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tex786's review
emotional
medium-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
3.5
paulineerika's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Just a solid "okay" for me. It seemed to be a long book about . . . mostly nothing? You got background stories on different characters, but things never really came together and the teaser in the plot summary that Jason Goodyear's secrets could take down "everyone around him" definitely did not materialize. Baseball and spring training were the backdrop for the story, but never seemed to feature more than that. This felt almost like a collection of short stories about different characters, rather than a cohesive novel.
hannahswiv's review
3.0
I wish I liked this book as much as I want to!
On the positive side, it’s a very well observed and very unromantic set of stories about the world around baseball, and I really enjoyed that about it. However the structure and way of telling the story by moving ‘around’ the central character of Jason didn’t quite work for me. It left too much of a hole around the heart of the novel and meant the resolution (even while it joins up the stories) didn’t emotionally work for me as much as I’d want.
On the positive side, it’s a very well observed and very unromantic set of stories about the world around baseball, and I really enjoyed that about it. However the structure and way of telling the story by moving ‘around’ the central character of Jason didn’t quite work for me. It left too much of a hole around the heart of the novel and meant the resolution (even while it joins up the stories) didn’t emotionally work for me as much as I’d want.
thain's review against another edition
3.0
Series of vignettes from the perspectives of people associated with a baseball team in Arizona during spring training. Some of the stories were less interesting than others. The interludes comparing the development of the team to the region's prehistory were bizarre. But I liked the way the threads ultimately came together and the feeling for the game that shone through it all.
margahhrett's review
2.0
It was fine. Wouldn’t read it again, despite ardently loving baseball.
A couple chapters had dynamic and interesting characters, and others felt like caricatures. The lead up to the main guy everyone talks about felt anti-climatic in the end. More of an ode to Arizona where baseball felt like a side character or general context, rather than embedded into the main story. While it created a very comprehensive view of the community involved in the Cactus League, I think I’d have preferred a more in-depth view of an organization or certain players. Overall, the book was a bit of a slog, and even the best chapters still felt a little elementary in character development. It has its moments! I just felt like I was finishing the book to finish it, rather than thoroughly enjoying it.
A couple chapters had dynamic and interesting characters, and others felt like caricatures. The lead up to the main guy everyone talks about felt anti-climatic in the end. More of an ode to Arizona where baseball felt like a side character or general context, rather than embedded into the main story. While it created a very comprehensive view of the community involved in the Cactus League, I think I’d have preferred a more in-depth view of an organization or certain players. Overall, the book was a bit of a slog, and even the best chapters still felt a little elementary in character development. It has its moments! I just felt like I was finishing the book to finish it, rather than thoroughly enjoying it.
bundy23's review against another edition
3.0
Multiple narrators talk us through spring training for a fictional MLB team. Most of the story focus's on the fairly uninteresting story of Mike Trout, um, sorry, Jason Goodyear, who's developed a massive gambling problem but luckily every alternate chapter focus's on much more interesting players, fans and coaches. The whole thing is pretty well written and despite one rather problematic chapter on the teams owner and the bland lead character I found it mostly enjoyable.
missmree's review
5.0
I thoroughly enjoyed The Cactus League. Admittedly, I don't know much about baseball, but I loved this window into the lives swirling around Spring Training in Arizona. Because it was the quickest option, I listened to the audiobook (stellar performances) while walking around my empty neighborhood on lockdown in New Orleans, and I was transported. I loved the shifting perspectives, which gave me a sense of moving around this world to see all the unique angles contributing to the story. Felt cinematic at times. Netflix series, please?
juliescalzo's review
3.0
My general thoughts about this book are that I’m relieved to be done with this, and I’m sad that it didn’t live up to the hype for me. It’s told from a bunch of point of views all focusing around the Los Angeles Lions, a professional baseball team, and their time spent in Arizona for Spring Training. The reader hears from everyone from the star baseball player to the owner to the baseball groupies. This was definitely well written and an interesting concept, but I just didn’t connect with it. I think all of the different perspectives threw me off, and it felt slow at times. It’s probably one I should’ve just abandoned.
guinness74's review
4.0
So, first of all, since there's no baseball at the moment (Thanks COVID-19!), this was a balm to my soul. I needed the warmth of spring training in an otherwise bluefunk baseball depression.
