First published 2016
Charles arrives at the hotel for the annual gathering. He's a psychologist, one of twenty-two men who spend every fall weekend meticulously recreating a single football play from 1985. The play was brutal. Joe Theismann's leg snapped on Monday Night Football when Lawrence Taylor tackled him. ESPN called it the most shocking moment in NFL history. Now these middle-aged men gather to assign roles and act it out. George the librarian talks too much. Fat Michael stays impossibly fit while everyone else grows soft. Jeff theorizes about marriage after his recent divorce. Over the weekend, the men choose their parts and prepare through a long night. Old grievances surface. Mishaps accumulate. The traditions that bind them together start to crack. Some wonder if this will be their final reenactment. Each man carries private hopes and fears into this strange ritual that has defined their friendships for years.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, tradition
Setting: Hotel
Period: 1985, Monday Night Football
213 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company