1st chapter is story “Return to Return” from Airships, 2nd chapter is “Midnight and I’m Not Famous Yet,” also from Airships, both reworked. Not bad overall, but just okay at the same time. Felt like a fix-up, which it sort of was with the use of those two stories, but seemed to meander too much. ( )

The Tennis Handsome tells the story of a professional tennis player from Vicksburg named French Edwards who is not very smart (unless electrocuted), but (as you might have guessed) exceedingly handsome. Edwards is managed by Baby Levaster who is not very handsome but full of personality, sin, and quite often, liquor. As a young man Edwards is coached by Dr. Word, a staunch homosexual who changes teams when he meets his protogee's mother, Olive, and who changes everything after French catches the two of them in bed together. From that point on French wants to kill Word, Word wants to sleep with Olive, Baby also wants to sleep with Olive, Word wants Baby dead, and all kinds of other things shoot out at the reader, including the other main character of the novel, a Vietnam vet who mostly wants to have an affair with his aunt, but also wants to do a lot of reading.

Whew.

This is the kind of book that rushes straight at you. Hannah is funny, insightful, and disturbing, and he has a lot of fun with the words that make up his intoxicating sentences.

[full review here: http://spacebeer.blogspot.com/2009/06/tennis-handsome-1983.html ] ( )