Has anyone else here read "A Fan's Notes" by Frederick Exley? I really recommend it.

Review quote:

"A "fictional memoir," A Fan's Notes delves into the booze-soaked world of Frederick Exley - a mentally ill alcoholic and obsessive New York Giants fan (his hero? Frank Gifford). Simply a brilliant, totally original novel that has earned quite a cult following but definitely deserves a wider audience."

Here is a more complete review.

This has been one of my favorites since I first read it, if not my 'all-time top favorite.' If you like Raymond Carver, John Cheever, John Updike (or any great American novel written by a notorious drunk), I really recommend this. It is sad, funny and beautiful, but for some reason I never hear it named on anyone's 'favorites' list-- it remains 'cult fiction.'

Here's a sort of representative quote from the book, some 'uninhibited American introspection':

"I fought because I understood, and could not bear to understand, that it was my destiny - unlike that of my father, whose fate it was to hear the roar of the crowd - to sit in the stands with most men and acclaim others. It was my fate, my destiny, my end, to be a fan."

You can read the first twenty pages of it here.