Synopses & Reviews
This book is about the small and large ways we hurt each other in the greatest competition on the face of the earth: Love. Buy it. It belongs on that shelf of books you will return to again and again.-Harry Crews
Shriver confronts some disconcerting truths that defy a pat, politically correct resolution.-The New York Times Book Review
Love me, love my game says twenty-three year-old Willy Novinsky. Ever since she picked up a racquet at the age of four, tennis has been Willy's one love, until the day she meets Eric Oberdorf. She's a middle-ranked professional tennis player and he's a Princeton graduate who took up playing tennis at the age of eighteen. Low-ranked but untested, Eric, too, aims to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. Willy beholds compatibility spiced with friendly rivalry, and discovers her first passion outside a tennis court. They marry.
Married life starts well but animated shop talk and blissful love-making soon give way to full-tilt competition over who can rise to the top first. In this captivating book, Shriver dissects the hazards of a two-career relationship in this brilliantly perceptive novel about the price both men and women pay for prizing achievement over love.
Born and raised in North Carolina, Lionel Shriver is the author of seven novels, a Guardian columnist, and a contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Economist, She lives in London. We Need To Talk About Kevin won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.
Review
“Fully using the strongest part of her game--psychological insight--Shriver tracks the fleeting joy and prolonged despair of a young couple....[Double Fault is a] moving, resonant tale of two sparkling careers and two decent people unable to live in harmony.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“[Lionel Shriver] has written a gorgeous, compelling tragedy in which she stays with her game every step of the way.” Dallas Morning News
Review
“Shriver explores the obsessive side of Willys character and confronts some disconcerting truths that defy a pat, politically correct resolution….Shriver shows in a masterstroke why character is fate and how sport reveals it.” New York Times Book Review
Review
“A brilliant tale of doomed love….This is not a novel about tennis or rivalry; its about love, marriage and the balance of power in relationships….Double Fault is a compelling and playfully ironic take on the sex wars, blistering with…brilliant writing and caustic language.” The Observer (London)
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“Double Fault combines the urgency of a page-turner with the satisfactions of fine style... powerful, provocative, and unrelenting.” Scott Spencer, author of Endless Love and Waking the Dead
Review
“I can only hope that with Double Fault Lionel Shriver recieves the acclaim she has so long deserved...It belongs on that shelf of books you will return to again and again.” Harry Crews, author of A Feast of Snakes and Body
Review
“Shrivers novel provides an eye-opening and authentic look at the cutthroat world of pro tennis, but its more than just a sports expose. Its the melancholy and tempestuous story of two people whose love couldnt survive their own selfishness.” Booklist
Review
“Lionel Shriver has something new….Whether you go for tennis or not, the furious back-and-forth of the game in Double Fault can hypnotize you….Shriver brings an insiders knowledge and a truly athletic prose to her descriptions of what happens on the court.” New York Newsday
Synopsis
"Shriver shows in a masterstroke why character is fate and how sport reveals it." --New York Times Book Review
From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Post-Birthday World, and the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin comes a brilliant and unflinching novel about the devastating cost of prizing achievement over love
Tennis has been Willy Novinsky's one love ever since she first picked up a racquet at the age of four. A middle-ranked pro at twenty-three, she's met her match in Eric Oberdorf, a low-ranked, untested Princeton grad who also intends to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. Eric becomes Willy's first passion off the court, and eventually they marry. But while wedded life begins well, full-tilt competition soon puts a strain on their relationship--and an unexpected accident sends driven and gifted Willy sliding irrevocably toward resentment, tragedy, and despair.
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Kirkus ReviewsSynopsis
Tennis has been Willy Novinsky's one love ever since she first picked up a racquet at the age of four. A middle-ranked pro at twenty-three, she's met her match in Eric Oberdorf, a low-ranked, untested Princeton grad who also intends to make his mark on the international tennis circuit. Eric becomes Willy's first passion off the court, and eventually they marry. But while wedded life begins well, full-tilt competition soon puts a strain on their relationship—and an unexpected accident sends driven and gifted Willy sliding irrevocably toward resentment, tragedy, and despair.
From acclaimed author Lionel Shriver comes a brilliant and unflinching novel about the devastating cost of prizing achievement over love.
About the Author
Lionel Shriver's novels include the New York Timesbestseller The Post-Birthday Worldand the international bestseller We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the 2005 Orange Prize and has now sold over a million copies worldwide. Earlier books include Double Fault, A Perfectly Good Family, and Checker and the Derailleurs. Her novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. She lives in London.
Exclusive Essay
Read an exclusive essay by Lionel Shriver