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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
An intriguing story with a interesting point of view. I enjoyed reading this story, a pity I know so little about baseball, it might of made me understand more of the detail but in the end that wasn't really the most important part of the story, it's just extra detail to flesh out the story and to make it realistic and it is very well done. Short enough and quick to read. This is one of the lighter stories that I have read by Stephen King.
Blockade Billy 2.75/5
Morality 4/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Rather than one smallish novel titled Blockade Billy, this book contains two (of hundreds) of Stephen King's short stories/novellas. I actually read Morality years ago when it was originally published in Esquire, and I loved it back then. Honestly I didn't read that story as thoroughly now as I did back then; the majority of my reading attention was toward the book's title story: Blockade Billy.
Blockade Billy was "eh" for me. The punch at the end wasn't as twisty as I thought it'd be, but that could really be user error. I wasn't immersed into the story at all. If I was, things might have been different to me. The format was cool, but the plot wasn't for me. I mean, it's about sports (not up my alley). And baseball of all sports (definitely not up my alley). The pages that contained straight play-by-play action I super-skimmed through, absorbing next to nothing. It wasn't awful though, the ending surprise was somewhat effective, but just didn't give me that wow factor I would have felt if I considered this a page turner.
Now Morality, I love. It's edgy, absurd, and FUNNY (which is a little sick, considering the subject matter). It tells of a financially unstable couple who are offered a large reward by an eccentric millionaire in exchange for....an odd request. It's insightful and reminds us that in the end, money just isn't everything (...and they all learned a lesson that day....). It's super quick, only 50 pages, and well worth your half hour.
Morality 4/5
Overall Rating: 3/5
Rather than one smallish novel titled Blockade Billy, this book contains two (of hundreds) of Stephen King's short stories/novellas. I actually read Morality years ago when it was originally published in Esquire, and I loved it back then. Honestly I didn't read that story as thoroughly now as I did back then; the majority of my reading attention was toward the book's title story: Blockade Billy.
Blockade Billy was "eh" for me. The punch at the end wasn't as twisty as I thought it'd be, but that could really be user error. I wasn't immersed into the story at all. If I was, things might have been different to me. The format was cool, but the plot wasn't for me. I mean, it's about sports (not up my alley). And baseball of all sports (definitely not up my alley). The pages that contained straight play-by-play action I super-skimmed through, absorbing next to nothing. It wasn't awful though, the ending surprise was somewhat effective, but just didn't give me that wow factor I would have felt if I considered this a page turner.
Now Morality, I love. It's edgy, absurd, and FUNNY (which is a little sick, considering the subject matter). It tells of a financially unstable couple who are offered a large reward by an eccentric millionaire in exchange for....an odd request. It's insightful and reminds us that in the end, money just isn't everything (...and they all learned a lesson that day....). It's super quick, only 50 pages, and well worth your half hour.
It’s a known fact that Stephen King is a big baseball fan, and possibly one of the biggest Red Sox fans (if you doubt this, just read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon). After the mighty tome of Under the Dome and with a four-novella book called Full Dark, No Stars due out in November, there’s another little story King is releasing to keep fans occupied. Blockade Billy is a short, little book – just over a hundred pages – about baseball that is a perfect read for the start of summer and America’s favorite sport.
Way back when, in the early days of baseball when the players weren’t making much money and it was all about the rule and the game and the sport, the Titans of New Jersey had a bad start to the new season. Their everyday catcher, while driving drunk, killed a woman and is in prison, while their scrawny beanpole of a backup catcher is mowed down in a play at the plate and ends up in the hospital. Then the Titans find a young rookie from Iowa, William Blakely.
Blakely is strange character – in that great Stephen King way – who does an impressive job catching and hitting to boot. At his first big play at the plate, Billy tags the runner out as the man flies over the catcher and is left with a sliced Achilles heel, never play properly again. But Blakely wins the team and the fans over in that first game, as well as others to come. He starts hitting balls out of the park, doing a great job of catching, and making some great plays at the plate. The nickname – Blockade Billy – sticks and a legend is born.
The season continues and while the Titans don’t win every game, they do well and Blockade Billy continues to wow the crowds and the team. Then a terrible secret is discovered. About Blakely. His career is over; the Titan’s games are stricken from the record, and every effort is made to eradicate the name of William Blakely from history.
