On the HahaFiction shelf
Albatross
by Terry Fallis
Adam Coryell has his sights on a writing career when his Toronto gym teacher discovers he has the ideal body for golf. The theory sounds improbable, but tournaments and sponsors soon reward a talent he barely has to work at. He would rather be getting somewhere with his stories.
From the author’s blurb
“a funny and smart new novel about destiny”Read the full description at Terry Fallis, official book description
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What makes it funny?
Adam is rich from a sport he doesn’t much like, yet still imagines the fortune awaiting him as a published Canadian writer. Fallis makes a joke of that unlikely financial ambition. Even the discovery of Adam’s gift begins awkwardly, with a teacher asking to measure her students’ extremities.
The comedy at work
Golf gives Adam results without the effort that writing demands of him. His wry first-person narration follows that mismatch through success and dissatisfaction, while jokes about the literary profession keep his preferred career from looking too grand.
Try this if…
A career that looks ideal to everyone else can feel like an obligation from the inside. That predicament gives readers interested in vocation and growing up a reason to follow Adam, even if they have little interest in his golf scores.
Good to know
The story includes loss and heartbreak alongside its comic treatment of success. Adam’s relationship with his coach, Bobbie Davenport, matters as much as his sporting ability.
More funny coming of age
Sources & further reading
- Author and opening sample
Author commentary
- Literary Review of Canada review
Review
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