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cheye13's review
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
This is not a book about baseball. This is a book about a network of people only tangentially related to each other through their vague proximity to a spring training stadium. It's about class and financial disparity, the bleakness of aging (especially when your profession is tied to your physical body), and Frank Lloyd Wright. More than any of this, it's simply about Scottsdale, Arizona. There is more geology in this book (confusingly written, ultimately pointless digressions) than there is baseball.
This is not a novel. It's a string of character studies passed off as short stories in a novel trenchcoat. I can explain the plot in a sentence:baseball star Jason Goodyear has a gambling addiction and is nearing rock bottom during spring training when he saves a young boy from an overheating car in the stadium parking lot.
I love ensemble casts, I love a lot of sports fiction, and I enjoy baseball, which is why I picked this up. The writing is beautiful. The characters are real, tangible, stand off the page. But there is no... point to reading this book about them. The subtleties are expertly crafted and conveyed, but ultimately remain too subtle; each and every character in this book has a story to tell, but the narrative dances around them. There is only ever a hint of something interesting happening in the background, in the past, under the surface.
My greatest annoyance with this work was the lack of passion. Sports are a fertile breeding ground for passion - in the stands, on the field, in the locker room. And this narrative stole none of the passion for itself. You're reading about a gambling addiction, a strain for a place on the team, a desperate cling to a fading physicality, a baseball kink - and it all reads as dry as a grocery list.
This is not a novel. It's a string of character studies passed off as short stories in a novel trenchcoat. I can explain the plot in a sentence:
I love ensemble casts, I love a lot of sports fiction, and I enjoy baseball, which is why I picked this up. The writing is beautiful. The characters are real, tangible, stand off the page. But there is no... point to reading this book about them. The subtleties are expertly crafted and conveyed, but ultimately remain too subtle; each and every character in this book has a story to tell, but the narrative dances around them. There is only ever a hint of something interesting happening in the background, in the past, under the surface.
My greatest annoyance with this work was the lack of passion. Sports are a fertile breeding ground for passion - in the stands, on the field, in the locker room. And this narrative stole none of the passion for itself. You're reading about a gambling addiction, a strain for a place on the team, a desperate cling to a fading physicality, a baseball kink - and it all reads as dry as a grocery list.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Sexism
Moderate: Death and Violence
Minor: Alcohol, Child abuse, Infidelity, Body shaming, Sexism, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Sexual content
detailed depiction of discovering squatters after returning home from vacation and resulting fallout
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