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Coaching Dad
In ‘Coaching Dad,’ readers get to reconsider the “You can never go home again.” If you were given the chance to do it, even at the risk of screwing up the space-time continuum, would you go? And if you did go, or went without knowing why, would you embrace the opportunity even if it meant eventually meeting and then coaching your father on the basketball court when he was a teenager?
One minute, 50-year old, San Diego divorcee, Charles B., is on the couch expostulating before the $250/hr shrink his ex-wife’s current paramour, Lance, referred him to, wondering if he’s on the verge of insanity, or simply insane for taking Lance’s referral. The next, he’s spiritedly strolling down a South Shore Long Island main street, in June 1948, admiring ill-fated Edsels and steel fortress Ford Deluxe Coupes, while contemplating how he’s going to scrape together enough money for an egg salad sandwich over at Joe’s Café, and where he’s going to find a room to rent tonight. Good thing Charles has a mind for historic baseball stats and modern basketball strategies. He'll need both to survive.
He meets his dad as a teenager and the grandfather who died before he is born, finds the love of his life, and becomes a high school basketball coach at his alma mater long before he is born. Along the way he finds out who he is, who his father was, how to live without cell phones and cable TV, why love across the decades is both satisfying and terrifying, and if he can make it as a basketball coach in the 1940s. What a journey! Can you actually go home again? Find out in 'Coaching Dad.'
One minute, 50-year old, San Diego divorcee, Charles B., is on the couch expostulating before the $250/hr shrink his ex-wife’s current paramour, Lance, referred him to, wondering if he’s on the verge of insanity, or simply insane for taking Lance’s referral. The next, he’s spiritedly strolling down a South Shore Long Island main street, in June 1948, admiring ill-fated Edsels and steel fortress Ford Deluxe Coupes, while contemplating how he’s going to scrape together enough money for an egg salad sandwich over at Joe’s Café, and where he’s going to find a room to rent tonight. Good thing Charles has a mind for historic baseball stats and modern basketball strategies. He'll need both to survive.
He meets his dad as a teenager and the grandfather who died before he is born, finds the love of his life, and becomes a high school basketball coach at his alma mater long before he is born. Along the way he finds out who he is, who his father was, how to live without cell phones and cable TV, why love across the decades is both satisfying and terrifying, and if he can make it as a basketball coach in the 1940s. What a journey! Can you actually go home again? Find out in 'Coaching Dad.'
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First published October 27, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 8, 2015
Fred Phillip’s time-travel, Coaching Dad, takes us from 2010 San Diego, to 1948, Hamptonville, a small town not far from Long Island.
When we first meet the main character, Charles, his life is in shambles. His ex-wife divorces him for a car salesman, he loses his house in the divorce, his teen-aged kids are disrespectful and he’s near-crippled with depression. As he puts it, I, Charles Berhens, possessor of a relatively stable and functional mind for most of my life, had hit the proverbial wall at full throttle, had fallen headfirst into deep dank well, and was primed for a reservation in the windowless, corner-less room at the Rubber Walled Hotel. Without a word to anyone, he disappears for three days. On his return, his ex-wife suggests that he see a psychiatrist recommended by her Porsche-selling boyfriend. This psychiatrist puts him in a paid experimental trial for a medication for depression and anxiety that has the side-effect of inducing vivid dreams – initially about his childhood, but as time passes, his dreams take him back to a time before he was born.
He tells his psychiatrist, ‘I’ve had the same dream for over a week now. And they are the most intense, the most real. You know the ones where I go back to the 1940’s or somewhere like that. I am a stranger walking the streets of my hometown. I saw my grandfather’s hardware store. I saw my dad, you know, as a kid, messing around with a few of his friends. I think one of them was my Uncle Bernie.’
A train accident turns these vivid dreams into reality and the author’s narrative is so well told, I was immediately transported. I looked around and saw both an alien and a familiar world – my dream world… Men with hats, suits and ties. Women with long dresses and buttoned up blouses. Antique emergency vehicles were parked haphazardly at the railroad crossing. I saw two paramedics dressed in white costumes, resembling ice cream truck drivers, loading a stretcher… An old Ford coupe served as a police vehicle…
Charles is faced with the dilemma of navigating this 1948 existence. He finds a job as a painter with relative ease, meets his dad as a teenager and has the opportunity to coach him and the rest of the basketball team at the high school he also attended in the 1970’s. And to make things even more interesting, he falls in love.
