Tevis knew what he was doing and gets better in next novels. It is a classic and though it is rather linear and stripped down it works. Though this "format" of brash youngster going against the King/establishment has become a bit cliche in structure (see all Tom Cruise movies where he plays same character repeatedly) I still enjoyed this early Tevis.
In beating Fats he became the best in the country. When it is over, Eddie knows a great deal more about big-time pool, about money, and about himself. Bert knows talent without character is nothing and stakes Eddie to a climactic all-or-nothing rematch. It takes an interlude with Sarah, an alcoholic and a born loser, to bring the lesson home, and the shrewd advice and backing of Bert, a professional gambler, to put it into practice. Eddie's final painful loss teaches him that nerve alone isn't enough - guts, stamina, and character make the difference between winners and losers. Eddie and Fats pit nerve against skill in a fantastic match over an unbroken 36 hours. Hustling suckers in small towns for good stake money was practice for his goal, and when he felt ready he went to Bennington's pool hall in Chicago to find Minnesota Fats. There’s no surprises in this novel, especially if you’ve seen the movie, because they’re exactly the same, but it’s solid, entertaining, and holds up.To Fast Eddie Felsen, a young pool hustler, there was only one thing that mattered: to make the big time and the big money in the world of pool by beating the best in the country. After falling in love (maybe?) and getting his thumbs broken by hustlers he hustled, he becomes the protege of another gambler who teaches him how to settle those nerves and play the player more than playing the game. It turns out he is for sure, but when he shows up and challenges Minnesota Fats to a game he loses a heartbreaker (and all his cash) in a series of games he was poised to win. In the novel Fast Eddie Felsen comes barreling into Chicago with a reputation for being a great pool player. Seemed an odd coincidence.Īnyway, this novel is a kind of 1950s/1960s new American male grit, leftover noir-lite (not exactly noir, as Eddie Felsen never really hits that far down) that is well written, fast-paced, and has the air of and difference from a sports novel.
I picked this up in part because it was available from my library as an audiobook, but also because two other Walter Tevis novels, which I also plan to read soon, Mockingbird and The Queen’s Gambit, the second of which my wife got from the library completely out of the blue, and the first being on several sci fi lists I was looking at. This is the novel that the Paul Newman/George C Scott/Jackie Gleason movie from 1961, and the same author of the sequel, The Color of Money starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.
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