Reviews

The Cactus League by Emily Nemens

ljmilman's review

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

caitlinjadams's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I suppose a book around baseball doesn’t need to be fun…but it seemed like this one would be and then it absolutely wasn’t. (Not that it ended up needing baseball to tell its story much either.) So. That was a disappointment. Pacing and character development and threading all the pieces together just seemed off.

And the ending was finally feeling like the threading would pay off…and then it abruptly cut off without letting you enjoy that.

One star because I did finish it, but I can’t recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Classism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Sexism, Abandonment, Cursing, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity and Sexual content

Child neglect, gambling, unhoused

addypap's review

3.0

Baseball isn't the focus of this, more the setting where the actual story takes place. I like the many different perspectives from varying characters but would have liked the story to return to some of them throughout the story. Also I enjoyed some more than others, the baseball wife perspective was way too long for me.

Narration was good, although I really am not a fan of an ensemble narration.

emgusk's review

5.0

This is a book about baseball, partially narrated by a journalist, with deep character descriptions and beautifully told in that short story-like format where everything is connected. And it's written by another Emily. It's a perfect book for me and I also happened to love it.

cook_memorial_public_library's review

4.0

A 2020 staff favorite recommended by Jean. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Scactus%20league%20nemens__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=gold

addimop's review against another edition

lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

love baseball love cougars love hot men

gillenwaaah's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a book from someone who clearly loves baseball. I loved the distinctness of the characters and the interlocking of the stories but I found the intros to the chapters a bit try hard (we don’t need to start at prehistoric times every single intro) and I was disappointed we didn’t get the resolution or end of the story for all these characters. Does Jason stop gambling? Do Alex and Michelle stay with their mom? Does herb get better? Does goslin figure it out? We got left too unfinished to be satisfied

countthrockula's review

Trashy love story. Fun beach read

jazhandz's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Realizing that Emily Nemens primarily writes short stories made this book click for me. It straddles the line between novel and anthology, and approaching it as connected short stories rather than a single cohesive plot helped. I liked this book a lot - I keep trying to come up with a way to elaborate on that, but really, I just liked it. I didn’t think the connective tissue between stories was terribly effective or necessary; I just enjoyed the look at a strange year of spring training.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcohol, Colonisation, Homophobia, Sexism, and Addiction

Gambling problem/addiction The sexism/homophobia are recurring throughout the book. The colonization is a casual discussion of the history of native peoples in Arizona, entirely in the interstitial sections. Alcohol is most notably in Second (the Tami chapter) and addiction is entirely in Fifth (the Greg chapter).

kenfreeman's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0