I received Parents Behaving Badly from a Goodreads giveaway. When I first started the book I did not know if I could stick with it. It had a pretty slow start for me. However, I'm glad I stuck with it. Gummer pulled me in and made the characters believable. I loved Gummer's humor and his story. Having had a child in Little League baseball, I can tell you Gummer was "spot on" when he talks about the parent's behavior and then contrasts it to the children's behavior. Very nicely done.
Ben and Jili Holden move from Manhattan with their three children back to their small hometown of Palace Valley, California. Ben reluctantly steps up to lead his son's Little League team, Ben's father, a legendary high school baseball coach and mentor who is beloved by generations of players, has been pretty much a stranger to Ben as a child.
Other characters:
Del, an autocratic coach who issues his own Ten Commandments
Liza, Ben's high school crush
Logan, a smart-aleck ringer whose preteen talents are eclipsed only by his ego
Cyn, the sultry thong-wearing team mom with the serpent tattoo.
Ben does a great job of not only coaching the kids in baseball but also teaching them valuable lessons about life and sportsmanship. In this book the parents behave badly but the kids don't.
"Every mother and father of every boy and girl who have ever participated in youth sports can relate, and in Parents Behaving Badly Scott Gummer brilliantly skewers overzealous parents and lunatic coaches, giving the grown-ups who seek vicarious glory the send-up they so richly deserve."...www.simonandshuster.com
No comments:
Post a Comment