On Snooker
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Here is an incisive, entertaining look at the game of snooker (a variation on billiards) and those that play it by the critically-acclaimed novelist Mordecai Richler, author of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. On Snooker is a brilliant, witty look at the game of snooker--past and present--by one of the world's great novelists. The book explores the odd origins of the game, born the illegitimate child of billiards on a British Indian Army base in the nineteenth century and in 1985, attracting 18.5 million television viewers who stayed up past midnight to watch the World Championship at the Crucible in Sheffield, England. The central figure of the book is Stephen Hendry, probably the most talented snooker player ever, who recently sought a record-breaking eighth world title. But On Snooker also explores the game's other fascinating characters, from Alex Higgins, Cliff Thorburn (a Canadian and the first non-Brit to win the title), Kirk Stevens, and Jimmy White to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Young O'Sullivan, perhaps the game's most gifted natural talent, is a troubled man; his father, a former porn dealer ("Ron's the name, porn's the game") is serving a life sentence for murder. In addition, Richler visits the craftsman who makes cues for the champions and interviews the agents and groupies who follow the players on the circuit. The fascinating world of snooker has never been explored with such pith and perception. Like Joyce Carol Oates's book on boxing, On Snooker is a book all lovers of sport and superb sports writing will cherish. Library Journal The recently deceased Richler (Barney's Version) was an internationally renowned novelist with a lifelong passion for snooker, an offshoot of billiards. This is his personalized general introduction to the game and its best players. In style it reads like an extended magazine piece on the milieu of the mostly British snooker subculture. The highlights are the descriptions of the players, particularly the less savory ones, but overall the book is haphazardly organized and too often heads off on tangents of questionable appeal. This short work is of interest primarily to fans of snooker or of the author's fiction. John Maxymuk, Robeson Lib., Rutgers Univ., Camden, NJ Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
