This fictional memoir, the first of an autobiographical trilogy, traces a self professed failure's nightmarish decent into the underside of American life and his resurrection to the wisdom that emerges from despair.
A Fan's Notes (Vintage Contemporaries)
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Frederick Exley recounts his life as the son of a hero-worshipped high school athlete who is doomed to be a spectator not only of sports, but of life. From irresponsible drifter, to dreamer of impossible dreams, to drunkard, to frequent patient at an insane asylum, Exley carried baggage from his childhood through much of his adult life, never feeling he could escape the dark cloud of expectation that hung over him. When Frank Gifford, former New York Giants backfield star, is injured, Exley is jolted into painful realizations about his life, and a confession.
Review
"A Fan's Notes is one man's life written with brilliance and insight. No one should have had Exley's life, and no one who has read it can forget it" -- James Dickey "Writers of every kind of aesthetic and cultural persuasion talk about it and press it on their friends. When I urge it on a friend who asks what it is about or what it is like, I say read it, just read it" -- Geoffrey Wolff "Astonishing... It is visceral and intimate. Self-absorbed, it is also searingly perceptive about what happens between fathers and sons, men and women" Independent
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By T. Bigney
Format:Paperback
This book by Exley is up there with Celine, hovering somewhere around third or fourth for my favorite books ever.
Exley breaks your heart, makes you laugh, cry, and shake your head in amazement. It's not an easy read, as Exley strings some wonderful sentences that you have to go back and read them a couple of times to get the point.
This is Exley's best book.
RIP.
Exley breaks your heart, makes you laugh, cry, and shake your head in amazement. It's not an easy read, as Exley strings some wonderful sentences that you have to go back and read them a couple of times to get the point.
This is Exley's best book.
RIP.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Fred Exley's 1968 book, A Fan's Notes, has the unfortunate status of being one of those books that you can go your whole life and never read. This book, Exley's first, was his best, and although it stirred up the literary world when it was released, it has been more overlooked in the wake of Exley's disappointing follow-ups, his personal problems, and his death in 1992. Exley went from being a talented young writer to being an ex-writer. When when he was good, man oh man, he was good. The guy could write.
A Fan's Notes is savagely funny and honest, delightfully written, and shockingly blunt in its dissection of mainstream American values. The book is what one might call these days "memoir," although in 1968 such a genre wasn't quite clearly recognized, and so people didn't know if the Fred Exley in the book was the "real" Fred Exley who wrote the book. Not that we should care about such trifles as the facts when compelling literature is at stake.
Suffice it to say that Notes is Exley's chilling, charming telling of his alcoholism, his loves and successes and losses, his madness, and his obsession with "winners and losers" in life, among other things. A parade of grotesques move through this book, representations of men and women who all reflect and refract sets of values that Exley flirts with but ultimately cannot engage with. Rather than play the game of the American Dream, he prefers to remain, for the most part, on the outside, taking notes.
Even if Exley wrote only one book his whole life, he should have been happy with A Fan's Notes. Anyone who relishes concise, intelligent, entertaining literature should take notes on Notes. It's truly an amazing book, very personal and very memorable. Another quick Amazon pick I'd like to recommend is The Losers Club by Richard Perez
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A Fan's Notes is savagely funny and honest, delightfully written, and shockingly blunt in its dissection of mainstream American values. The book is what one might call these days 'memoir,' although in 1968 such a genre wasn't quite clearly recognized, and so people didn't know if the Fred Exley in the book was the 'real' Fred Exley who wrote the book. Suffice it to say that Notes is Exley's chilling, charming telling of his alcoholism, his loves and successes and losses, his madness, and his obsession with football and Frank Gifford, among other things. A parade of grotesques move through this book, representations of men and women who all reflect and refract sets of values that Exley flirts with but ultimately cannot engage with. Rather than play the game of the American Dream, he prefers to remain, for the most part, on the outside, taking notes. This is a one-of-a-kind American Masterpiece. Please read it! Also recommended: Tropic of Cancer by Miller, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
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4.4 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exley and Bipolar Disorder
I read this book with fevered passion, and had I not just read it I wouldn't be using the expression "fevered passion. Read more
Published on Nov 10 2003
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now THIS is a good book!!
A Fan's Notes is one of the best books I have ever read. This guy is amazing. Keep a dictionary handy--it's well worth it. Some say this book is more sad than funny. Read more
Published on Jan 30 2003 by David Burks
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
"A Fan's notes" is a blistering, literate critique of the emptiness of the illusory 'American Dream' told through the eyes of one who longed for, yet at the same time recognized... Read more
Published on Dec 12 2002 by Desmond Curran
3.0 out of 5 stars
Masterpiece? Not from an entertainment perspective
I read this book after hearing it referred to as great literature somehow intertwined with the worship of Frank Gifford, the former New York Giant. Read more
Published on April 24 2002 by R. Spell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Constant Bedside Reading
A miracle that someone could live his life and then write about it - I constantly keep it next to the bed. Read more
Published on Oct 10 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars
Raucus, scathing, hilarious. Classic.
Frederick Exley lived a life exemplary of the alcoholic: infantile, irresponsible, and self-loathing. Read more
Published on Aug 28 2001 by "irongiant"
5.0 out of 5 stars
Frank Gifford and the Meaning of Life
A buddy of mine used to give a Christmas party every year that everyone eagerly looked forward to. The reason was that he, more than anyone else, would get outrageously drunk. Read more
Published on Mar 31 2001 by Paul McGrath
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blown away.
Jesus, what a book. Exley has written one of the most severe indictments of unfulfilled, unencountered living that I've ever read, short of "The Good Soldier. Read more
Published on Dec 18 2000
5.0 out of 5 stars
A miracle...
One of the greatest and most underrated American Novels ever--if I could write like this, I just might. And after it's written, that's all there is.
Published on Aug 26 2000
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as stunning as I expected
I have been hearing about "A Fan's Life" for a while -- it certainly has a cult following -- and found the first two chapters very interesting. Read more
Published on May 16 2000
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