The Throwback Special, Chris Bachelder
The Throwback Special, Chris Bachelder
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The Throwback Special

Author: Chris Bachelder

Narrator: R. C. Bray

Unabridged: 4 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/14/2016


Synopsis

Here is the absorbing story of twenty-two men who gather every fall to painstakingly reenact what ESPN called “the most shocking play in NFL history” and the Washington Redskins dubbed the “Throwback Special”: the November 1985 play in which the Redskins' Joe Theismann had his leg horribly broken by Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants live on Monday Night Football.

Chris Bachelder introduces us to Charles, a psychologist whose expertise is in high demand; George, a garrulous public librarian; Fat Michael, envied and despised by the others for being exquisitely fit; Jeff, a recently divorced man who has become a theorist of marriage; and more. Over the course of a weekend, the men reveal their secret hopes, fears, and passions as they choose roles, spend a long night of the soul preparing for the play, and finally enact their bizarre ritual for what may be the last time. Along the way, mishaps, misunderstandings, and grievances pile up, and the comforting traditions holding the group together threaten to give way.

The Throwback Special is a moving and comic tale filled with pitch-perfect observations about manhood, marriage, middle age, and the rituals we all enact as part of being alive.
 

About Chris Bachelder

Chris Bachelder is the author of four novels, including The Throwback Special, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the Terry Southern Prize for Humor. He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.


Reviews

A book about the rituals of middle-aged men, the fragile psyches we all lug around, and how subsuming those psyches in a likeminded group is about as close we can get to peace. With all the men and their banal names, it's hard to keep their personalities straight. Some people may not mind this--in fa......more

Goodreads review by Jessica

This book is really something special. Truly one of the most amusing, entertaining and enjoyable books I’ve recently read. Don’t be discouraged by the plot description—there’s so much more to it than football, though the subject matter provides a fitting gateway into middle-aged manhood. Every Novemb......more