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To many, Bill Murray is the star of movies like Ghostbusters (reissued with certain scenes deleted and a Mystery Science Theatre-style commentary in 1999). But to golf aficionados, Murray is the clown in godawful "Hee-Haw-aiian" golf garb who plays shamelessly to the crowds at charity tee-offs from Pebble Beach to the Greater Milwaukee Open. And there is only one Bill Murray role, the gopher-snuffing, turf-smoking greenskeeper Carl Spackler in Caddyshack, whose fantasy of golf heroism gives this book its title. "This crowd has gone deadly silent," Spackler mutters with club in hand and no crowd in sight, "a Cinderella story outta nowhere--former greenskeeper and now about to become the Masters champion!"
Cinderella Story is really two books. The first is a string of outrageously digressive anecdotes about Murray's club-wielding adventures with Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer ("Incandescent ... he and Patton were born to lead armies"), Mike Ditka, John Denver, Chi Chi Rodriguez ("He had more fun playing golf than any person I'd ever seen."), Clint Eastwood, Hunter Thompson (who nearly drowned him in a pool), and Michael Jordan ("Relax," Murray tells himself, "his nickname is 'air,' not 'sand.'"). The prose style is mock-hepcat, insanely allusive, and very smart, like his screen persona.
This book is also the amusing, affecting autobiography of a kid who started out caddying for 60 cents a half-hour with his brothers--they got busted for giving a blind golfer three hole-in-one trophies--and wound up in showbiz. There are lots of showbiz anecdotes too, especially about Caddyshack, "arguably the greatest film ever made, although perhaps that's a drunken argument," as Murray observes. He'll get no argument from golfers, who will thrill to his expert ridicule of their mutual passion. --Tim Appelo
Customer Comments
A reader from Bradford, MA , May 25, 1999
Funny stories of growing up with golf and being Bill Murray
If you are a fan of Bill Murray's and a golfer you want to like this book a lot. Little disappoints in this volumn and it is a lot of fun to read. I laughed out loud at least once in every chapter. The remarkable thing about this book is just how much a part of Bill Murray's life golf really is -- and just how much a part of golf Bill Murray has become. This is by no means a literary masterpiece, in fact, in several spots the reader is sure to wonder if any one proof-read this for continuity. However, this book does a great job in bringing the reader into the "never a dull moment" golf-life of Bill Murray. I'm left to wonder what would a Bill Murray celebrity pro-am be like -- probably a "caddy challenge match" and more fun people have had in years. A good read, that leaves you happier, if not better, for having read it.
A reader from MA, USA , May 21, 1999
Bill Murray is a funny writer!
This is the first book that Bill Murray has written. I must say that Murray has really done a good job! He's funny, kinda touching and appealing all the way! He talks about his life in golf from his chilhood to the present. From being a caddy, then starring in the greatest golf movie ever made, Caddyshack; and finally become a golfer himself. Some great stories about playing golf with Michael Jordan, Clint Eastwood, Scott Simpson, and Kevin Costnar, etc. Murray also talks about his family and his will to be in show business. There're occasionally some special sections with other people's comments on Bill like Chevy Chase, etc. Furthermore, you can see some pictures of baby Murray and Murray as Pat Boone! You don't have to be a Bill Murray fan to like this book. This is a book for those who are interested in humor, movies, golf, comedy, and biography!! Read this! I enjoy every page of the book and so would you! |
