Word: bested
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1990
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fall into two central categories: those which describe a great triumph or defeat and those that are more interested in what happens after the game is over. In both, the sport and its powerful ability to overshadow a life is prominent. John Ed Bradley's new book, The Best There Ever Was, hovers between these two categories...
...dark humor and feeling of emotional, distinctly Southern, emptiness and dissatisfaction are the strong points of The Best There Ever Was. Unfortunately, the novel is chiefly about these feelings and not about novelistic progress. Bradley does not take us anywhere. We are left lingering in Gravely's depressing town. It is more an aimless series of incidents, each of which emits these tones...
...book does not know what it wants to be--is it a football book, a picture of a small Southern town, or something else? Clearly, it is possible to review The Best There Ever Was without mentioning much about football. It seems as if Bradley simply thought the sports setting would be catchy. Instead, it leaves us feeling confused and in a state of limbo, much like the feelings which Bradley's townspeople experience every...
Smith is not at his best while recounting recent Soviet history--anyone can do that, and some are even more qualified, like Bill Keller, who holds Smith's old position as the Times' Moscow bureau chief and who, more importantly, has lived in the Soviet Union rather than Washington as perestroika has grown...
Harvard is content with being the best in many things. Students do not want to jeopardize their position...