NYT Review Of The New Tiger Biography By Benedict And Keteyian

Thanks to reader John for Dwight Garner's review of the new Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian book titled "Tiger Woods."

Garner calls the book "tawdry" but also "moving" and seems put off by the authors' confidence in exposing sides of Woods we don't know. 

It’s a confident and substantial book that’s nearly as sleek as a Christopher Nolan movie. It makes a sweet sound, like a well-struck golf ball.

I found it exhilarating, depressing, tawdry and moving in almost equal measure. It’s a big American story that rolls across barbered lawns and then leaves you stranded in some all-night Sam’s Club of the soul. It reminded me of a line from Martin Amis’s new book of essays: “How drunk was Scott Fitzgerald when he said there were no second acts in American lives?”

And this...

If this book has a flaw it may be that it’s too confident. Reading it can be like watching one of those crime shows in which the bumper music ends with slamming car doors. The authors move about like a supersleuth Starsky and Hutch, or Tango and Cash, or Crockett and Tubbs. To be fair, a bit of wit and play are allowed to sneak in.