First Resort

by Nanci Little

Book Overview

At twenty-five Jordan Bryant was a rising star on the LPGA tour. At forty, with those dreams a distant and painful memory, she is Director of Golf at Catawamteak, the grand resort on the coast of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1887237011
• ISBN13: 9781887237017
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Odd Girls Press
• Length: 323 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Good book to read if you prefer stories about relationships.

I can see why anyone who thought that "First Resort" was about golf would be bitterly disappointed. This is not a book about golf; that's merely the setting. Rather, it is a story about relationships, friendship and healing.I would agree with some of the former reviewers that say, "God, can those people drink!" I don't believe, however, that it is inconsistent with either character's facility for denial or propensity towards escapism. I think the fact that they drink so much is the point. It allows them, temporarily, to be able to live with themselves. The fact that they can function and seem to function fairly well is all part of the myth they've constructed. I guess those readers never got the continual references to "The Great Gatsby." As for another reviewer's criticism that Jorden seems too good to be true, what's wrong with being multitalented? We never question a variety of expertise's if the character is a man. Tom Clancy's characters are far more extraordinary in their ability to be experts in a multitude of areas. Why can't a woman?What I found in Nanci Little's writing was a narrative style that is finely tuned, poetic without being excessive. Her characters live and breathe on the page. They are flawed, and they have courage and grace. They are not so different from many people I've known.As I wrote earlier, this is not a book about golf; however, I learned more about the beauty of the sport than anyone has been able to convey to this non-golfer. I finally understood the allure of the greens. I've even considered taking it up.As a book, "First Resort" is better than most. If you prefer stories about human relationships, take a chance on this one. It's a good read.

Worth the risk

Wow. That was all I could say after I read this book. I bought it because of the cover, I thought it was going to be a golf book. Well, it was and it wasn't. The author knows golf (one mistake, catch it if you can.) But she knows women better. WOW does she know women. She hammered stuff home that's been eating me up half my life. That conversation about moths in a roomful of candles just killed me. Not easy stuff, but I don't like to read easy stuff. There's too much of that crap out there. I read the reviews here and it seems like people either love or hate this book. All I can say is take the chance, because I loved it. I've read it twice now and the stuff that comes out the second time is worth the trip. It makes me wonder what I'll see the third time I read it. I did that with her first two books too, read them and liked them enough to read them again, and got more out of them the next time, and read them again and got some more. Usually I just lend lesbian novels and don't care if they never come back. I don't lend Nanci Little's books. She is up on my bookshelf next to Katherine V. Forrest.

A lush, wonderfully written book of exquisite tenderness

I've read all three of Nanci Little's novels - THIN FIRE, A GRASS WIDOW, and now the terrific FIRST RESORT. Each time, I've been so moved by Little's writing that I've gone back to the book over and over, and read it multiple times. In fact, I loved FIRST RESORT so much that I actually read it TWICE in one week! And I'll undoubtedly revisit it again in a few months. Meanwhile, I'm buying copies for friends. Like Little's other books, FIRST RESORT is a story of great depth and complexity. It unfolds slowly and tenderly, as Little gently reveals the central characters: Jordan (the lesbian golf pro of a Maine golf resort) and a heterosexual widow & resort guest named Gillian. Each is a survivor of great personal trauma. They lovingly help each other to face their personal herstories, while developing a wonderful friendship and learning to move forward, toward their happy endings. I also enjoyed some of the supporting characters a lot - especially two lesbian friends, Gillie's daughter, and Jordan's uncle. (It's nice to see a lesbian novel with such a fully-formed, positive male character! In fact, that's one of the things I like most about Little's books - the fact that she includes fully complete and positive characters of BOTH genders.)I don't want to deprive any potential readers of coming to know the central women or the supporting cast via Little's exquisite writing, so I won't say much more about them. But they are so wonderfully drawn that I absolutely hated to see the book end, and I would welcome more stories featuring Jordan and Gillian. -- Jordan, especially, is one of the most ethical and wonderful characters I've seen in a book in the past year. I wish the world had more Jordans! I'm also impressed by the way that Ms. Little handled some very powerful and sensitive themes, such as physical abuse, sexism, homophobia, and the impact of alcohol in our community.To sum, I absolutely loved this book! At the end of this beautiful story, I felt warmed, happy, and utterly satisfied. I can't wait for another novel from this incredibly talented writer. We need more books by women of her caliber!

For mature audiences only? I think so.

The posting from "a women's studies student" is disturbing, not so much because it attacks the author (a behavior that has no place in a book review), but because it attacks women. Barely more than a paean to the forced imposition of political correctitude, it denies wealthy white lesbians their right to exist, and denies the existence of places where wealthy lesbians of any color might gather. It assumes that because the author does not state the ethnicity of characters, those characters must necessarily be white; I read Park Webster's character as black, because of her dialogue (as did several of my friends), and visualized Olathe as an exotic cultural mix. And it ignores the body of the author's work: in two previous novels, people of color were prominently and fairly featured. The so-called review is also dishonest in its assertion that in the novel "all the men, without exception, are either abusive, insensitive, or sexually predatory." The chef Gaston is not sexually predatory; it is evident that he genuinely likes and respects Jordan, and their interplay is clearly stated as a game they both enjoy. Michael Goodnow is human: he has a moment of bottom-line-induced insensitivity, realizes what that mistake nearly cost him in much more human terms, and grows from the experience. John Laing is a self-serving weasel; Stewart Stedman is an honest, hardworking man. Doc and Fred, older gentlemen who are mentors and friends of Jordan, accept her sexuality without discussion of it, as older men would tend to do. One of the golfers in the offensive foursome (in a scene I loved!) is an obnoxious jerk; one of them goes so far as to apologize for his buddy's behavior. One of the caddies is a skinhound; one is a genuinely nice guy (who, by the way, stutters; most stutterers consider that to be a disability). The men in the book balance each other out, and reflect a broad range of reality. "Women's studies"? This book IS a study of women. Their race and social status and size or lack thereof have nothing to do with their pain or their joy. If anything, the novel shows that money is not necessarily a big green net waiting to catch a woman falling off the tightrope of her life. One of the reasons I enjoy Nanci Little's writing is that she seems to assume a certain level of intelligence of the part of her reader. Obviously, in the instance of "a women's studies student," Ms Little assumed too much.

Spot on: Life, love and golf

Girls, I've been thumped on, I've golfed (a lot, and this book is spot on in that regard) and I've been up under the hands of more than one good massage therapist, and I'll tell you, Nanci Little's got it all right. I know I wasn't the first one to get all curled up tight on a massage table and I know I won't be the last, and this author gives up how it is to be there. Jordan Bryant has good hands and a good heart, and I believe in her even if she does seem too good to be true. There's such a thing as compulsive overachievement. She's driven. Nobody believes my resume either. Two words for them who don't.This book works. Let loose a bag of marbles across a hardwood floor and they'll roll like the words of Nanci Little, smooth and easy and making you believe in the end. The girl's good. Never mind those low-star reviews later on down this page. You got enough age on you to have learned how to think, you and this book are going to get along. Not to mention you might need a shower before it's over. Takes her a while to get that oven up and running, but when she does, she cooks!