The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mira is the narrator, a fifty-nine year-old novelist writing her memoir centered on a turning point in her life. As a teenager she was a golf phenom, destined for the LPGA pro tour. She was recruited by the Yale golf coach. Then, in a fluke accident, as she was driving balls into a practice net at the country club, she drives one through a hole in the net and it strikes a caddie in the temple and kills him. He was a boy she knew from school and liked, although not romantically. From there her life spirals down into drugs, booze, and sex with unsuitable men, although there was some of that even before. The lawyers smell money and the blame game ends up in the courts.
It takes a long time for the author to let the reader know what actually happened. Before that he paints a quite depressing picture of a young woman who grew up as a privileged brat turn into an even worse character over guilt, her PTSD, if you will. For this reason, it’s not really a fun read for a long time, if at all, and I think some of the less than stellar reviews reflect that. But I thought the ending largely redeemed the early 3/4 of the book. The courtroom scenes were excellent and there was a twist I didn’t foresee. The writing style is literate and enjoyable even when we are disliking the narrator. If you have patience, this can be an enjoyable book.