Customer Reviews

Tuey's Course

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

 

 

I expected better of the writer. The first two books were great. This one lacked a lot. Way to many characters to keep track of. The dialect was way to hard to follow along with. Too much was happening all at the same time and tyrying to keep all the charters straight was not a relaxing read. There were even animails that started talking in the book. Certain parts did not make sense. Too much hate for our local government. I am hoping that the next one is easier to follow.

I've read the first three of James Ross' books; Lifetime Loser, Finish Line & Tuey's Course, and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. While I agree with other users that the use (abuse?) of Ebonics was a little disturbing in this one (and made it difficult to read at times), one must overlook that and get to the heart of the story, which is very good, well told and cuts to the quick on some very serious issues facing us today. I look forward to reading more of his work ... if only the new one was available for Kindle!

I had the experience of encountering James Ross online via another website. He contacted me because he wanted to sell me his books, and suggested I take a look. So I did. This is a rather memorable quote from this book:

"Uh few uh da guys wanted ta go golfin'," Tuey responded as he walked toward the television set. He lifted his fingers to the blinds and snuck a peek outside. "Golfin'!" LeVournique shouted. "Since win ya start golfin'? We's ain't got no money fo' ya ta be doin' dat."

Other quotes from his works include:

From Lifetime Loser:

"If you can get her signature perfected we can." George paused for a minute and reflected on his next admission. "You know, having a law license, the majority of the stock in a title company, and a faithful employee almost gives me a license to steal," he commented with a smirk."

From Finish Line:

"Yes! Organic blueberries! They kill cancer cells on contact," Tina blurted. Curt picked up the coffee pot and refilled her cup. "Then what am I supposed to do? Am I to pick up a handful of organic blueberries, rip these stitches out, and rub them on my colon?" Curt raised his voice a little."

From uh.. that other one:

"There you go thinkin' again PBR!" Owen, Sr. wadded the flyer up and threw it toward a black plastic trash bag that lay on the floor in the corner. "If ya want somethin' to think about then think about how we're gonna pay the bills around here!" He got up and walked to the sink. "Golf costs money! You gotta pay for clubs and balls and greens fees on the course!" He paused. "And you're tryin' to tell me that the lessons are free? That's just the start of it."

Mr. Ross had told me that his books feature themes such as discrimination. To me, his butchery of ebonics is pretty sickening and discriminatory, if not downright racist. His mockery of the poor, though possibly unintentional, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. His dialog is stale and his characters are cliché and flat. (Do you not love how Curt was calmly refilling her coffee while also raising his voice at her?)

I also found out that many of his reviews, written by a Sarah Moore, are in actuality written by a woman that he has hired to do promotional work for him--the reviews are written without disclosure. So, if you're reading a review by Sarah Moore, know that you're reading a review that she's written for one of her paying clients. If you want to confirm that, head to her profile; she works for Writers in the Sky, and he is on their client list.

None of the material that I've read from Ross's books has been worth the first glance, much less a second. If you're interested in reading a good book, I'd pass on this series.

From the first book in the Prairie Winds series, Lifetime Loser, author James Ross shows his penchant for exposing the bad guys--those unscrupulous and unsavory among us in the fields of real estate, law, accounting, and governance who play dirty politics and prey upon the well-intended but not-overly-astute average Joe. In Tuey's Course, Ross ratchets up the heat and widens the gap between the haves and have-nots, shining a glaring light on a wider-than-you'd imagine ring of greed, power, and hypocrisy in white America.

Twenty new characters combine with several we already know in an intertwined series of quick-moving and interesting plots and schemes, some of which come to bear heavily on the shoulders of protagonist WeWildapheet Ulysees O'Tweety (Tuey).

Tuey is an excavator married to his high school sweetheart (LeVournique) for nearly twenty years and living, as he would say, among his own kind on the edge of town. His gapped-toothed constant smile, poor black man's dialect, and innocence have us sympathetic as he struggles under a mountain of injustice bestowed on him by a host of animal look-alikes at city hall.

The government's incessant message that his business isn't welcome in their town presses down on him and strains his marriage, but when Tuey tries to make things right he becomes further alienated by the city and victimized by bank president Harold Syms. Syms is portrayed as a sly fox who has numerous people in his pocket and skillfully beguiles them to join him in using other people's money to increase his and their personal wealth. One of Syms' deals is with a local farmer/landowner who decides to sell the family's land adjacent to the golf course for development. Syms stands to exact a hefty profit for himself, of course. In exchange for a necessary easement through Prairie Winds Golf Course, J Dub and Curt, who have met Tuey and understand his plight, insist that Tuey be awarded the job of running a long sewer line for the project. This brings Tuey into the fold of the colorful Prairie Winds family.

Much of the time we're back in the company of the regulars--in and out of casinos, the clubhouse, and the golf course--and enjoying their antics. Is it my imagination, or is Ross hinting that there might be a somewhat rotten apple in the barrel?

Tuey's Course happens to overlap with Finish Line at the time Curt is battling cancer. A knock-out, athletic govie-gal who can play the game catches Curt's eye and brightens his world at the same time that weather set-backs, equipment breakdowns, mounting friction at city hall and at home have Tuey crying for help and relief. He turns to religion in a church in his neighborhood where congregants pray for him and believe there are mighty lessons to be learned from the animal kingdom. He turns to the regulars at Prairie Winds, including Puddles who leads him to a cave. Here is where Ross flexes his fictional muscle. The reader is uncertain whether they are in a dream or real time, but the plot sorts itself out and the book comes to a surprising and quite climatic ending.

Ross's writing shows an increasing level of skill that includes the simultaneous climax toward the end of the book, a lot of satire, and fantasy--something new for him. Knowing Ross, he's dropped a few crumbs along the trail that we might expect to surface in some future tale. I'd bet there will be more about the human tooth from Lifetime Loser, certainly some further romantic development with Curt, and I wonder if something might be lurking about the GRS killer.

A word about the new characters: some are caricature-like and compared directly to animals for reasons which become obvious, and others are so rife with stereotype that at times you think the author is kidding until you realize he expects you to say "typical." He is certain that we all have noticed these characters around us, we've all formed opinions, and in most cases, we've mostly turned a blind eye and gone on with our own business as usual.

I've read and enjoyed all three of Ross's books so far. This past weekend I was far from home driving through the St. Louis area when I caught myself looking to the right and left for signs of Prairie Winds and lime green skull caps.