Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss
by Frederick Barthelme, Steven Barthelme
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"So each night begins. One of us picks up the other and we drive into the Mississippi darkness, headed for a place where everything is different." This first nonfiction book by Frederick Barthelme, author of BOB THE GAMBLER, and his brother and colleague Steven is both a story of family feeling and a testimony to the risky allure of casinos. Within a year and a half, the authors had lost both of their parents, less than a decade after their brother Donald died. Their exacting father had been show more a prominent modernist architect in Houston; their mother, the architect of this family of seven, which she "invented, shaped, guided, and protected." "We were on our own in a remarkable new way," the Barthelmes write, "and we were not ready." What followed was a several-year escapade during which the two brothers lost close to a quarter million dollars in the gambling boats off the Mississippi coast. They played to enter that addictive land of possibility. Then, in a bizarre twist, they were charged with violating state gambling laws, fingerprinted, and thrown into the surreal world of felony prosecution. For two years these widely publicized charges hung over their heads, shadowing their every step, until, in August of 1999, the charges were finally dismissed. DOUBLE DOWN is the sometimes wryly told, often heartbreaking story of how Frederick and Steven Barthelme got into this predicament. It is also a reflection on the pull and power of illusions, the way they work on us when we are not careful.. show less
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A somewhat repetitive memoir about losing 250K and not knowing why. I would have given it 3 stars except for the very poor structure of the book. When the brothers are kicked out of their usual casino, charged with violating state gambling laws, and begin a bizarre journey through the legal system, the book picks up interest. Then suddenly there's a flashback to the time of their father's death (the book is riddled with flashbacks, as if their parents, or possibly grief, could be responsible for the authors' stupidity -- but they explicitly deny that possiblilty) and the book ends without revealing what became of the court case. Hello? When I want to know the ending of the book, it's highly frustrating to have to search for it on the show more dust jacket. It seems that in this case the jacket blurb department was better at writing than the authors and better at editing than the editors. The dust jacket gets 3 stars. show less
True story about 2 brothers, college professors and writers, who inherit their parents money and begin a 2 year gambling addiction until they are charged with cheating. Eventually all charges dismissed. This information is given by the brothers at the beginning of the book. Easy to read.
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28+ Works 1,082 Members
Frederick Barthelme, an American writer in the minimalist tradition, depicts in his writings loneliness, isolation, and fear of intimacy in modern life. Born in 1943 in Houston, Texas, Barthelme attended Tulane University and the University of Houston before studying at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts from 1965-66. He worked as an architectural show more draftsman, assistant to the director of New York City's Kornblee Gallery, and creative director for advertising firms in Houston during the 1960s and early 1970s. At the same time, his art was featured in such galleries as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Barthelme's fiction often concentrates on scenes rather than plots. They frequently include "snapshots" of popular culture, such as shopping malls and McDonald's restaurants, to illustrate the emotional shallowness of the late twentieth century. Characters who show their feelings and thoughts through actions rather than language are another aspect of Barthelme's work. Barthelme began to write fiction in the 1960s, leading to a change in the direction of his life and art. He earned an M.A. in English from Johns Hopkins University in 1977, then became an English professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and the editor of the Mississippi Review. Barthelme's work includes the novels Two Against One (1988), Natural Selection (1993), and Bob the Gambler (1997), the short story collections Rangoon (1970) and Chroma (1987), and the screenplays Second Marriage (1985) and Tracer (1986). Barthelme is the brother of the well-known experimental writer Donald Barthelme (1931-1989). (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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