- Purchase this entertainment book and get 12 issues to either Rolling Stone, Men's Journal or Us Weekly for $2.95 each. That's less than $0.25 an issue. Here's how (restrictions apply)
Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Bill Lee
|
by Gary Stephen Ross
|
by Melanie Dobson
|
by Jackson Lears
|
by Paul Auster
|
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In the legal system, whoever tells the best story wins. But when two "workaday English teachers"Awho happen to be the writers Frederick Barthelme (Bob the Gambler) and Steven Barthelme (And He Tells the Horse the Whole Story)Agamble away their $250,000 inheritance in a few years and are indicted for conspiracy to defraud the casino where they were regulars, the tale they have to tell is far more richly complicatedAand hauntingAthan any their lawyer could present. Their narrative seductively juxtaposes the stark loss of their parents, their family's "psychological arithmetic" and the "miraculous multiplication" of winning at the blackjack tables, moving fluently between an account of the brothers' fall into addiction and their memories of a family life that was like "a lovely old-fashioned movie with snappy dialogue and surprising developments, high drama and low comedy, heroes and villains, wit and beauty and regret." By turns dazzlingly canny and achingly abject, the Barthelmes, who write in a single voice, lure the reader into the intimacy of their self-deception. Intoxicated by their brinksmanship and their clever comebacks, readers will hope against hope they'll fight their way back from staggering losses. In retrospect, the brothers' gaming philosophyA"We would have been willing to win, but we were content to lose"Awas sustaining in the casino's mirror world where "money isn't money," although, as the authors wryly observe, it crumbled when they were awaiting a legal verdict. (Nov.) FYI: Filed a few weeks after the publication of Bob the Gambler in 1997, the charges against the brothers were dismissed by the Mississippi State Circuit Court in August 1999.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
At first, this dark memoir seems like a simple confessional about how two fiftyish writer-academics lost a quarter-million-dollar inheritance in the late-night world of Mississippi riverboat casinos. (In 1997, the brothers were charged with cheating a Mississippi casino and still await trial.) As book-smart gamblers, the Barthelmes indulge in overtipping and betting ludicrous amounts; they are smarter-than-thou, which is their downfall. Perhaps some readers will see the deaths of the Barthelmes' parents as sufficient cause for their fall from grace; faced with real pain, the brothers prove inept at problem solving. But the gambling, compulsiveness, and midlife boredom predate their parents' deaths; and the gambling snowballed because of their new-found money, which the brothers burn out of resentment of their Napoleonic father. Beautifully evoking the gamblers' addiction, their mesmerizing account is best read as a novel Camus might have imagined, with the writer/protagonists as their own lost characters. A work of high art; enthusiastically recommended.
-AMarty Soven, Woodside, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
In the legal system, whoever tells the best story wins. But when two "workaday English teachers"Awho happen to be the writers Frederick Barthelme (Bob the Gambler) and Steven Barthelme (And He Tells the Horse the Whole Story)Agamble away their $250,000 inheritance in a few years and are indicted for conspiracy to defraud the casino where they were regulars, the tale they have to tell is far more richly complicatedAand hauntingAthan any their lawyer could present. Their narrative seductively juxtaposes the stark loss of their parents, their family's "psychological arithmetic" and the "miraculous multiplication" of winning at the blackjack tables, moving fluently between an account of the brothers' fall into addiction and their memories of a family life that was like "a lovely old-fashioned movie with snappy dialogue and surprising developments, high drama and low comedy, heroes and villains, wit and beauty and regret." By turns dazzlingly canny and achingly abject, the Barthelmes, who write in a single voice, lure the reader into the intimacy of their self-deception. Intoxicated by their brinksmanship and their clever comebacks, readers will hope against hope they'll fight their way back from staggering losses. In retrospect, the brothers' gaming philosophyA"We would have been willing to win, but we were content to lose"Awas sustaining in the casino's mirror world where "money isn't money," although, as the authors wryly observe, it crumbled when they were awaiting a legal verdict. (Nov.) FYI: Filed a few weeks after the publication of Bob the Gambler in 1997, the charges against the brothers were dismissed by the Mississippi State Circuit Court in August 1999.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
At first, this dark memoir seems like a simple confessional about how two fiftyish writer-academics lost a quarter-million-dollar inheritance in the late-night world of Mississippi riverboat casinos. (In 1997, the brothers were charged with cheating a Mississippi casino and still await trial.) As book-smart gamblers, the Barthelmes indulge in overtipping and betting ludicrous amounts; they are smarter-than-thou, which is their downfall. Perhaps some readers will see the deaths of the Barthelmes' parents as sufficient cause for their fall from grace; faced with real pain, the brothers prove inept at problem solving. But the gambling, compulsiveness, and midlife boredom predate their parents' deaths; and the gambling snowballed because of their new-found money, which the brothers burn out of resentment of their Napoleonic father. Beautifully evoking the gamblers' addiction, their mesmerizing account is best read as a novel Camus might have imagined, with the writer/protagonists as their own lost characters. A work of high art; enthusiastically recommended.
-AMarty Soven, Woodside, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
WE ARRIVED in Hattiesburg almost ten years apart. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
betting circle, blackjack play, blond cop, short cop, pit people, counting cards, shift manager, blackjack table, double down Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lou Ann, Gaming Commission, Double Diamond, Grand Casino, Boyce Holleman, Harrison County Jail New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
WE ARRIVED in Hattiesburg almost ten years apart. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
betting circle, blackjack play, blond cop, short cop, pit people, counting cards, shift manager, blackjack table, double down Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Lou Ann, Gaming Commission, Double Diamond, Grand Casino, Boyce Holleman, Harrison County Jail New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 2
books:
18
books
cite this book:
See all 18 books citing this book
- Bob the Gambler by Frederick Barthelme in Front Matter
- Tennessee Williams (Poets & Playwrights) (Poets & Playwrights) (Poets & Playwrights) by Kathleen Tracy on page 158
- Social Work Practice With a Difference: A Literary Approach by Alice Lieberman on 4 pages
- Mean Markets and Lizard Brains: How to Profit from the New Science of Irrationality by Terry Burnham in Back Matter
- You Bet Your Life: The Burdens of Gambling by Neil D. Isaacs in Back Matter
- Something for Nothing: Luck in America by Jackson Lears in Back Matter
- Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats by A. Alvarez in Back Matter
See all 18 books citing this book
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
62% buy the item featured on this page: Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss $15.00 |
 |
12% buy This Must Be Hell: A Look at Pathological Gambling $9.94 |
 |
9% buy Gripped by Gambling $16.11 |
 |
9% buy Born to Lose: Memoirs of a Compulsive Gambler $11.65 |
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
Listmania!
Look for Similar Items by Category
Great Deals on Magazines
Visit our huge selection of magazine subscriptions often to see the latest special offers and bonuses. Check out magazines like
The New Yorker,
Wired, and
Vanity Fair. |
Dive into Summer Reading |
Comfortable and Cozy |
||||||||
|
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
