Fast Greens
In the manner of the late Harvey Penick?who provided a blurb for this book?golf proves a metaphor for life in Pipkin's sweet but conventional first novel. Golfing enthusiast Billy Hemphill, 13, is chosen to caddy a grudge match between Roscoe Fowler and William March, co-owners of an oil company. On the line are $20,000, ownership of the company and the affections of Jewel, Billy's grandmother, whom both Fowler and March wooed 30 years ago. Also participating in the match are two pro golfers: Sandy Bates, who's Billy's golf hero, and the Beast, a roughneck with a prodigious swing. Over the course of the nine-hole match?which runs the length of the narrative, interrupted by flashbacks and lengthy asides?Fowler and March attempt to outcheat each other, Sandy tries desperately to defeat the Beast and Billy learns surprising truths about his parentage. Billy is a gratingly perfect boy. He's eager to do right and to live a happy life, and Pipkin doesn't let him down, telling a familiar coming-of-age story in whistle-clean prose. Avid golfers should enjoy this novel's modest charms and its insistence that "golf is more religion than sport," but even they will find more robust entertainment in a second June golf yarn, Rick Rielly's Missing Links, reviewed above. Film rights optioned by Warner Brothers for Chris Columbus. (June) FYI: Fast Greens first appeared in a privately published edition in 1994.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.