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Goliath Gets Up
Goliath Gets Up
Goliath Gets Up
Ebook285 pages4 hours

Goliath Gets Up

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

Acknowledging the inevitable gap between our dreams and the reality of our lives, Goliath Gets Up examines the journey we take trying to bridge that gap and make a difference in the world. What makes someone great? Come along with David and find out.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherIndieReader
Release dateJul 15, 2011
ISBN9780615493084
Goliath Gets Up

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Reviews for Goliath Gets Up

Rating: 3.403508750877193 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

57 ratings29 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This copy was received as part of Library Thing's Member Giveaway: A fun read with engaging characters in almost normal life situations.David the 'hero' is a part time tennnis coach, a jilted lover and now unemployed from his less than atttractive day-job. His friends and he hangs out at a bar which caters for others of their ilk. David's grandmother - with whom he lives is dying of cancer and wants to go to the OSCARS ceremony - red carpet and all, however all forms of travel to LA seem out of the question, so David and his pals propose to bring the OSCARS to Rochester it being the home of film (Kodak - Eastman) as well as numerous other inventions which appear to have found other homes over the years. However well intentioned their plan, they are thwarted by a psychotic Mayor and an overwhelming environment of corporate greed manifest in the city. Combine this with spoilt tennis brats, feminist film festivals and just about every famous individual who came out of Rochester this is a very funny book - Recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Follow the journey of a man named David, who is a total incel. The characters are caricatures that seemingly came straight out of certain subreddits. Nonetheless, it roused my deplorable humor.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. David is a modern day anti-hero. This book cracked me up and I was constantly chuckling at the dialog!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book made me laugh out loud! David Horvath is 39, single, living with his grandmother, and teaching tennis to a group of rich kids that seem to have a better handle on life than he does. Believing he's destined for something greater, David ends up leading his motley crew of friends in a campaign to bring the Oscars to Rochester, NY and also to stop the outrageous mayor's plans to build an adult theme park, complete with prostitution and gambling. All that and I even learned a little about Rochester! The dialogue was quick and witty, reminding me of favorite television shows and movies, and the characters are enjoyable. The scenes with David and his tennis students and his grandmother, Beatie, were my favorites. And there may be a lesson in there too-life doesn't always go as planned, and David isn't the only one to freak out and get depressed when that happens, but he is one of the few to deal with things in a unique and humorous way. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Goliath Gets Up, by Starbuck O'Dwyer is a timely piece of work. Some characters in it so faciley ramble in untruths that they could almost be mistaken for presidents - elect. Meanwhile, other characters commit themselves to a quest for maintaining the environmental and moral integrity of the great, but small, city of Rochester, New York. Goliath Gets Up is hopefully prophetic, as it has a happy ending - something which our current days in the USA have yet to reveal.The book takes up the form of a theater of the absurd beginning with the premise that a protagonist with one eye being non-functional since childhood could be a tennis instructor. One - eyed persons have depth perception issues. However, our main character, David, displays greater depth perception than fellow Rochesterians when he commences a crusade to protect Rochester from a morally depauperate Cruella Deville character who seeks to make the city a center of prostitution. He and some allies have their work cut out for them, as the villainous is also the mayor.O'Dwyer maintains a self - effacing tone via a rather rediculous plot, and the reader must accept this from the start. To defeat the mayor, David and his small band of crusaders seek to bring the Academy Awards to Upstate New York and, in doing so, keep local government accountable to the standards of the outside world. The book's greatest strength in entertainment comes through it's frequent verbal slapstick for which O'Dwyer has much talent. Cynical one - liners emerge again and again facilitated by the fact that David suffers a midlife crisis throughout his adventures. One feels the cultural influence of Bugs Bunny. If one is a fan of said rabbit (such as I am), one will quite enjoy the book. However, underneath the slapstick, O'Dwyer takes a serious look at the human condition.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I received this book in return for an honest review. David "Dragon" Horvath is a most wonderful character. He is someone that everyone can relate to. Between being unemployed and living with Beatie and Buff he is truly someone who is looking to find himself. You see, in his heart, he knows that his hometown, Rodchester, NY, is truly something special. He sits at the local watering hole with his crew, dreaming of ways to get Rodchester back on the map. With a crazy plan and a crazy group of friends, Dragon does the unthinkable. In the end, he finds what he has always been looking for and knows that he's succeeded. With this crazy cast of characters and a twisting story line, this is a great read. Great job!!!!