Battle Creek

Rating:
Summary: A baseball story about life and loss
Review: The characters are baseball men in the bloom and the twilight of life. Their love of the game overshadows everything else in their lives. The characterizations are rich and authentic, and their hopes and dreams bittersweet. Students and fans of baseball will love this book and take some heartache for the old game with them when the last chapter is finished.

Rating:
Summary: Lasser "goes deep" in his first at-bat
Review: There are probably as many reasons for the number of baseball novels as there are baseball novels. Because of this, there is a danger that a new novel in the field will fall prey to convention and fail to bring anything new to the reader. despite these risks, Scott Lasser has produced a wonderful addition to the genre. Battle Creek is a story about love, about family, about loss and redemption, about honor and duty and about relationships between men and men, and men and women, told within the context of one season of an amateur baseball team. That would appear to be a lot of ground to cover in 288 pages, but Lasser does it, and with style.

To borrow a baseball metaphor, Lasser appears to have "all the tools." His characters live, the dialog rings true to the ear, and the plot is more than sufficient to keep the reader engrossed. In addition, he demonstrates the signs of developing a distinctive voice. There is a grace and fluidity to his style that makes me certain to look for his next book.

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding!
Review: This book drew me in right away for a couple of reasons. First of all, since I've lived in Michigan all my life, the references to familiar roadways, cities, radio stations, etc. was really refreshing. Also, I've been a baseball fan all my life, so the subject matter was right up my alley.

Overall, I liked this book. The important characters were developed well enough and the story moved along. The biggest problem was that there didn't seem to be a firm conclusion to me. It's not that I want a "what we have learned" segment, but I wasn't sure the main characters really learned their lesson, or if they'd grown or changed any. For instance, how did Gil really feel about winning the championship because his best pitcher was throwing spitballs and his star hitter took a ball to the head and died?

The only other problem I had was that the entire book was written in present tense. For instance, "He walks into the room" instead of the traditional, "He walked into the room". It took some getting used to, because my reading ear has been trained all these ears that books are written in past tense.

Anyway, other than those small problems, I really thought this was a great book. And if you want to read something that is similar and also good, although not about baseball, I'd recommend "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: This book drew me in right away for a couple of reasons. First of all, since I've lived in Michigan all my life, the references to familiar roadways, cities, radio stations, etc. was really refreshing. Also, I've been a baseball fan all my life, so the subject matter was right up my alley.

Overall, I liked this book. The important characters were developed well enough and the story moved along. The biggest problem was that there didn't seem to be a firm conclusion to me. It's not that I want a "what we have learned" segment, but I wasn't sure the main characters really learned their lesson, or if they'd grown or changed any. For instance, how did Gil really feel about winning the championship because his best pitcher was throwing spitballs and his star hitter took a ball to the head and died?

The only other problem I had was that the entire book was written in present tense. For instance, "He walks into the room" instead of the traditional, "He walked into the room". It took some getting used to, because my reading ear has been trained all these ears that books are written in past tense.

Anyway, other than those small problems, I really thought this was a great book. And if you want to read something that is similar and also good, although not about baseball, I'd recommend "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo.

Rating:
Summary: A base hit, but not a grand slam
Review: To Scott Lasser's credit he has produced a well-written, thoughtful, well paced novel. I've got to say, though, I'm a little surprised at all the flowery reviews. There was something intangible missing in this book for me. Maybe the characters weren't completely genuine, maybe the story wasn't entirely believable, I'm not sure. I just wasn't moved by the book. That said, it is still an enjoyable book. Just don't expect it to move mountains.