Rating: 
Summary: unreadable
Review: No matter how little you pay for this book, you can never recover the time you wasted reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Silly man / Silly book
Review: A Boston sportswriter with an agenda creates a fictional "curse" to explain 80 years of frustration since the Red Sox last won it all in 1918. Information is contrived to fit said agenda.Simply put, there are better ways to spend money if you want to revisit Red Sox history.
Rating:
Summary: Outdated Tripe
Review: Leaving aside the bitter simulacrum of a human being that the author reveals himself to be in his newspaper columns, it would be a mistake to purchase this book on other grounds. Potential buyers should beware that what is represented in this book as a factual framework has been shredded to pieces by Red Sox Century. The writing itself is a series of transparent setups for a play on words that you can always see coming a half page off. Finally, the author has the gall to criticize Red Sox Nation for, he claims, being endlessly pessimistic while at the same time being the single greatest promoter of such an attitude! Way to have your self-fulfilling prophecy cake and eat it, too.
Rating: 
Summary: Every time I read this book, I learn something new.
Review: Curse of the Bambino remains one of the most provocative novels ever penned by a Boston author. I just read the book for the seventh time, and I'm still amazed by Shaugnessy's skill in weaving a shocking tale of incest and sexual harassment against the backdrop of Red Sox baseball. Even after having read the book multiple times, I'm still taken aback by the scene in which C.H. Boyf (the sportswriter/protagonist) visciously belittles the Bambino's mentally retarded nephew, Jeff Stone, in a sick attempt to get the young boy to go to bed with him. I'm still confused, though, about the Bambino's reaction to the abuse of his nephew. Instead getting revenge on C.H. Boyf, he lashes out at all of Boston -- putting a curse on the city that results in Boyf's hateful, illogical columns becoming a mainstay in the city's leading newspaper. That's some curse.
Rating:
Summary: Literary Notes
Review: Understand, Shaughnessy is to the written word what Marcy Playground was to rock - a one trick pony that has been beaten to death with a 4 by 4 (an unnamed Lumberjack commented that a 4 by 4 is more effective for beatings than a 2 by 4). Shaughnessy (who is to Boston sportswriters what lead singer Luis Alfonzo was to Luis And The Hawk) gets by on reputation, rather than results. An NL scout with a Masters in English told me that Shaughnessy has forgotten what an adverb is and relies too much on contractions. That sort of thing may play at highschool newspapers, but not on the national stage. Throw in his decided smug streak, and there may be a lesson to be learned. Know this, Don Skwar believes that either late this year or early next year, Shira Springer, whose stylish attitude has been compared to Peter May, who despite his excessively sweaty throat last week, is still respected (which is quite a compliment in itself), will be a big part of the Globe. Just asking: are Steve Buckley and Steve Urkel the same person?
Rating:
Summary: Marketing overtakes reality
Review: This book is an insult to all true Red Sox fans. It stitches together fragments of half-truths, rumours and innuendos and weaves them into a bizarre mosaic of supernatural gobbledy-gook. What has been called a "curse" in this puff piece by a particulary negative and mean-spirited Boston sportswriter is actually very easily attributable to bad and short sighted Red Sox ownership, particularly during the Yawkey era.
Because this "curse" captured the national consciousness for a short time, in large part due to the author's self-promoting claims that its existence was taken for granted by majority of Red Sox nation, true Red Sox fans now have to endure the supposed "legitimacy" of this silly concept. It actually piques many long time Red Sox fans that the Baseball public outside of Massachusetts believe in this curse and that we take it seriously.
A much more sober and accurate description of Red Sox history, both the good and the bad, can be found in a book entitled "Red Sox Century". If you really want to know about the truth of the Red Sox, please read that book instead of this tripe. Don't help perpetuate a stereotype, explore the true story.... and don't believe this hype.
Rating:
Summary: Money to waste? Then buy this book.
Review: This "book" might appeal to those who are under the age of 12. All thinking fans can safely pass, secure in the knowledge that they have not encouraged a lazy and sloppy writing by spending their hard earned money. Bitter, Dan ?
Rating:
Summary: "piece of junk" -- to use the author's own words
Review: Shaughnessy once referred to a Red Sox player as a "piece of junk". That's exactly what this book is. If you really want to know more about the Red Sox history, read Red Sox Century or if you're specifically interested in Ruth's era read the excellent 1918: Babe Ruth and the World Champion Boston Red Sox.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, The Curse Revealed
Review: It takes a journalist of Shaughnessy's passion and commitment to write a book like this. Not many writers would be willing to wrestle with their illiteracy so publically, and even fewer would be willing to embrace a prose style last employed at the end of the classic "Flowers for Algernon"--that point in the novel when Charlie is reduced to a 70 IQ. To all of you writing negative reviews about this book, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Shaughnessy's inability to write is a tragedy, but I find his high-profile struggles with his own ignorance to be as uplifting as an episode of "Touched By an Angel." Keep trying, Dan!
Rating: 
Summary: Money for nothing and your curses for free
Review: A troubled book by an apparently troubled journalist. A truncated account of the world's most famous baseball team. The author relies on rehashed articles to create an unwanted myth. Under the 1st Amendment, censorship isn't allowed but the Red Sox Nation has other ideas and is watching.
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