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It unfolds as a narration by an unemployed single man David Horvath, who lives with his grandmother and is fascinated by the fact, which he recently discovered, that his mother believed he is incarnation of dragon destined to do great things. Now determined to do something significant in his life he decides to bring Academy Awards to his town Rochester to fulfil his grandmother's last wish.Along with his friends, he decides to accomplish so but Mayor Candee steals his idea for her twisted plan for the city which includes destroying their landmark High Falls. Now "Dragon" Horvath decides to protest against her by jumping off the falls with his friends as he believes him being dragon cannot plunge to his death by doing so.The story is funny and engrossing because of the way characters are rendered.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Someone give this author a book deal! STAT! The book is about an almost 40 year old guy who lives with his grandmother, age 102, her robe-only-wearing husband, and a beer drinking pot bellied pig. He's a super nice guy, but a loser. And an uncomfortable break up with his girlfriend makes him want to change that. His friends are all misfits, and he wants them to want to change that about themselves. Everyone of them has a funny little hitch in their giddy-up. Follow closely here, folks. There are laugh out loud conversations in this book that you'll want to book mark. Share this book with your friends who need a great laugh. The only thing that would make this book better would be to hear it performed as an audio book. Or maybe a movie. Oh, I know! A miniseries! I demand a miniseries! To Mr. O'Dwyer, I applaud, standing ovation style, your mastery of humor and conveyance of life lessons in a wonderful work of fiction. I hope you continue to write books like this one. I promise to buy every one of them!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm really glad that I read it! The book itself was very funny on certain parts, which to me is a good quality in a well-written book. It was a little hard to follow at first but towards the last half of the book, things began to get more clear and I stayed up the rest of the night to finish it! I love the main character and I would say, he was the main reason that I had to finish this read. There's nothing better than a character in the raw!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A farcical book about a man going through midlife crisis and wanting to make an impact in the world. It was an easy read, which made me laugh out loud. Not my type of book though. I like realism.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was free in exchange for this review. It took me a long time to read this book. It never really grabbed my attention. The story could have easily been told in a short story. With that said I did enjoy the story line.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a funny and satirical story with David, an unemployed 40-year-old man as the main character and narrator. He would like to do something with his life and at the same time help his community achieve greatness. He is surrounded by excentric friends, most out of job and kind of failures both in private and professional life. After presenting to the Mayor his brilliant idea of bringing the Academy Awards to Rochester, she steals his idea and uses it to promote her project intended to bring prostitution and gambling into their community. In short, the story does sound a bit unbelievable, but the characters have some profound reality. In particular I liked the parts with dialogues between David and the rich and spoilt children he was coaching tennis.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I won this book from LibraryThing's giveaway in exchange for an honest review. Goliath Gets Up is the story of a down and out 40 year old man who decides he wants to make a mark on society. He and his group of equally down and out friends decide they will try to bring the Academy Awards to their hometown of Rochester NY. There is more to the story but you can read other reviews for the synopsis. What I thought would be a quirky funny read turned out to be an over the top, only somewhat funny book. I struggled to finish it and was disappointed in the ending. The characters and writing style reminded me of Janet Evanovich's books and their cast of not believable characters. I also think the storyline was rather weak.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Shortly after reading the book, I had a conversation with an acquaintance who lived in Rochester (setting for the book). Because I had read the book I understood why he felt the way he did about the place. Overall, I enjoyed the comedic antics of the characters and the various relationships of the characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The humor was great fun, the satire was snarky, the characters all too real, and the basic premise delightful. I feel, however, that it needed better editing to make it cling together more effectively. If I put it down for too long, I had some difficulty re-orienting to the plot. Even so, it was a fun read!This ebook was provided by the author or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of LibraryThing.