CLUB HOUSE HOPE: A novel

by William Paul Forster

‘Full of energy and humour’ CLUB HOUSE HOPE throws Charlie d’Isle, a past it professional golfer and failing leisure marketing executive, into a contemporary Asian dystopia. Commissioned by the sinister AD Corporation to turn around Heavenly Hills, a forgotten golf resort set in the hills near one of the region’s wealthiest megacities, Charlie and Two-Riski, the wunderkind assigned to assist him, spectacularly fail to make any impression on the militarised redoubt they discover dedicated to ‘Our Father’, ex-President Bung, now in exile. Frustrated by the club’s diplomatic connections, its inexplicable wealth, and the intransigent mysticism of Noah, its commander, the men fall back on fine wine, colour TV and club house privileges in their attempts to influence the content population. Only when Hen, Charlie’s wife, and Her Excellency Adele Hamburger, the US ambassador, arrive to combine forces with Ika O’Kamm, the club’s ambitious IT specialist, does any chance emerge of locating ex-President Bung and luring him back to open the mysterious ‘Parousia’ course in time to save his happily naive followers, and Charlie’s marriage, from annihilation. CLUB HOUSE HOPE is a hilarious satirical novel about some frighteningly serious God, greed, globalisation and… golf. Subverting racial and cultural stereotypes, it adds a fresh voice to contemporary political fiction. ‘An arresting and unsettling story’

248 pages, Paperback

Published August 31, 2018

Reviews

[Shane Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you have lived in Jakarta then some aspects of this book may be familiar. Unfortunately, I couldn’t relate or care about any of the characters. We don’t actually get to know them as the novel is just a retelling of a series of events. The main character unfortunately uses ‘Scooby Do’ expressions like “Double-Wow!” and television is referred to as ‘Colour TV’ which I found jarring - is this set in the 1970s?. There’s also half a page of dialogue which seems to be some sort of ‘Jive-talking’? I could not decipher it. The book seems to be written as though it wants to be a film script. It may work better as one as it’s heavy on the visuals. The ‘scene’ with the twin receptionists for example seems very Paul Thomas Anderson. There is also a random car-chase sort of scene which would probably look great on the movie trailer. The blurb and promo material written on the book itself exclaim how funny it is. The only time I cracked a minimal smile was when I read the names of the dogs belonging to one of the characters being Krupuk and Sambal: If readers have had no exposure to Indonesian or SE Asia culture, things like these in the book may go over their heads.