The story is told in third person to King from the former third-base coach, now in his old age, who remembers this high time of baseball and the infamous memory that was Blockade Billy. King writes it in his colloquial, easy to read style, slowly giving out the details and keeping the reader completely hooked, needing to know what the story is behind Blockade Billy. But I’m not going to give that away here; you’ll have to read the book to find out.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
Way back when, in the early days of baseball when the players weren’t making much money and it was all about the rule and the game and the sport, the Titans of New Jersey had a bad start to the new season. Their everyday catcher, while driving drunk, killed a woman and is in prison, while their scrawny beanpole of a backup catcher is mowed down in a play at the plate and ends up in the hospital. Then the Titans find a young rookie from Iowa, William Blakely.
Blakely is strange character – in that great Stephen King way – who does an impressive job catching and hitting to boot. At his first big play at the plate, Billy tags the runner out as the man flies over the catcher and is left with a sliced Achilles heel, never play properly again. But Blakely wins the team and the fans over in that first game, as well as others to come. He starts hitting balls out of the park, doing a great job of catching, and making some great plays at the plate. The nickname – Blockade Billy – sticks and a legend is born.
The season continues and while the Titans don’t win every game, they do well and Blockade Billy continues to wow the crowds and the team. Then a terrible secret is discovered. About Blakely. His career is over; the Titan’s games are stricken from the record, and every effort is made to eradicate the name of William Blakely from history.
The story is told in third person to King from the former third-base coach, now in his old age, who remembers this high time of baseball and the infamous memory that was Blockade Billy. King writes it in his colloquial, easy to read style, slowly giving out the details and keeping the reader completely hooked, needing to know what the story is behind Blockade Billy. But I’m not going to give that away here; you’ll have to read the book to find out.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
In the beginning of this short read I was not into it because it was full of Baseball jargon. But as soon as the half way point was over Stephen King started to shin. The ending is crazy!
Blockade Billy and Morality (both also appear in the 2015 collection BAZAAR OF BAD DREAMS).
While I'm not into baseball in the least, BLOCKADE BILLY is still 100% Stephen King making it a-ok in my book!
A team in desperate need of a catcher takes on an unknown named Billy Blakely. And the boy is a force! But he's not quite what he seems.
Again, this is pure Stephen King. Even from the first lines I knew I was in for much more than a baseball story and King certainly delivered!
In "Morality" a writer and his wife have dreams they can't afford. Even a little bit of money would help and so when the wife's employer offers them a deal they can't resist, even if it is morally questionable, they take it. The aftermath, though, is not what they'd expected.
While I'm not into baseball in the least, BLOCKADE BILLY is still 100% Stephen King making it a-ok in my book!
A team in desperate need of a catcher takes on an unknown named Billy Blakely. And the boy is a force! But he's not quite what he seems.
Again, this is pure Stephen King. Even from the first lines I knew I was in for much more than a baseball story and King certainly delivered!
In "Morality" a writer and his wife have dreams they can't afford. Even a little bit of money would help and so when the wife's employer offers them a deal they can't resist, even if it is morally questionable, they take it. The aftermath, though, is not what they'd expected.
This was an amusing little King novella about a baseball player who is a murderer. Nothing special, but had a very good narrator.
Stephen King is an acclaimed horror/suspense writer who loves baseball--a statement that occasionally comes into play when King releases a new book. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, for example, is a well-written short novel that includes baseball in its subject matter. While knowledge of baseball in not required to enjoy the novel, it does enhance the story. Faithful, the book written with Stewart O'Nan about an entire season (a championship-winning one at that) following the Red Sox, on the other hand, is probably a bit extreme for all except the most die-hard baseball fans.
Blockade Billy is somewhere in the middle. If you don't like baseball at all, you might want to stay away from this one. If you like baseball, Blockade Billy isn't the stereotypical Stephen King horror novel. I imagine that King came up with the idea for this story during one of the many discussions baseball fans have about records and statistics that will "go down in the books with an asterisk." It's a quick read...not his best and certainly not his worst.
Blockade Billy is somewhere in the middle. If you don't like baseball at all, you might want to stay away from this one. If you like baseball, Blockade Billy isn't the stereotypical Stephen King horror novel. I imagine that King came up with the idea for this story during one of the many discussions baseball fans have about records and statistics that will "go down in the books with an asterisk." It's a quick read...not his best and certainly not his worst.
I'm not much of a baseball fan, however I am a huge fan of Stephen King, with that being said this was still a great short read! Blockade Billy was well told, and Morality was a hard hitting look into how one decision can drastically alter our lives.
I think I had really high expectations for this book. The book consists in two stories but none of them were what I thought they would be. I've read just one book by Stephen king besides this one and I can't say he's my favorite but I like the way he writes. Still this book wasn't one I'd recommend.
The second story is better than the first, but if you're a baseball fan, it's a must read.