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Goliath Gets Up by Starbuck O'Dwyer Firstly I'd like to say I received this book at no charge from the author when requesting one of his other books (How to Raise a Good Kid) on LibraryThing. SO it is not a book that I normally would have picked for myself but since he sent it to me I read it.I'm glad I did because it was pretty good. I especially LOL'd at the acronym for themselves the "QWEAFS". The story was a bit bland in parts but overall I liked the story line and it gave me a chuckle to read Big Nasty's poems. It felt a bit choppy and the characters were too disconnected at the beginning but it seemed to all tie in for the finale. Overall a good read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love Starbuck O'Dwyer's writing! Everything he writes is just that tiny fraction of off-normal, and 'Goliath Gets Up' is no exception. Not sure how to describe the plot, there is a guy, David Horvath, who is trying to better himself, his family, and his hometown. For his family he tries to bring his grandma to the Oscars, of all things; for his hometown, he takes on corruption in the mayoral office, and all the while he learns about himself, without sounding too kitschy. It's funny, and subversive, and the perfect makings of a movie. I'll start the kickstarter. He's a million dollars, I want this made. And I really really want to see Rochester's beautiful waterfall.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this from Library Thing to read and review honestly. This is the story of David Horvath, 39, who is still single, unemployed, loses his girlfriend and is still living with his grandmother. David has a motley group of misfits for friends, who engage in crazy discussions and come up with even crazier ideas. To put their town of Rochester on the map, they decide to persuade the Academy Awards to come to the city, but the mayor has designs on this idea coupled with other designs and thwarts their efforts. This is an interesting story about how all that comes to play. The author definitely has a way with humor and satire, as shown in the cleverly developed and presented antics of this Rochester group. My one problem with the book was the fact that the first half was difficult to plough through, with lots of zany characters I could not relate to or understand. Then, in the second half the book finally got interesting and more enjoyable. I think those readers who have an interest in something funny and/or different would enjoy this book, as well as anyone who has a good appreciation of satire and a good funny bone.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received this book in return for a review as part of a Library Thing member giveaway. I went to college in Rochester and lived and worked there during summers, so I came to know the city and like it very much. I enjoyed the references in "Goliath Gets Up" to the actual city of Rochester and to such events as the Lilac Festival, the fabulousness of which I didn't understand until I'd been there three years. Some things rang true as they only can when the author resides in a place.Aspects of the characters I found appealing, but I found the characters inconsistent. Several typos and other errors were distracting: "shut up" has no hyphen; M-TV is MTV; double and single quotation marks were used interchangeably, for example. Mr. O'Dwyer's use of "Goliath Industries" threw me off a little, as a monolithic company of the same name appears in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next novels, though I'm sure the duplication was unintentional.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.This was a funny book. I found myself laughing out loud at times. The problem I have with this book is the first half. It is hard to get through it. But if you stick with it you will be rewarded in the second half.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    David Horvath, 39 and still single, unemployed and still living with his grandmother Beatie in Rochester, New York has a crazy group of friends and tons more of absurd conversations, plans and actions. They come up drinking at a downtown bar. How to achieve greatness? How to put Rochester finally on the map? Bringing the Academy Awards (Oscars) to Rochester is their ultimate mission. Unfortunately the mayor, Cornelia Candee, steals his idea and mixes it with her own ambitions to turn the city's historic High Falls into a water slide park, and establish a casino and other adult entertainment to gain glory. David and his friends protest, but lose their bet and have to jump in the falls. The many lines of conversations are meant as satirical comedy, but read like a sequel of intentional misunderstandings. It's hard to plow through the first half of the book. Many new characters are introduced, no clear plot is given. It reads like it could last for hundreds of pages. I chose to read along, curious for the outcome. The best part are indeed the final chapters, where a story line unfolds and you can more easily relate to the characters.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I received this book as a giveaway on LibraryThing. The writers style was easy to read but I just couldn't relate to the characters. I gave it almost 50 pages but decided not to finish it as I have so many other books that I want to read. I will try this author's other book since I did like his style.