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Frederick Exley

A Fan's Notes Paperback – August 12, 1988

by Frederick Exley (Author)

108 ratings

Book 1 of 3 in the A Fan's Notes Series

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This fictional memoir, the first of an autobiographical trilogy, traces a self professed failure's nightmarish decent into the underside of American life and his resurrection to the wisdom that emerges from despair.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Frederick Exley recounts his life as the son of a hero-worshipped high school athlete who is doomed to be a spectator not only of sports, but of life. From irresponsible drifter, to dreamer of impossible dreams, to drunkard, to frequent patient at an insane asylum, Exley carried baggage from his childhood through much of his adult life, never feeling he could escape the dark cloud of expectation that hung over him. When Frank Gifford, former New York Giants backfield star, is injured, Exley is jolted into painful realizations about his life, and a confession.

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Mr. Exley is a very good writer . . . there's a lot of wit and bravado in this book, but it's more painful than funny. -- The Nation

Item Weight : 12 ounces
Paperback : 385 pages
ISBN-10 : 0679720766
ISBN-13 : 978-0679720768
Product Dimensions : 5.29 x 0.63 x 8 inches
Publisher : Vintage; First Edition Thus (August 12, 1988)
Language: : English

Best-sellers rank #105,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#55 in Sports Journalism
#379 in Comedic Dramas & Plays
#423 in Lawyers & Criminals Humor

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108 ratings

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James EllsworthTop Contributor: Cooking

Deservedly A Literary Classic; About A City I Love

Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2018

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I lived for twelve mid-career years in Watertown, NY. I know a good bit about 'Literature.' This book is a superlative meeting of author and material. It is very much worth noting that the author was a roommate at prep school with the very famous Frank Gifford...and that there has long been a cult gathering in New York City to remember Fred Exley, specifically for this work. Fred wrote one American Literary Classic...and this is it. There is hero-worship, there is the struggle of an author to 'create something', there is the guilt that authors feel when they work hard, off and on, while their wives work at drudgery level jobs to keep things together.
For those of us who lived in 'Watertown', wherever your city might be, Exley's portraits of its residents and traditions and gathering places are, truly, breath-taking. Time stood still: I could find these places; I knew the 'salesman' types and whatever; the bars and restaurants were still there. And I contributed my heart out to that city, helping in a small way for it to be the 'Home of the Tenth Mountain Division', long after Exley's wonderful work.

9 people found this helpful

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RicK E

Unstable Genius at Work

Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2019

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Hunter S. Thompson touted "A Fan's Notes" as a great work in letters to a few friends collected in "Fear & Loathing in America" so I ordered it. Exley recounts his worship of the NY Giants in the early sixties and his brief encounters with Frank Gifford as a student at USC. Gifford becomes his hero as running back for the Giants as Exley loses his grip as a H.S. teacher becoming severely alcoholic and depressed. Languishing at his mother's house in Watertown, NY he is sent to an upstate NY psychiatric hospital which is recounted in painstaking detail. His travails upon release finds him drifting through jobs, frequenting many bars, falling for a young girl in Chicago which he breaks off for "playing the field" and after living off old school buddies inevitably ends up back with Mom, followed by another Psych Ward stint. He is a great story teller and master of the lexicon but I found his schizophrenia, irrational behavior and bizarre life to be very disturbing yet fascinating as one might find a series of train wrecks. Those familiar with NYC, Westchester,
upstate NY and Chicago will appreciate the backdrop Exley provides.

2 people found this helpful

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Raider

Too many friends?

Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2019

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I recommended this to a friend. He read it. Now he hates me.

5 people found this helpful

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B. A. C. R.

A pleasant surprise

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2020

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Man this made me laugh. I think I was supposed to take more from it than that, but it was just plain funny at times.

Some good stuff here from someone that never gets mentioned with his literary contemporaries. So much life material mined that I’m not sure I’ll read the next two from him. What could possibly be left for the other books?

One person found this helpful

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Masada36

A fantastic read from a most overlooked modern author! Exley writes in the company of Dawson, Goodwin, Hall, and Woolf...

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2015

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Perhaps one of the more overlooked narratives that reflect on life, marrying hard knocks with a passion for sport, this fictionalized memoir of Frederick Exley is truly fantastic. For those already familiar with the writing of Donald Hall, Fielding Dawson, and even Douglas Woolf, if you have yet to read Exley's "A Fan's Notes," I would strongly recommend the addition of this book to your library.

Further recommendations based on Exley's great book: "Notes of a Baseball Dreamer," by Robert Mayer and "Wait Till Next Year," by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

6 people found this helpful

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Caraculiambro

God bless you, Fred Exley

Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2009

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You know how they say the books that really speak to you, you don't choose them: they choose you?

Fred Exley's "A Fan's Notes" is a good example of that.

One day, rooting around in the bookstore, I came across Jonathan Yardley's effusive Misfit: The Strange Life of Frederick Exley , and thought, "Exley? Who dat?" Odd, I thought, that there would be an author deserving of such expansive praise, yet of whom I had never heard. I thought I knew everything!

So I went over to the E's and, quickly ascertaining that Exley's reputation rested on this one book (there were two dud sequels), bought it.

What can I say? By this point I've read it -- I think -- 19 times. It helped me do a lot of growing up, and got me through a pretty rough time.

And the lessons it contains! That you can spend your entire life an alcoholic wastrel flopped on the couch, yet if you can pull it all together and put your heart on the page you can get into the Modern Library. That fame is a disease. That putting on a tie and giving things the ol' college try can be in many ways a sickness. That redemption is possible and that suffering and humiliation can lead to wisdom.

The kind of reaction I've had to Exley's book is a reaction I've only had for two or three books in my life. And it's strange: I've never drunk, I deplore football, and I've never been in a mental institution; yet when I read "A Fan's Notes" it's like my future self writing back to me from a wiser, sadder time, warning me about the vanity of earthly achievements and the ambiguity of the good life.

The back cover features a quote to the effect that this is the best American novel since "A Great Gatsby." Heck, it blows that one out of the water. I for one have never seen Exley's powers of characterization matched anywhere: Mr. Blue, his father, Bumpy, the Counselor, etc. Outstrips even Dickens, in my judgment.

This man could write like an angel. After "Moby Dick" and "The Brothers Karamazov," easily my favorite book.

23 people found this helpful

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Top international reviews

The Spectator

A Fan

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2019

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The Book Depository provided excellent service in processing the order and delivering the book.

I first read "A Fans Notes" in 1970 and, in my opinion , it is the greatest novel ever written in the English language. The prose is peerless and the story compelling. A study of the human condition that Steinbeck and Nabakov would have been proud to have produced.

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R. M. Carr

Polo Grounds forever

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2016

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Got recommended this and I'm really glad I was. Tough read at times but well worth the effort. Sometimes sport does seem all-important but really it's life that matters. Got a lot of +ve vibes from it despite the tough themes. Give it a go.

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Kevin Q.

top book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2019

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Worth a read

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Paul

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 23, 2018

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Great book. Good service.

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Tambo

A Fan's Review

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010

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A fan's notes is funny and painful in equal measure. The narrator is a drunken sports fan who has a hard life - it does not sound funny, but it is.
Read it if you like Catcher in the Rye and that type of angst fueled opus.

One person found this helpful

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mark allen

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 24, 2017

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a game changer...blew me away

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Donnchadh O'Loidigh

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2015

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The best sports book I've ever read. Read it first 20 years ago. Still superlative.

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