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juliebuckles's review
2.0
I have to admit, I didn't finish this book. I gave it a solid try 1/because it came highly recommended and 2/I love baseball lit with The Art of Fielding and Shoeless Joe at the top of my list. I found it really hard to connect with the characters—they felt like cliches—and the story was so similar that I wanted to go re-watch Bull Durham.
grafe_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
heyitsflipper's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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
4.5
Goodness, The Cactus League, just might be one of the best behind-the-scenes, fiction, baseball books I've ever read. Actually, it's the only fiction, baseball book I've read that delves into what life is like for a professional athlete. The desire to win, the different people they interact with, and how all those stories intertwine. As a member of a professional baseball team's front office, I can say that I've seen these characters in real life and found that Emily Nemens portrayed them well.
The book is separated into nine chapters - or innings - and each chapter has an introduction from the book's narrator, a sportscaster. Each inning focuses on a new character, but all the characters are part of the Los Angeles Lions outfielder Jason Goodyear's world. He's the character that ties every other character's story together and he shows up in some way throughout the book. The Cactus League is a book full of the secrets we try to hide - addictive feelings (gambling and drugs are mentioned), unworthiness in relationships, fear of failure, medical diagnoses we aren't quite sure how to deal with - you see the gambit throughout the different characters' stories. In end, I enjoyed this book because it's a reminder that professional athletes are human beings too and have personal struggles that we don't always see. And through the stories of the other characters, it was a reminder of you never know what someone else is going through and dealing with.
The book is separated into nine chapters - or innings - and each chapter has an introduction from the book's narrator, a sportscaster. Each inning focuses on a new character, but all the characters are part of the Los Angeles Lions outfielder Jason Goodyear's world. He's the character that ties every other character's story together and he shows up in some way throughout the book. The Cactus League is a book full of the secrets we try to hide - addictive feelings (gambling and drugs are mentioned), unworthiness in relationships, fear of failure, medical diagnoses we aren't quite sure how to deal with - you see the gambit throughout the different characters' stories. In end, I enjoyed this book because it's a reminder that professional athletes are human beings too and have personal struggles that we don't always see. And through the stories of the other characters, it was a reminder of you never know what someone else is going through and dealing with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Drug use and Alcohol
melissarochelle's review
3.0
The Cactus League by Emily Nemens is set during Spring Training 2011 in Scottsdale, the housing market hasn’t rebounded since the Recession, thousands of foreclosures have left properties empty and increased the risks of squatters throughout the Valley. Our narrator, a sportscaster, is following Jason Goodyear, the star outfielder for the Los Angeles Lions. The nameless narrator introduces us to each chapter, which focuses on a new character. This large cast of seemingly unrelated characters – an aging batting coach, a baseball groupie, a legendary sports agent, a hopeful minor league player, a business developer, to name a few– are all peripherally connected to Jason Goodyear. This web of characters is wonderfully contrasted against the relatively linear game of baseball. We get a glimpse into so many different lives and Nemens manages to make each character distinctive and genuine. The structure reminds me of a few of my favorite novels including A Visit from the Goon Squad and You Know When the Men are Gone, both of which tell stories through interwoven stories.
misskitty13's review
3.0
None of the characters were particularly likable. And just went you started to get into someone’s story, it stopped, never to be picked up again. You wanted the stories to all weave together, but they just passed each other by.
mdsnyderjr's review
2.0
I have absolutely no clue how to summarize this book. It was like little short stories. A character is introduced and then you don’t hear about them ever again. This happened several times. Awful.