Swimming with Bridgeport Girls

May 15, 2017
In his first novel, Tambakis stacks the deck against his gambling-addicted protagonist, Ray Parisi, a fired ESPN personality whose life is in free fall. As the story opens, he is still in love with his recently divorced wife, L, though she is dating another man; a bookie is after him for money; and he is wanted by the Connecticut state police for attacking a losing jockey. A windfall inheritance from his late, estranged father sends Ray off to Las Vegas in a quixotic scheme to raise a grubstake to purchase some property in Atlanta that has special meaning to his Southern-born ex. In Las Vegas, Ray romances the fickle Lady Luck, but it’s too late: L announces that she is going to marry her lover. So Ray flies off to Memphis, where he enlists some help in derailing her impending wedding (shenanigans include hopping the wall at Graceland). The author does an excellent job of recreating the noon-at-midnight feel of a Las Vegas booze-and-gambling binge. But Ray, as a character, remains problematic. He is a fine, witty companion in the early going, but after a while, this poster boy for arrested development becomes a bit of a bore. Late in the story, the meaning of the title becomes clear and supposedly offers insight into Ray’s actions. But it comes too late to revitalize this study of a flawed man’s wildly wrongheaded search for redemption.

The angst of the contemporary American male is vividly conveyed by narrator George Newbern in this unlikely romance. Raymond Parisi and his wife have split up. Jobless and deep in gambling debt, he resorts to stealing their dog in order to have an excuse to speak to his ex. The sardonic humor throughout this unlikely caper will have listeners laughing and cringing in alternating turns. Newbern portrays Ray as erratic yet lovable. As a cross-country adventure takes him from Connecticut to Vegas, and many states in between, Newbern displays extraordinary stamina in keeping up with the lively antics from one stop to the next. M.R. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine