A review by emckeon1002
A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter

3.0

Since Salter has been lionized as one of America's greatest living, and least appreciated, authors I thought I needed to read something by him. I decided to start with something which received great critical acclaim. Though written with an obvious command of language, and erotic, the novel never really engaged me. This is a sexual travelogue of rural France, with a cad who doesn't trust his emotions, and a woman who understands her lust, but is less confident in her ability to connect otherwise with her lover. As you might expect, it ends badly, but in a deus-ex-machina fashion. The peculiar structure which flows between a narrator who seems omniscent, and slips between the first and third person, while not confusing, seems forced. Greatest living? Not sure I agree.