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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
This was a nice short story, very focused on baseball, naturally, and this was my biggest qualm, I like how it ran and ended, but it went into a lot of the plays and calls of baseball back in the day to a point where if you don't know the sport, it takes a bit of working out.
Mneee, un cuentito mas de los muchos que King escribió, y ni siquiera de los buenos y memorables.
"Moralidad" fue lo único que valió la pena. No me decepciono solo porque no tenia expectativas.
"Moralidad" fue lo único que valió la pena. No me decepciono solo porque no tenia expectativas.
An interesting take on storytelling, the book is told by a man who is being interviewed by Stephen King.
Probably the shortest King story I've ever read, and more about the darkness of humanity than the supernatural King often leans on. I will admit I rather glazed over some of the parts, as I am not a huge baseball fan, it was still an interesting endeavor.
Probably the shortest King story I've ever read, and more about the darkness of humanity than the supernatural King often leans on. I will admit I rather glazed over some of the parts, as I am not a huge baseball fan, it was still an interesting endeavor.
El primer relato fue fome a morir, sobre todo si no se es experto en baseball.
El segundo relato, moralidad, fue el mejor de los dos, pero prometía mas.
El segundo relato, moralidad, fue el mejor de los dos, pero prometía mas.
Blockade Billy by Stephen King
For a Stephen King book I wasn't very impressed. Blockade Billy actually contained two stories, neither of which I liked that much and with the titular story, I pretty much worked out what was going to happen before I got to the end. Stephen King can do much much better!
For a Stephen King book I wasn't very impressed. Blockade Billy actually contained two stories, neither of which I liked that much and with the titular story, I pretty much worked out what was going to happen before I got to the end. Stephen King can do much much better!
A respectful behind the scenes look at baseball and its nuances.
But to tell you honestly, that's about it. The language used is great in this little story. About 80 something pages. A two sitting, easy and fun read. Even though it does leave you a little empty.
Blockade Billy, as you learn to call the main character, is an idiot but he can play ball better than anybody. Boy can he block that plate. Man oh man can he hit the ball. This guy can really excite a crowd. But what's the real deal behind him?
The real deal behind him is a mystery that keeps you in the story the whole time. The reader doesn't know if it's a supernatural thing or if there's going to be a twist or not. Unfortunately, once you find out what the real deal is you feel like you missed the real story. After the back story is told you would rather read the novel featuring everything in the back story rather than this short story. It's makes the end of this bad boy a bit unsatisfying.
Mr. King had a hard time keeping the main character in character at the end of the story. He suddenly could do more than he really knew how to do the rest of the story.
Don't get me started on the other story featured in the book "Morality". Don't even get me started.
But to tell you honestly, that's about it. The language used is great in this little story. About 80 something pages. A two sitting, easy and fun read. Even though it does leave you a little empty.
Blockade Billy, as you learn to call the main character, is an idiot but he can play ball better than anybody. Boy can he block that plate. Man oh man can he hit the ball. This guy can really excite a crowd. But what's the real deal behind him?
The real deal behind him is a mystery that keeps you in the story the whole time. The reader doesn't know if it's a supernatural thing or if there's going to be a twist or not. Unfortunately, once you find out what the real deal is you feel like you missed the real story. After the back story is told you would rather read the novel featuring everything in the back story rather than this short story. It's makes the end of this bad boy a bit unsatisfying.
Mr. King had a hard time keeping the main character in character at the end of the story. He suddenly could do more than he really knew how to do the rest of the story.
Don't get me started on the other story featured in the book "Morality". Don't even get me started.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Read the entirety of this novella waiting for a plane to take off. Not a big Stephen King person but his typical characterization skills glow here.
So, if you read the back of this book, you get a pretty good sense of what you’re getting into. This is a collection of two long short stories, one the story of Blockade Billy, a catcher for a baseball team that has been OMG ERASED FROM HISTORY because he did an OMG HORRIBLE THING, which was so bad that even he was OMG ERASED FROM HISTORY. Not literally, so much as the history books just didn’t mention him, but dang if you don’t get this sense of dread reading the story, waiting to see what this OMG HORRIBLE THING is going to be.
So, if you didn’t catch it from my comments up there, let’s just say that the payout doesn’t really live up to the expectations. I mean, the guy did a bad thing, but it certainly wasn’t an OMG HORRIBLE THING that would justify erasing his history — as well as the existence of an entire Major League Baseball team — from the record. I was expecting some Cthulhu-ian sort of thing, or some other sort of association that was just too disturbing or otherwise unbelievable to put in the history books.
Stephen King is known for creating a great setup, and then being unable to pull it off in the end (It), but in this case, it wasn’t really his fault. The buildup in the story itself justifies the end, though it still doesn’t make the story interesting enough to justify it being published by itself; it was the publisher blurb that raised the expectations too high. Interestingly, the other story in this book — “Morality” — was much more satisfying, possibly because the publisher didn’t make it some sort of OMG HORRIBLE THING story. Though the events described in that story are pretty horrible, more so than in the title story.
Like any Stephen King story, it will pull you along and keep you reading. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories King has written lately, the stories themselves just aren’t all that interesting to read. Check this one out from the library if you absolutely must read it, but don’t expect too much out of it. Maybe it will be a better experience that way.
So, if you didn’t catch it from my comments up there, let’s just say that the payout doesn’t really live up to the expectations. I mean, the guy did a bad thing, but it certainly wasn’t an OMG HORRIBLE THING that would justify erasing his history — as well as the existence of an entire Major League Baseball team — from the record. I was expecting some Cthulhu-ian sort of thing, or some other sort of association that was just too disturbing or otherwise unbelievable to put in the history books.
Stephen King is known for creating a great setup, and then being unable to pull it off in the end (It), but in this case, it wasn’t really his fault. The buildup in the story itself justifies the end, though it still doesn’t make the story interesting enough to justify it being published by itself; it was the publisher blurb that raised the expectations too high. Interestingly, the other story in this book — “Morality” — was much more satisfying, possibly because the publisher didn’t make it some sort of OMG HORRIBLE THING story. Though the events described in that story are pretty horrible, more so than in the title story.
Like any Stephen King story, it will pull you along and keep you reading. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories King has written lately, the stories themselves just aren’t all that interesting to read. Check this one out from the library if you absolutely must read it, but don’t expect too much out of it. Maybe it will be a better experience that way.
I love baseball and I love Stephen King, so this was a win-win for me! Sports + horror is never a fail, especially not from the master of the craft! Totally adored it!