I did think Charles should face more hurdles when he initially arrives in 1948. Jobs and a place to live fall into his lap a little too easily. But the narrative and time/space continuum are so beautifully written that I could overlook just about anything and there’s plenty of conflict to go around as the story progresses. Charles has difficulty dealing with the racial prejudices of the time and not everyone is happy with his modern, fast-paced style of coaching basketball. And one dark night, he’s faced with the dilemma of doing the right thing, but changing history for the worse or remaining silent and letting life continue as it was. The story flows well and the ending had me searching for a tissue.
Coaching Dad is an excellent novel and I was happy to learn Phillips has another one in the works.
When we first meet the main character, Charles, his life is in shambles. His ex-wife divorces him for a car salesman, he loses his house in the divorce, his teen-aged kids are disrespectful and he’s near-crippled with depression. As he puts it, I, Charles Berhens, possessor of a relatively stable and functional mind for most of my life, had hit the proverbial wall at full throttle, had fallen headfirst into deep dank well, and was primed for a reservation in the windowless, corner-less room at the Rubber Walled Hotel. Without a word to anyone, he disappears for three days. On his return, his ex-wife suggests that he see a psychiatrist recommended by her Porsche-selling boyfriend. This psychiatrist puts him in a paid experimental trial for a medication for depression and anxiety that has the side-effect of inducing vivid dreams – initially about his childhood, but as time passes, his dreams take him back to a time before he was born.
He tells his psychiatrist, ‘I’ve had the same dream for over a week now. And they are the most intense, the most real. You know the ones where I go back to the 1940’s or somewhere like that. I am a stranger walking the streets of my hometown. I saw my grandfather’s hardware store. I saw my dad, you know, as a kid, messing around with a few of his friends. I think one of them was my Uncle Bernie.’
A train accident turns these vivid dreams into reality and the author’s narrative is so well told, I was immediately transported. I looked around and saw both an alien and a familiar world – my dream world… Men with hats, suits and ties. Women with long dresses and buttoned up blouses. Antique emergency vehicles were parked haphazardly at the railroad crossing. I saw two paramedics dressed in white costumes, resembling ice cream truck drivers, loading a stretcher… An old Ford coupe served as a police vehicle…
Charles is faced with the dilemma of navigating this 1948 existence. He finds a job as a painter with relative ease, meets his dad as a teenager and has the opportunity to coach him and the rest of the basketball team at the high school he also attended in the 1970’s. And to make things even more interesting, he falls in love.
I did think Charles should face more hurdles when he initially arrives in 1948. Jobs and a place to live fall into his lap a little too easily. But the narrative and time/space continuum are so beautifully written that I could overlook just about anything and there’s plenty of conflict to go around as the story progresses. Charles has difficulty dealing with the racial prejudices of the time and not everyone is happy with his modern, fast-paced style of coaching basketball. And one dark night, he’s faced with the dilemma of doing the right thing, but changing history for the worse or remaining silent and letting life continue as it was. The story flows well and the ending had me searching for a tissue.
Coaching Dad is an excellent novel and I was happy to learn Phillips has another one in the works.
April 20, 2015
Charles Behrens is a fifty year old, recently divorced father of two teenagers. The stress of his unexpected divorce has caused a minor breakdown and he’s under the care of a psychiatrist, whose treatment includes an experimental drug called XYZ-0714. As his treatment progresses, Charles is pleased to find that the drug decreases his anxiety and his increasing lucid dreams are just a minor side effect.
A cross-country airplane trip prompts aviophobic Charles to take three times his recommended dosage of XYZ-0714. The flight goes well, but the train ride from the airport to his mother’s house does not. After a major train derailment leaves Charles dazed and stranded, he soon finds things are even stranger than he thought. He’s somehow been transported to his hometown of Hamptonville, Long Island in the year 1948.
