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alexcannotread's Reviews (224)
This book was definitely not what I was expecting and I practically dragged on only because of that voice in my head saying “You only have ___ pages to go, just get to the end!” And still, as much as I said this, it still took over 20 days more then it usually takes for me to finish a book.
The description doesn’t really indicate any type of sci-fi theme, why annoyed me because I’ve never been a fan and probably wouldn’t have picked this book up had I known. Not only that, but the magic and Gregor and what not was so ill expanded upon. Grossman never made any exact place for Gregor to be and didn’t detail the “presidential powers” well enough, nor did it have a big effect on the plot, which I honestly wasn’t even sure of by the end of the book. This may just be because I haven't read any Lovecraft, but more less.
Another thing I dislike is the fact that he wrote Pat Nixon as such an unlikeable, unnoticeable character, but then added her in as some big part in the last 50 pages or so. At that point it was just annoying having her there because of how much Grossman had written her to be hated.
The only characters I liked and thought were well (enough) developed were Richard Nixon (it’s hard to hate the narrator,) Arkady, and Tatiana. Arkady I just thought was so cool (horrible descriptive word, I know) because of how light hearted but smart about every situation he was. Tatiana, I’m not exactly sure why in all honestly. I think I just liked the idea of her being written more like-able and more “connected” to Nixon.
Overall, I would rate this 2.5 stars.
The description doesn’t really indicate any type of sci-fi theme, why annoyed me because I’ve never been a fan and probably wouldn’t have picked this book up had I known. Not only that, but the magic and Gregor and what not was so ill expanded upon. Grossman never made any exact place for Gregor to be and didn’t detail the “presidential powers” well enough, nor did it have a big effect on the plot, which I honestly wasn’t even sure of by the end of the book. This may just be because I haven't read any Lovecraft, but more less.
Another thing I dislike is the fact that he wrote Pat Nixon as such an unlikeable, unnoticeable character, but then added her in as some big part in the last 50 pages or so. At that point it was just annoying having her there because of how much Grossman had written her to be hated.
The only characters I liked and thought were well (enough) developed were Richard Nixon (it’s hard to hate the narrator,) Arkady, and Tatiana. Arkady I just thought was so cool (horrible descriptive word, I know) because of how light hearted but smart about every situation he was. Tatiana, I’m not exactly sure why in all honestly. I think I just liked the idea of her being written more like-able and more “connected” to Nixon.
Overall, I would rate this 2.5 stars.
Alright, so here's the basics of what I know about baseball: there's two teams, a scoreboard, a batter (he hits the ball with a bat!), a pitcher (he throws the ball at the batter!), out fielders (they try and catch the ball and get the batter out!), and an umpire (he catches balls on strikes?)
So basically, I was mostly clueless on the baseball lingo. Which, should make it even more impressive to how much I absolutely enjoyed this novella.
Nitpicking my way through my looooong long King to-be-read list, I decided to verge a bit away from his usual horror material (one can only read so many nightmare-susceptible novels in a row before needing a break.) Honestly, I didn't even know this would be a psychological thriller when I picked it up. All I knew was it was some Stephen King book about baseball.
The blurb on the back tells the reader that Blockade Billy was arguably one of the greatest baseball players in history, and yet was banned (and got the team he played on banned, too) from all record books of the season he played due to having "a secret darker than any pill or injection." Of course, this got my mind racing with what possibly could be so horrible to be given such a dramatic description as such (pretty much every horror book I've read has involved murder, so you'd think that'd be the first thing I'd jump to, right? wrong. why? because its King, therefore, I obviously needed to over complicate things.)
All in all, seeing how this story moved along was very enjoyable and, even though I didn't understand most of the baseball mumbo jumbo and what was going on, some parts still ended up being pretty exciting! The ending was also so satisfying in my opinion. It gave you a bit of what you'd expect, while also adding a twist or two alongside it just to give one last point to the protagonist.
This is a nice, light read, and I'd definitely recommend to anyone just wanting a quick story to read through in a sitting.
So basically, I was mostly clueless on the baseball lingo. Which, should make it even more impressive to how much I absolutely enjoyed this novella.
Nitpicking my way through my looooong long King to-be-read list, I decided to verge a bit away from his usual horror material (one can only read so many nightmare-susceptible novels in a row before needing a break.) Honestly, I didn't even know this would be a psychological thriller when I picked it up. All I knew was it was some Stephen King book about baseball.
The blurb on the back tells the reader that Blockade Billy was arguably one of the greatest baseball players in history, and yet was banned (and got the team he played on banned, too) from all record books of the season he played due to having "a secret darker than any pill or injection." Of course, this got my mind racing with what possibly could be so horrible to be given such a dramatic description as such (pretty much every horror book I've read has involved murder, so you'd think that'd be the first thing I'd jump to, right? wrong. why? because its King, therefore, I obviously needed to over complicate things.)
All in all, seeing how this story moved along was very enjoyable and, even though I didn't understand most of the baseball mumbo jumbo and what was going on, some parts still ended up being pretty exciting! The ending was also so satisfying in my opinion. It gave you a bit of what you'd expect, while also adding a twist or two alongside it just to give one last point to the protagonist.
This is a nice, light read, and I'd definitely recommend to anyone just wanting a quick story to read through in a sitting.
