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Reviewed by Lynette Fowlston for Readers' Favorite
The author, a former football player at Vanderbuilt University, describes the underdog as "the predicted loser in a struggle." While the analogy to life is interesting, it is not appropriately developed in the text. The author basically uses an N=1 study in which he correlates his football years at Vanderbuilt to virtually all important life situations. He hypothesizes that, since he was an "underdog" as a Vanderbuilt football player, he was then automatically considered an "underdog" in the adult business community.
"Noogie Circles" is the memoir of William C. Rice. He relates growing up during the hard times of the late forties early fifties. Susanville is located in the rugged hills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, halfway between Reno Nevada and San Francisco in lumberjack country. We follow the lives of the boys from Roosevelt High. From the game of 'Noogie Circles' during recess throughout their graduation , Mr. Rice relates how he was taught the birds and the bees by their own rabbits and dogs, the first love of his life, his first job and how to stand up for himself and never run from any one bigger. As they advanced in school their dress style changed much to the disgust of the parents, leather jackets, dirty stained Levis, and long greasy hair combed in a DA. This lasted for a year till the Ivy League style hit the area. This is the true story of boys growing up in an age where they had to learn how to get and how to lose, how to have and how to let go. There are life lessons throughout the book that we can all relate too.
There were parts of this book that I could relate to, particularly the dress style and the hair style. There are serious parts to the book as well as humorous parts. His dream girl finally asked him to pump her to school on his bicycle, later he tells his dad "He doesn’t do dishes"; he gets thrown off the roof into a snow bank and he comes back for more. This is a very interesting and entertaining story. The chapters are short, making it a fast read.
