Through a language of casual statement which does not disguise the seriousness of its intent, this exploration of moral experience is a pithy and competent performance. But in a showdown with Bert, Eddie learns something else: that you can't win them all. By the time of his return match with Fats, Eddie has achieved a superiority over his opponent: he knows that who wins and who loses is important and that in the clutch, character and not skill is what counts. Broke, he becomes involved with Sarah, a student and a drinker, whom he recognizes as a born loser, and with the calculating Bert, a professional gambler who takes Eddie in hand and teaches him that there is more to the game (of life) than talent. Eddie played Minnesota fats at a thousand a game for forty straight hours and he lost. Eddie felt that he was ready for Chicago and Minnesota Fats - the best pool player in the country whose arena was Chicago's Bennington's where the business was pool and nothing else.

Eddie and his mentor, Charlie, had left Oakland for Chicago and their trip had been lucrative although relatively small time. Its setting is the world of big time professional pool players,- hustlers, and its hero is Fast Eddie Felson, 25, a good looking, quietly dressed, pleasant young man with bright eyes, whose appearance is part of the successful ''hustle'' because it's not wholly false. Its setting is the world of big time professional pool players,- hustlers, and its hero is Fast Eddie Felson, 25, a good looking, quietly dressed, pleasant young man with bright eyes, whose appearance is part of the successful ''hustle'' because it's not wholly false. With a failed marriage behind him and a new generation of competitors in his way, Eddie must face his demons and find the will to succeed once more.This is a compact, tidy novel. This is about Fast Eddie Felson who is a pool hustler but wants. Having gone from bona fide stardom to playing in exhibition matches for cable television, Eddie decides that he'd like to give the game one more shot. The Hustler directed Robert Rossen by (1961). It has been twenty years since the epic match-up between Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats. Can he find the will to overcome his failings and fulfil his potential as the best there is? He heads to Chicago to test himself against the legendary Minnesota Fats in more than forty-hours of high-stakes pool.

He has the talent to make big money, but he soon learns that it takes more than natural ability to become a real winner.

įast Eddie Felson has a reputation as a pool hustler to be feared, but his ambitions go far beyond taking small-town punks for a few bucks here and there. But she can never quite overcome her urge to self-destruct. Before long, it becomes apparent that hers is a prodigious talent, and as she progresses to the top of the US chess rankings she is able to forge a new life for herself.

When she is sent to an orphanage at the age of eight, Beth Harmon soon discovers two ways to escape her surroundings, albeit fleetingly: playing chess and taking the little green pills given to her and the other children to keep them subdued.

The hustler by walter tevis