"This book is a triumph. Impeccably, propulsively, and hilariously rendered, Politanoff writes about tennis like Barry Hannah wrote about alcohol—something swift, addictive, fun, life-giving and also totally filthy. Nobody writes like Ashton Politanoff." —Rita Bullwinkel, author of Headshot, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
‘[I] could not put [Dad Had a Bad Day] down…[Politanoff's] atmospheric descriptions were spare but sensuous . . . his dialogue was perfectly rhythmic, to the point of being hypnotic. Until it was electrified by frenetic, Tim Robinson-style outbursts—then I was wide awake; then I was cracking the f up . . . I delighted in its chiseled prose, and the suspense and surprise of its plot.’ —Beau Dealy, Racquet Magazine
When Ned finds his old Slazenger tennis racquet buried in the garage, he unearths a part of his former self. Having recently lost his job, his sole duty is to watch over their six-year-old son while his wife works. On a whim--and without his wife's knowledge--Ned joins his childhood tennis club with a secret credit card, where he finds life outside the realm of ‘sad dad’ domesticity. He becomes the captain of a local men’s rec league team, reconnects with his old hitting partner and former tennis prodigy, Roland, and commits his whole sad self to building a winning team. But when Roland disappears, Ned’s search for his friend threatens to consume the path to glory, the relationship with his son, his marriage, and his mind.
A meditation on fathers and sons, male friendship, and the psychic pressures of an individual sport, Politanoff’s novel sits beautifully alongside the dark comedy of Iris Murdoch and the masculine angst of John Cheever, with a style all its own. Funny, poignant, and deeply relatable, Dad Had a Bad Day explores our desire for structure, the emotional limits of domestic life, and the unbelievably potent, powerful, intoxicating feeling of winning.
Genre: Literary Fiction
‘[I] could not put [Dad Had a Bad Day] down…[Politanoff's] atmospheric descriptions were spare but sensuous . . . his dialogue was perfectly rhythmic, to the point of being hypnotic. Until it was electrified by frenetic, Tim Robinson-style outbursts—then I was wide awake; then I was cracking the f up . . . I delighted in its chiseled prose, and the suspense and surprise of its plot.’ —Beau Dealy, Racquet Magazine
When Ned finds his old Slazenger tennis racquet buried in the garage, he unearths a part of his former self. Having recently lost his job, his sole duty is to watch over their six-year-old son while his wife works. On a whim--and without his wife's knowledge--Ned joins his childhood tennis club with a secret credit card, where he finds life outside the realm of ‘sad dad’ domesticity. He becomes the captain of a local men’s rec league team, reconnects with his old hitting partner and former tennis prodigy, Roland, and commits his whole sad self to building a winning team. But when Roland disappears, Ned’s search for his friend threatens to consume the path to glory, the relationship with his son, his marriage, and his mind.
A meditation on fathers and sons, male friendship, and the psychic pressures of an individual sport, Politanoff’s novel sits beautifully alongside the dark comedy of Iris Murdoch and the masculine angst of John Cheever, with a style all its own. Funny, poignant, and deeply relatable, Dad Had a Bad Day explores our desire for structure, the emotional limits of domestic life, and the unbelievably potent, powerful, intoxicating feeling of winning.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Praise for this book
"This book is a triumph. Dripping in masculinity and self pity, Ned, college tennis star of yore, is thrillingly unhinged and now mooching off his hard-working, capable, professionally employed wife while he spirals in and out of old beefs and a renewed pursuit of on-court glory. Impeccably, propulsively, and hilariously rendered, Politanoff writes about tennis like Barry Hannah wrote about alcohol--something swift, addictive, fun, life-giving and also totally filthy. I gulped this book whole in a single sitting. Nobody writes like Ashton Politanoff." - Rita Bullwinkel
"A compelling examination of destructive fatherhoods and their replication across generations." - David Hayden
"An excellent tennis book that embodies the agony of the sport itself. Obsessive, competitive, psychologically damaged, the manic energy that runs through Ashton Politanoff's novel is a high-wire act sustained by his prickly sentences and imagination for interior madness. Dad Had a Bad Day is deranged and also a really good time." - Kevin Nguyen
"Call it tennis court noir. Politanoff is one of my favorite writers working today, and he applies maximum spin to every sentence of this nervy, funny, heartbreaking novel. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice my serve." - Ed Park
"Dad Had a Bad Day is a funny, moving, often disturbing portrait of men - alone and in groups, as sons and fathers - filled with strange detail, bold swerves, and the idiosyncratic language of sport." - Kathryn Scanlan
"A compelling examination of destructive fatherhoods and their replication across generations." - David Hayden
"An excellent tennis book that embodies the agony of the sport itself. Obsessive, competitive, psychologically damaged, the manic energy that runs through Ashton Politanoff's novel is a high-wire act sustained by his prickly sentences and imagination for interior madness. Dad Had a Bad Day is deranged and also a really good time." - Kevin Nguyen
"Call it tennis court noir. Politanoff is one of my favorite writers working today, and he applies maximum spin to every sentence of this nervy, funny, heartbreaking novel. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go practice my serve." - Ed Park
"Dad Had a Bad Day is a funny, moving, often disturbing portrait of men - alone and in groups, as sons and fathers - filled with strange detail, bold swerves, and the idiosyncratic language of sport." - Kathryn Scanlan
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