughing out loud several times. If you want a book to read at the beach or in the bathroom -- this is your book. Nothing comprehensive about Slim and None. I must say -- the ending stinks!!!! I really thought Dan Jenkins could have put more time into it as the book abruptly ends. I might give Dead Solid Perfect a try because I've gotta believe Mr. Jenkins has more to offer than this. His columns in Golf Digest are priceless. Save your money or buy a used copy -- it's not worth $20.

I got this for my husband and he loves every one of his books and wants the entire collection.

This book just doesn't give you what you expect from Dan Jenkins. I'm on page 76 and don't know if I want to finish it or not. Jenkins can't even keep straight who is on the leaderboard and who the playing partners would be in a final round per that leaderboard. He's a great golf writer but I just don't get the appeal of this fiction try of his.