This novel follows Anton from his childhood through his 20s, as he is groomed to be a championship tennis player by his dad, and struggles not just to be a great athlete but also to forge his identity and figure out who he is outside of tennis when tennis is quite literally all he’s ever known. The writing of this book is just phenomenal - it immediately drew me in, the kind of book that makes you feel not just that you are reading about a real person, but makes you feel like you’re actually experiencing it yourself even though my life experiences couldn’t be more different from Anton’s.

If you’re a tennis super-fan like me, you’ll also appreciate the detail that goes into describing the tennis - it was literally like watching a game - though it also may make you worry about the psyches of tennis players, especially the young ones. (Though also funny to imagine a contemporary men’s tennis world not dominated by the big 3.)

I’m embarrassed to say this one has been lingering in my Netgalley backlog for several years, but I’m so glad I finally picked it up and will definitely be checking out Douglas Brunt’s other books. 4.5 stars.

[Took a while to get around to this one, because the DRC format I couldn't read. Bought the novel and finally got around to reading/reviewing.]

TROPHY SON is an interesting and well-written novel. It examines the pressures younger generations are under -- the incredible need for them to excel in whatever field they pick (or are picked for them). It is told from the perspective of Anton Stratis, who has only one destiny: #1 tennis in the world. It tells a story of someone who wants to achieve this goal, while simultaneously resenting being put under all the pressure and expectations of someone who excels.

An interesting exploration of contemporary society's all-consuming, ambition-driven culture. Well-written, with well-drawn characters.

I'm a big tennis fan, and thought the premise had promise, but the writing itself was a bit difficult to get into. It went a bit slowly for me. I also wasn't a fan of the depiction of the young women in the story.

TROPHY SON was a great read. I have friends who groomed their child to be a tennis star since age 4 and I would say that this book accurately captures the kind of pressure she felt. It was interesting to compare it to Anne Lamott's CROOKED LITTLE HEART, written more than 23 years before but still reflecting how tennis kids feel tremendous pressure to succeed.

This is the third novel from Brunt; reviews have politely declined to mention he's married to Megyn Kelly, but the marketers have no such reservations. Imagine Andre Agassi's Open meets Lauren Weisberger's The Singles Game. Anton Stratis isn't good at anything but tennis; his parents, both Olympic athletes, are just fine with that. This coming-of-age story tracks his life on the court from his youth, and his rise to the top, all while under his father's oppressive thumb.

This book was sent to me from the publisher without my request and I was not able to get into it so it is a DNF for me. Just not the type of book I typically read, sorry!

This book is pretty intriguing. One thing I noticed right from the start is how it feels more autobiographical than a work of fiction. Over the course of the novel, we go on journey of self-discovery and independence with the main character Anton, as he works his way though various personal and professional struggles.

I thought the premise was moderately interesting but the book was tedious. It felt as though Anton was recounting his life story in monotone. I didn't even really feel his feelings toward Ana.

Super - lots of descriptions of a 16-year-old girl who loves to perform oral sex acts on our young hero. Male fantasy time. Personally I prefer books that treat young girls as human beings rather than underclad sex toys. Call me old-fashioned. Or decent. Whichever you prefer.

Abandoned at 19%.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed <I>Trophy Son</I>, especially because it only took me a couple of days to fly through. It was a little bit of a departure from the books I have been currently reading and clearly a welcome one at that.

<I>Trophy Son</I> is centered around Anton's life as a tennis player starting with hustling college players as a teenager, all the way up through the tennis pro circuit. It takes us through the emotions, the tours, the loneliness, the desire for more, as well as the desire for less,the stigma on enhancement drugs and the strive for greatness. This book really has it all.

Whether you are a tennis fan or not, add this book to your to-read library.

Warts and all behind-the-scenes of a tennis prodigy's life and love-hate relationship with the game

The synopsis made me think 'Lizzie's story from Wimbledon' (the film), and several times through the book I was seeing similarities, thinking of Kirsten Dunst's character and wondering if she and real-life tennis professionals have lives like Anton's.

Coached by an ex-Olympic father from a young age, Anton knows he will be a champion - he has to be. He has natural talent but is worked hard.
"Our training got more and more that way. Beat me, love me. Like Ike Turner."

It's a hard relationship to watch, and you feel little sympathy for Anton's dad - is success really worth that much?

We watch Anton's entire career, his adolescence as he tries on his skills for size against older players, his physical peak and rise up the rankings, and the inevitable descent - but just how will it end, and what say will the player be able to have?
"... what I"m saying is that my self as a player is my whole self. When I lose, there's no other part of me to fall back on... I'm trapped."

We watch painful training sessions, see Anton in therapy, negotiating with his parents, trying to have relationships, feeling jealous of a brother less talented but able to have a normal life. And we see the pro tennis matches. While I'm not a player, I really enjoyed this part, and seeing what is probably a very real account of a young man struggling to live up to expectations, find himself, decide what he wants to do and keeping it together while he does this - fascinating.

"Elite tennis players are soldiers who enlist at age eight rather than eighteen."
This is felt as you read, the brutality of the training regime, the non-stop schedule of games and travel. There is inevitable drug use, though it is controlled and not graphically shown, it's just part of Anton's regime rather than something he does because he needs to. The author actually makes sure we know that the player refuses drugs as long as he can, resents needing them, rather than glamourising illegal substances.

