The authors, two writer brothers who teach at the same university, slipped into a gambling fever, losing a quarter million dollars in the years following their aged parents' deaths. This is a lucid, compelling book: the sense of addiction, the timeless, weird feeling one gets when gambling, is brought vividly to life. There's also some measure of self-analysis: the brothers conclude that guilt and grief fueled their two-day-long losing sprees, and they appear to aptly judged themselves. They are falsely and bizarrely accused of cheating the casino (they lose thousands in the night they're accused); their description of the indictment and booking, their sudden notoriety and helplessness at the indifferent, lying corporation that is the casino, is a scarily real morality tale. On the minus side, the book does engage in a bit too much of this analysis; it gets repetitive. Also, they drop the story of their indictment too early, leaving the conclusion (dismissal of the charges on the DA's request) unexplained.

This slim book by the Barthelme Brothers, recounting their descent into gambling hell, is both elegantly written and horrifying. After all, the Barthelmes are college professors and literary stars, and if their lives could veer out of control so suddenly and so badly, then so could yours and mine. The brothers end up throwing away all their money, including a $300,000 inheritance, at a riverboat casino during the year or so after their parents' deaths. Then -- as if the story couldn't get any more gruesome -- they are indicted on charges of cheating the casino! I've spent a lot of time in casinos myself, and can vouch for the accuracy of the Barthelmes' portrait of the casino scene: the mood of the place and the behavior of the various participants are captured perfectly. They are especially good at describing the feelings that run through a gambler while winning and losing. The only shortcoming of the book is the repetitious (and sometimes shallow) analysis of their behavior. Or maybe I've just read one too many books where it all goes back to Mommy and Daddy. I would like them to have stayed more focused on the story, and allow the reader to provide some of the analysis for himself. Also, if the brothers had waited a few months longer before publishing, they would have been able to provide the conclusion to this story, which, as it stands, is anti-climactic. Nevertheless, I would put this on a rather short shelf of great gambling literature, maybe not to far away from Dostoyevsky's "The Gambler."ÿ

I thought this book was excellent: a memoir by two brothers who lost $250,000 in riverboat casinos. They describe in detail how they would spend 12 hours or more losing thousands in the slot machines, or, more often, at blackjack. And how it escalated slowly, and then how the addiction got completely out-of-hand after both of their elderly parents died. Apparently, their pattern on each gambling spree was to lose a lot, and then spend the rest of the night (and sometimes day) winning back the lost amount. What amazed me is that even after they were indicted for a crime allegedly committed while gambling, they continued their addiction, albeit in another casino. Astounding! This memoir is remarkable on many counts. For one, it is beautifully written (both authors are writing professors), and also, they attempt to analyze their behavior, the big "WHY"? I commend them for revealing so many intimate details. It seems that perhaps the loss of their father, who had been a brilliant architect but an insensitive father to both, put them over the edge. Raised not to show feelings, coupled with their belief that their parents were their only true "community", perhaps put them in a hard, "no win" position when they died. And the only way to "win" (or attempt to) was at the casino. They are excellent at drawing out the allure of gambling - that, no matter win or lose, they were finally "feeling" something at the blackjack table. A sad tale of an attempt to deal with loss in a desperate, impossible way.

I'm told that Steve Barthelme is actually a brother to the much better known Fred and Don. I briefly read this book about 10 years ago (when I was in college and reading A LOT), so I don't remember it particularly well. But I think that's the point. It struck me as being competent but ultimately quite mundane. If you're a hard-core Barthelme completionist, I might get it. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Steve is one of my instructors, so naturally I decided to read his book. :-)

The book is great. Go get it!

*Wonders why a person who read a book ten years ago and can't even remember what the book was about would bother to leave bad feedback on a book.* Oh well. Hope you don't listen to him, 'cause you'll miss out on a good book if you do.

A brilliant collection by a gifted writer. Bathelme's characters are fully developed; they are people you can imagine meeting off the page. A good read, highly recommended.

Which is more than I can say for Mr. Callan's unremarkable review. Commenting on a book ten years after seems a bit precious, not to mention disingenuous. Ray Carver tells the story of Donald Barthelme (Steve's oldest brother), whom Ray spotted at a party, not long after Carver had written a not-glowing review of Don's story collections. Feeling bad, trying to remain well hidden in the room, Carver nevertheless managed to hear Barthelme remark to a friend, "When I don't like a book, I try to surround it with a generous silence."

It's hard enough to write a decent sentence without the Callan's of the world lining up to criticize your work without a moment's pause, ten years after the fact, from some college memory bank....

I know Steve Barthelme. Steve Barthelme is a friend of mine. Mr. Callan, you're no Steve Barthelme.

Readers who want to see what Steve Barthelme is up to lately will want to read a book co-written with his other brother Frederick, called Double Down--the remarkable true story of two grief stricken brothers, Frederick and Steve, dealing with the loss of their parents, and in the process managing to lose a quarter million dollars gambling in Biloxi. A terrifying, yet in the end, redemptive sory, from two of the finest writers we have.

Buy the book.