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Starbuck O'Dwyer, author of Goliath Gets Up, uses humor masterfully as he presents us with a story of David Hovarth, a young man in a mid-life crisis. David is in a quandry. His is reminded of his mother telling him as a boy he was destined for greatness. His girlfriend tells him he is a loser and always will be. This sets him to thinking. At 39, he lives with his grandmother and he has just lost one of his jobs. Much of his time is spent with other underachievers and misfits at a local bar who he realizes need life help as much as he does. David pushes himself out of the rut and decides to search, in some strange and humorous ways, for who he is and what this greatness his, now deceased, mother spoke of.I found this book to be funny but discombobulated. While the plot, the setting and the characters were good ideas, the storyline itself was disconnected. I could easily have quit reading and not wondered what outcome would have been. Some parts were simply too sensationalized to fit the story causing the story to derail. The depth of involvement with city political corrurption and their response to him is one example.I would be grossly amiss not to say O'Dwyer is a sensational comedian. His use of humor riddles this story in ways I could not help laughing out loud. Literally. While he did not do a great job with developing his characters he was a genius in creating characters each of which had their own unique comedic outlet.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    No doubt a clever and witty book Goliath Gets Up venerates the socially and intellectually challenged. Overall the characters were ones I had no compassion for nor interest in so I decided not to finish the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I had a little trouble getting into this book, but eventually I kept reading because I wanted to see how everything turned out. The characters stated to grow on me.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    What a crazy group of misfits and improbable situations. If you enjoy Carl Hiaasen's and Tim Dorsey's books, you'll love this one. The author mixes chaos, hyperbole and social commentary to produce a hilarious adventure tale filled with anti-heroes, villains, and down-on-their luck protagonists. They may be misguided, but their hearts are in the right place. A copy of this book was received in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ich gebe dem Buch fünf Sterne, weil ich schon lange nicht mehr so herzhaft lachen konnten beim Lesen eines Buchs. Der Auto zeichnet einzigartige Figuren und besticht durch teils wirklich witzige Dialoge. Die "Botschaft", die ich für mich persönlich aus diesem Buch ziehen konnte ist eine schöne, mutmachende. Und selbst wenn es mir nichts weiter bringt, als mal wieder frei heraus gelacht zu haben, war es in jedem Fall jede Minute wert, die ich mit diesem Buch verbringen durfte!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book through LibraryThing’s Member Giveaway program in exchange for an honest review.Goliath Gets Up is a coming of age novel, although the protagonist (David/Dragon Horvath) is considerably older than the norm in the vein of other man-child novels. The story is told with a lot of very broad humour and some pathos. It is well written and easy to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I do enjoy a wide variety of books and after a handful of serious reads it is nice to pick up a book that offers some genuine laughs. I wasn’t sure what Goliath Gets Up would have to offer but I headed out to Rochester, New York, to find out what was going on.The novel focuses on David Horvath who is pushing 40, has lost one of his two jobs and has come home to find his girlfriend cheating on him. After a less than pleasant break-up, David is left to reflect on his somewhat wasted life. His late mother used to refer to him as a dragon and had high hopes for him. Instead, David lives with his grandmother and spends his days drinking with his friends – Nubby and Big Nasty. David decides enough is enough. He wants to do something with his life but what?Drowning his sorrows with his friends, David is in something of a rut with an unfulfilling life. He teaches tennis to a group of kids that are less than complimentary or disciplined and even his home life isn’t great. David is close to his grandmother but her partner Biff who is often in a bathrobe is a different matter. One day David is horrified to learn his grandmother has terminal cancer but this sad turn of events inspires David. His grandmother always wanted to go to the Academy Awards so David decides he will bring the Oscars from Los Angeles to Rochester! His friends Nubby and Big Nasty embrace the idea despite a previous preference for having less than subtle shaped buildings erected in Rochester.The three friends are helped by Dixie who also reveals her father has been contracted to build Candee Land, a complex for gambling and prostitution, spearheaded by the hilarious Mayor Candee, and destroy the scenic High Falls in the process. After pitching the idea of the Oscars in Rochester to the mayor, David is horrified when it is dismissed then stolen by the mayor! Dixie wants her friends to help destroy her father’s business but instead they form QWEAFS to protest about the development of the High Falls. What follows is both a tragic and hilarious series of confrontations as Mayor Candee does everything in her power to disgrace and stop David and his protesters, especially when they vow to go over the falls to a likely certain death come November!Goliath Gets Up reminded me of Steve Toltz’s A Fraction of the Whole. It is hilarious with some fantastic characters. David is a great protagonist but many of the laughs belong to Mayor Candee who is obsessed with gambling and prostitution and believes a famous suffragette from Rochester is one of Charlie’s Angels. The hapless Nubby and the poetic Big Nasty with a love of Maya Angelou are simply wonderful. The build up to the protesters going over the High Falls is fantastic and the ending is completely apt as well.I have no complaints with Goliath Gets Up. It’s very funny throughout, has some great characters and conflicts and should raise a smile with many readers. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish.

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Goliath Gets Up - Starbuck O'Dwyer

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