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The Putt at the End of the World is one of those collaborative novels that should not work and that mostly does not, with a structural premise (a serial collaboration with each chapter handed off to a different writer) that produces the kind of uneven energy these things always produce. The cast (Lee K. Abbott, Tim O'Brien, James Crumley, Tami Hoag, Dave Barry, Richard Bausch, Ridley Pearson, and Les Standiford) is genuinely interesting.
The plot involves a championship golf tournament where the stakes have somehow expanded to involve the future of the world. The Dave Barry chapters are funny in the Dave Barry way. The Tim O'Brien chapter is much sadder than the surrounding material. The James Crumley chapter is the most committed to its own register. The Lee K. Abbott chapter is the prose marvel of the volume.
Three stars. Recommended as a curio for fans of any of the contributors. Not the entry point for any of them.
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