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emilycc's review
3.0
I liked parts of this multi-POV story about a star left-fielder at spring training a lot, but I ultimately found it kind of lacking - stylistically showy, but also kind of empty. The more I read novels built of short stories, the less I like the form. It’s just really hard to create narrative tension. That means the author has to do something else really well, and also though there’s some great atmosphere here, it wasn’t enough to carry the book for me.
ashrocketship's review against another edition
1.0
Oh I just hated this. Deeply, brutally boring with shades of wholly unexamined misogyny, homophobia, and racism. This felt like a creative writing senior thesis that should get rightfully buried on the writer's way to (maybe) better things. It's obviously trying to say something Big and Important about the way lives are interconnected, but it barely manages to say anything even vaguely interesting and I ended up skimming the journalist passages at the start of each chapter entirely. The number of instances of "the older man" and "the rookie" I paid to read... Fifteen year olds putting up fan fiction on the internet know better. I would've really liked to read the version of this book that actually cared about its characters, the one that picked a throughline and a direction and did something useful with them, but alas.
mathteachtaco's review
4.0
3.5 stars. This book was split into nine "innings," each started with exposition from a baseball journalist, which I probably could have done without. The book read almost like a set of short stories, each intertwined and mostly centering around the great Jason Goodyear, who in his personal life may not have been so great. Characters included aspiring rookies, managers, baseball wives and women who sleep with players.
ccasavec's review against another edition
1.0
I wanted to love this book so badly. A novel about baseball, the Cactus League, no less, should absolutely be my jam. I felt like I was reading a bunch of short stories and never really knew/ cared about what was going on anyways.
yetanothersusan's review
3.0
This was a bit too much like a bunch of short stories to me. They overlapped to provide some continuity but I felt like I was missing out on what was happening to earlier characters as the baseball season progressed. Guess I could have used a few extra innings to tie everything together?
daniellewebb's review
4.0
I started this book in anticipation of the start of a new MLB season and finish it in a drastically different world where there is no timeline for the return of baseball. Im grateful I was able to “escape” to Scottsdale and immerse myself in the deeply lived in world of Emily Nemens’ debut novel. The Cactus League follows one spring for the LA Lions, a fictional major league team, and their Mike Tout-esque (plus gambling addiction) superstar. Beyond that through line, The Cactus League is also a series of interconnected stories featuring a cast of peripheral characters with less celebrity experience, but provide essential support to a pro team. Characters like the scout, the agent, the hotly anticipated prospect, the aging pitcher, the sports journalist, a cast of baseball wives, the local “cleat chasers,” a stadium hot dog vendor, and a gig-economy organist. The world is rich and detailed, and I was glad I had it to escape to for awhile.
soj19's review
4.0
Dang. I really liked this book, even though it was sort of like watching a car crash in slow motion. Nemens' cleverly crafted tale - its nine "innings", the way it gets at one story by telling many others - was a compelling read and just what I wanted right now.
There was something oddly comforting about being surrounded by all that baseball, desert, and drama. I think it's because it is just familiar enough, being a pastiche of Americana, while, at the same time, feeling far enough removed from real life so as not to be as painful a read as it might have been otherwise.
There was something oddly comforting about being surrounded by all that baseball, desert, and drama. I think it's because it is just familiar enough, being a pastiche of Americana, while, at the same time, feeling far enough removed from real life so as not to be as painful a read as it might have been otherwise.
violetcat's review
funny
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
3.5 stars
mimima's review
2.0
I am a big fan of character novels as well as baseball. However, one of the things that I have learned is not only do I like character driven novels, but they must be likable - or at least redemptive - characters. This book is a series of interconnected short stories about awful people doing awful things. The baseball element does not outweigh this muck.