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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gratitude
Thank you to Bucks County Free Public Library, where I checked out Blockade Billy by Stephen King.
Description
Description
In Blockade Billy, the novella is framed as Stephen King going to visit a retired baseball manager, who tells him the incredible story of Blockade Billy, a player who had a brief yet impressive career, but has been forgotten by the history books.
In general, I find books and stories that need the frame of one character conversing with another or writing in a letter or journal in order to explain the impetus for telling them to be a bit irritating. As with any rule, there are always exceptions. Blockade Billy uses the format of a retired baseball manager, now elderly, telling Stephen King the story of the mysterious baseball player, Blockade Billy, who has since been stricken from the records.
In the story, the retired manager describes how Blockade Billy came to play with the team as a result of several players being injured and leaving them without a catcher. They called up Billy from a farm league and it turned out that he played much better than expected—but he also seemed to bring bad luck, too.
In general, I find books and stories that need the frame of one character conversing with another or writing in a letter or journal in order to explain the impetus for telling them to be a bit irritating. As with any rule, there are always exceptions. Blockade Billy uses the format of a retired baseball manager, now elderly, telling Stephen King the story of the mysterious baseball player, Blockade Billy, who has since been stricken from the records.
In the story, the retired manager describes how Blockade Billy came to play with the team as a result of several players being injured and leaving them without a catcher. They called up Billy from a farm league and it turned out that he played much better than expected—but he also seemed to bring bad luck, too.
CommentaryBlockade Billy is a thin little novella that relies a good deal on the voice of the character telling the story. In that way, it is akin to The Colorado Kid, in which two hard boiled newspaper journalists tell a young journalist about a story that happened in their town many years prior. Without the characters telling the story, there wouldn’t be much of a story.
Would I Teach This Book?
Would I teach Blockade Billy? Likely not. It’s a bit too precious. Stephen King has some great short works—like the novella If It Bleeds—which are much, much better. Who knew I would become such a connoisseur of King books? I am not sure my sixth grade self would approve.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not a bad little novella..There better King's than these...
I was really looking forward to reading a baseball book... this failed miserably in connecting to the mythos of the sport. He's done much better in these types of stories in the past and I felt that this story was almost an after thought.
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This audiobook has two stories; the first 'Blockade Bill' is a tale about a baseball player lost to history. It's entertaining but... I couldn't care less for baseball *laughs* I think this is why it didn't hit me the way it did to others.
Morality has a good setting but I didn't feel the characters. Which is a rare thing for me in a King's book.
All in all, very readable stories but none of them is memorable.
Morality has a good setting but I didn't feel the characters. Which is a rare thing for me in a King's book.
All in all, very readable stories but none of them is memorable.
I have a soft, tender spot in my heart for Stephen King, but I'm not a huge fan of his baseball stories. I needed to be more of a baseball fan to follow this story, and the horror was almost not horrible enough. I've come to expect a lot more slash and gore from King, or even psychological creepiness, and I just didn't find it here.
A decent pair of stories. Blockade Billy seems like it was just an excuse for Stephen King to nerd out about baseball. It wasn't really suspenseful or scary; just an unsuspected ending that was slowly revealed. King throws in so many sports terms around, it may be a bit of a turn-off for someone who is not a big baseball fan. I mean, in the 70-page story, it's about 10 pages of story, 60 pages of recapping baseball games.
Morality is a little more creepy, but still fairly tame, and, again, not so much suspense or twist ending as something that is just slowly revealed.
Still, it is Stephen King, and there are worse ways to spend an hour or two.
Morality is a little more creepy, but still fairly tame, and, again, not so much suspense or twist ending as something that is just slowly revealed.
Still, it is Stephen King, and there are worse ways to spend an hour or two.