Loved the sneak peak look at tennis, the look at a life dominated by a father and a game, the growing into a man of Anton.

For more than just tennis fans.

With thanks to Netgalley for the sample e-copy.

But a person is happy in his life only if he finds meaning in it, and meaning in life is positively correlated with choice in life. While I wasn't conscious of that fact then, I suffered from it unknowingly.

A well written prose in the realm of tennis and an over bearing father, a son Anton Stratis who struggles to be the hero of his own story and to find connection with others. His father saw in his son, his potential to be a #1 tennis player when Anton was a young boy. Taken out of school to further his career, he lived in isolation and social awkwardness. The narration is told in his voice as he has a love/hate relationship with the game of tennis, his father and who he is. He comes to know that he has an identity crisis and he finds his comparisons in classic novels.

I was deeply taken with his story and the battle he faced. It was descriptive in how he dealt with his emotions to how he played the game of tennis. With name dropping of tennis players, you were brought into how competitive and the head games that are played. I really enjoyed this one.

A Special Thank You to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Very interesting read, that almost could have been non-fiction!
Anton's father chose tennis for him, and although he's oh so good at it, resents the fact that it was chosen for him and he didn't choose the life and pressure of an elite level athlete for himself. A good story, especially for lovers of tennis.

The story of Anton Stratis, a tennis prodigy, starting with his life as a child when he was abused and isolated by his father who was also his coach. The story is told in an emotionally detached way, particularly in Anton's early years. This may be purposeful since Anton's detachment was severe and lessened only after years of therapy. I liked Anton particularly when he wrested his life away from his father and became his own person.

I suspect Anton's story is very similar to any child prodigy athlete who is coached and controlled by his/her father. An interesting but not startling story except for the extent to which Anton used performance enhancing drugs and said that everyone did the same. This is perhaps the point to the novel. A google search tells me that the tennis governing body is lax in the enforcement of rules and that testing methods are ineffective and unreliable. So if players are, in fact, using PEDs, the events in the book may very well be true.

Trophy Son by Douglas Brunt is a book about extremes. The father's focus on practice is to the point of abuse. The girlfriend is famous and driven in her own career. The substance abuse problem not just exists but extends to everyone. The choices is all or nothing. Everything is an extreme, which in turn means that nothing stands out. Interesting but perhaps a little over the top.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2017/07/trophy-son.html

Reviewed for NetGalley

A well written story about elite athletes. Through the eyes of a rising tennis star and his father.

This book came along to me at the perfect time. I am recovering from a surgery and wanted to read something different then I usually do (historical fiction). The author tells a story of a child tennis prodigy whose driven, narcissistic father pushes his son so hard that the boy knows nothing of life outside of brutal training and playing tournaments. He is taken out of school so he can concentrate on nothing but tennis. All through his childhood and teen years he has neither friends nor social skills. “A tennis racket lurks in my earliest memories like a sick relative who had come to live with us.” The reader will hurt for this lonely isolated boy who grows up to become the #1 ranked tennis player.

This is a narrative fictional novel, but back in 2009 I read “Open, an Autobiography” by tennis great Andre Agassi. The similarities are strong. Both have abusive fathers (think Pat Conroy’s novel “The Great Santini” if the father in Conroy’s book was on steroids) whom they couldn’t escape from until they became men. Both have an elder brother (in real life Agassi has three) who couldn’t take the pressure or make the grade leaving the child most gifted in the family forced to live in their backyard tennis prison, while watching their elder brother(s) have a normal life, playing tennis only for fun. And, as an adult, both have a Hollywood celebrity girlfriend in their life. This fictional work reads as an autobiography, coming of age story.

I actually know little about tennis, it is one of the sports that I do not follow.
However, you do not need to know about the game to enjoy this story. My favorite part in the book is when our teenage tennis player slowly begins to attempt to get out from under his overbearing father’s thumb. He begins to wonder if his success is in exchange for his happiness. When steroids are pushed on him he struggles with the questions; is he ruining his health and endangering his career? Unfortunately, sometimes the dialogue is wooden or so obvious causing this reviewer to roll her eyes. “I told him how winning never feels as good as losing feels bad.” Still, this is a good book that allows the reader to get inside the mind of a professional athlete, especially an athlete who begins his career as a child and marketed as a prodigy.

The novel left me wondering, are the makings of a champions this brutal for all sports child prodigies? Do any grow up to be as mentally healthy as they are physically resilient? Are there any athletes that are household names without ambitious parents that seek to control and live vicariously through their children? I think the author misses an opportunity in exploring these questions. No matter, I was rooting for our tennis player throughout the story and I recommend the book if you are or are not a tennis fan.

I think this story will resonate with anyone who has watched their children become immersed in sports. So often we forget that the actual number of elite aesthetes is very small so do we really need to push our kids that hard anyway. This story illustrates all of that beautifully and in a strong narrative.

An inside look at professional sports and the costs and sacrifices one makes to succeed. Anton is flawed and lovable and I found myself rooting for him as the pages flew by.

When Sarah (of Sarah's Book Shelves) tells me to read a book, I do; I'm so thankful to her for this recommendation because I'm not sure whether I would have discovered it on my own. A fictional, yet very realistic, account of a young man who is thrust into the world of professional tennis through the expectations of his father; an eye-opening perspective, even for those who are not fans of the sport. Highly recommend!