The Good Body

by Bill Gaston

Bobby "Loose" Bonaduce is a just-retired professional hockey player who lies his way into graduate school to lay emotional claim to his son, a student he abandoned two decades before. He is also -- unbeknownst to almost anyone -- struggling with an insidious disease that promises to rob him of the one thing that never let him his body. Bobby's attempts to navigate the no-man's-land of his failed marriage, to fashion a bond with his son, and to draw upon the truths in his heart in place of the waning force of his body -- Gaston weaves all these threads into a surprisingly funny, never sentimental, but deeply moving story, full of discordant harmonies and unexpected resolutions.

Genres: Fiction, Sports, Hockey, Canada, Canadian Literature

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2000

Reviews

[Sue Kozlowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hockey player in the minors. Goes back to college in Fredericton, Canada. Sees his son Jason and his ex-wife Leah. He has MS.

[Pooker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in July, 2010

Oh my. This is such a wonderful story that I wonder where I was when the book first came out in 2000. As I said in my first entry here, I picked this book up at the library's discards sale. Now, examining the book, I see that there are no library markings and the copy I have was actually published in 2010 by House of Anansi Press. How did it get to the library sale? How lucky am I to be the one who found it there. Pure serendipity.

The Good Body reminds me very much of Paul Quarrington's *King Leary* that I read a couple of years ago and loved. Both heartbreakingly funny.

Bobby "Loose" Bonaduce is a reluctantly-retired professional (one game in the NHL) hockey player. He's been diagnosed with MS but has not allowed that diagnosis to sink into his thick skull. Bonaduce reminds me very much of Eddie Shack, entertaining and seemingly fearless both on and off the ice - lovable goofballs who will never make it to the Hockey Hall of Fame. With nothing planned for "after hockey", Bonaduce returns "home" to Fredericton, where his now remarried ex-wife and son still live. He decides he'll go back to college (in fact, cheating to get in) and get on with the college hockey team - the very team for which his son plays. He has never really played a role in his son's life, essentially abandoning him (and his wife) for hockey, yet he imagines that he will now forge a father-son relationship by virtue of being teammates with Jason. And, despite the fact that his wife has remarried (and interestingly to a great guy who will, in the end, turn out to be one of Bonaduce's best friends), he imagines he can get back the relationship he once had with her.

Tragic and heartbreaking, playful and funny, this book is one of the best I've read this year. Highly recommended.

[Shannon Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book. Bob is a perfect character. The writing is super

[Vivian Zenari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read any of this writer’s books and that’s a shame because I liked this book. The voice of the main character was unique and I enjoyed watching his ludicrous Fredericton ambitions unfold.

[A.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minor-league hockey goon Bobby Bonaduce discovers he has MS and returns to Fredericton, hoping for one last chance to play hockey with the son he abandoned. His son plays for UNB; to get on the team, Bonaduce (now a more dignified "Robert") cheats his way into the creative writing MFA program. Complications ensue.

Bonaduce is a likable goofball surrounded by good, clearly drawn characters, and The Good Body is funny and engaging throughout. But the ending is unsatisfying.

This novel could easily slide into sentimentality, and one of its great strengths is that it does not. But, probably because Gaston refuses sentiment, the conclusion seems to leave everything unresolved.

[Candace Klenk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever see The Wrestler with Mickey Rourke? This is kinda like that movie except instead of the guy being a washed up wrestler he's a washed up hockey player, but this book wasn't really as much about hockey as the Wrestler was about wrestling.


I liked the book. I gave it an average rating just because this isn't a book that I would tell someone "OMG! YOU HAVE TO READ THIS" I read it, it was an easy read (I read it in 2 days). I did find is somewhat hard to put down, which is wierd cuz I didn't feel like I was in love with the book....eh...whatever....read it if you want, or don't.

[Pmcdnld2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. After 20 years playing minor league hockey and never making the pros, Bob returns to a small Canadian town to try to reconnect with the son and wife he abandoned years before. Goes back to college to Try to play college hockey even though he has been diagnosed with MS. well written and much humor in what is basically a tragedy.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It was very relateable and emotional. And as Gaston has pointed out in interviews, there is so much great Canadian literature, and so much Canadian love for hockey, but the two rarely combine. And in this instance they do and the result is great.

[SA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another on the hockey summer reading list; I wanted to like it, and the writing was technically solid, but it was hard to relate to the protagonist, who mostly seemed like an unrealistic dumbass, and the ending was out of left field and didn't jive with the rest of the narrative. Weird book.

[Tommy]

Advance reading copy

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this again and upped my rating. I love Bill Gaston. This novel is sensitive, insightful, gorgeously written and unsentimental. What films strive to be and more often than not, fail.

[Reid]

M & D

[Kevin Gallan · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best book i have read this year

[Sarah Sammis]

Canada Reads

[Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did, but the ending was just really terrible. Nothing got resolved in the end, this book was meh.

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

review pending