I wasn't expecting much as I made my way through the first few chapters. It seemed like an updated version of Bull Durham which wasn't all bad, but then it morphed into an episode of Real Housewives of... (I assume, never having actually watched any of that particular nonsense.) and I started to lose interest. However, a new thread started with a different set of characters, which is really my main issue with book at all. There is an overall story arc, and by the end it is connected thoroughly, but reading the book, it seems more like character studies or vignettes, until you take in the whole of the novel. I assume the 'narrator' sections were supposed to link it together and as a geographer and a baseball fan, I really appreciated these passages, but they were either too spread out, or not connected well enough to glue the characters together.
I did enjoy it, and as previously mentioned, it certainly makes the lack of baseball at the moment not as depressing. Definitely recommended if you need some sun and sport in your life.
I wasn't expecting much as I made my way through the first few chapters. It seemed like an updated version of Bull Durham which wasn't all bad, but then it morphed into an episode of Real Housewives of... (I assume, never having actually watched any of that particular nonsense.) and I started to lose interest. However, a new thread started with a different set of characters, which is really my main issue with book at all. There is an overall story arc, and by the end it is connected thoroughly, but reading the book, it seems more like character studies or vignettes, until you take in the whole of the novel. I assume the 'narrator' sections were supposed to link it together and as a geographer and a baseball fan, I really appreciated these passages, but they were either too spread out, or not connected well enough to glue the characters together.
I did enjoy it, and as previously mentioned, it certainly makes the lack of baseball at the moment not as depressing. Definitely recommended if you need some sun and sport in your life.
whativebeanreading's review
4.0
This debut novel is bound to delight baseball fans, as it did me. But its wonderfully funny and poignant dive into the Spring Training ecosystem should find a wider audience.
Almost all of the action is off the field.
The novel’s interrelated stories center loosely on star outfielder, Jason Goodyear, whose gambling addiction threatens to swamp his career along with his Nike endorsement. But he’s not the only one striving for fame and fortune or clinging tenuously to it.
There is the once-promising pitcher hiding an elbow injury to stave off a younger, harder-throwing prospect. (Baseball players over 30 are usually viewed as on the downside of their careers.) There are the cougars stalking the local bars. The players’ wives who barely see their husbands and know they will see them less when the season starts. The agent desperately trying to steer rich, talented young men toward responsible behavior. The vengeful owner who trades a star player in a pique of anger. The high school draft pick far from home, who is ill-equipped to manage either his crushing loneliness or his six-figure bonus.
The characters are a bit broadly drawn - baseball has always invited allegory - though Emily Nemens’s vivid writing and obvious love for the game propel the story forward.
I was an easy mark for this book, which Nemens dedicated simply: “For Dad.”
If the charms of baseball have somehow eluded you, this is a good place to start.
Almost all of the action is off the field.
The novel’s interrelated stories center loosely on star outfielder, Jason Goodyear, whose gambling addiction threatens to swamp his career along with his Nike endorsement. But he’s not the only one striving for fame and fortune or clinging tenuously to it.
There is the once-promising pitcher hiding an elbow injury to stave off a younger, harder-throwing prospect. (Baseball players over 30 are usually viewed as on the downside of their careers.) There are the cougars stalking the local bars. The players’ wives who barely see their husbands and know they will see them less when the season starts. The agent desperately trying to steer rich, talented young men toward responsible behavior. The vengeful owner who trades a star player in a pique of anger. The high school draft pick far from home, who is ill-equipped to manage either his crushing loneliness or his six-figure bonus.
The characters are a bit broadly drawn - baseball has always invited allegory - though Emily Nemens’s vivid writing and obvious love for the game propel the story forward.
I was an easy mark for this book, which Nemens dedicated simply: “For Dad.”
If the charms of baseball have somehow eluded you, this is a good place to start.