How many of us wouldn’t want to go back in time to create new memories, to change or undo some things we might regret or simply to relive some of our life’s most precious moments? Charles Behrens, aka Charles Barkley, experiences all of this and more. Meeting and having the opportunity to coach his teenaged dad definitely tugged at my heartstrings. In fact, much of Coaching Dad was beautiful, sentimental and movie-worthy. Although I’m not much of a basketball fan, Fred Phillips was able to expertly describe the games and subsequent championship in an exciting and thoroughly engrossing manner. It certainly kept my attention and caused me to read on anxiously. It’s obvious the author is a basketball fan and he’s injected the sport in to the story wonderfully.
I wondered how Fred Phillips would wrap up the story and was not at all disappointed. Coaching Dad comes to a satisfying and lovely conclusion. Be sure to keep some tissues nearby. The author even included some final follow-up details regarding the book’s major characters.
Coaching Dad is imaginative, emotional, charming and interesting! Fred Phillips has managed to combine time-travel, romance, slice-of-life and basketball all in one highly engaging book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel-good tale of life, love and family. I will definitely look for more of Fred Phillips’ books!
A cross-country airplane trip prompts aviophobic Charles to take three times his recommended dosage of XYZ-0714. The flight goes well, but the train ride from the airport to his mother’s house does not. After a major train derailment leaves Charles dazed and stranded, he soon finds things are even stranger than he thought. He’s somehow been transported to his hometown of Hamptonville, Long Island in the year 1948.
How many of us wouldn’t want to go back in time to create new memories, to change or undo some things we might regret or simply to relive some of our life’s most precious moments? Charles Behrens, aka Charles Barkley, experiences all of this and more. Meeting and having the opportunity to coach his teenaged dad definitely tugged at my heartstrings. In fact, much of Coaching Dad was beautiful, sentimental and movie-worthy. Although I’m not much of a basketball fan, Fred Phillips was able to expertly describe the games and subsequent championship in an exciting and thoroughly engrossing manner. It certainly kept my attention and caused me to read on anxiously. It’s obvious the author is a basketball fan and he’s injected the sport in to the story wonderfully.
I wondered how Fred Phillips would wrap up the story and was not at all disappointed. Coaching Dad comes to a satisfying and lovely conclusion. Be sure to keep some tissues nearby. The author even included some final follow-up details regarding the book’s major characters.
Coaching Dad is imaginative, emotional, charming and interesting! Fred Phillips has managed to combine time-travel, romance, slice-of-life and basketball all in one highly engaging book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a feel-good tale of life, love and family. I will definitely look for more of Fred Phillips’ books!
January 15, 2015
I enjoyed this book very much and appreciated the beautiful and thoughtful descriptions of a late 1940's Long Island way of life that exists today only in movies, old newspapers, archives and memories. I was hooked from the first sentence and couldn't wait to find out what was going on or why it was happening. For all the 1948 small town charm in Coaching Dad, the author inserts enough suspense and conflict to keep the drama moving with plenty of surprises along the way. The basketball season was super fun to follow, even though I don't know a lot about the sport and I found myself rooting for the team and laughing at the way our hero coached and brought present-day playing into that time period. Loved all the characters and the way the author addressed the different mores of the time, comparing them to modern day.
This novel had a very satisfying ending. Can you go home again? Where is home? These are just some of the questions this novel compels you to think about. Recommended for time travel fans, history buffs, basketball fans, seekers, thinkers and anyone contemplating his or her place in the grand scheme of things. 5 Stars!!!
This novel had a very satisfying ending. Can you go home again? Where is home? These are just some of the questions this novel compels you to think about. Recommended for time travel fans, history buffs, basketball fans, seekers, thinkers and anyone contemplating his or her place in the grand scheme of things. 5 Stars!!!
June 1, 2015
I recently finished the novel Coaching Dad. While it is typically not the kind of novel I would pick up, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it. It is sweet and nostalgic, with enough elements of surprise to encourage you to read on. Time travel was handled in an unique way, and the characters were authentic and engaging. I liked the fact that the main character did not give in to the usual time travel dilemma which was if you could change the past you would. Couching Dad feels like the movie The Notebook. It would make a great movie.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews