Faithful : Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season

Rating:
Summary: Had some great potential
Review: All in all this book was a good read, but there were several things that made this book fall short of my expectations. First and foremost there was too much coverage of games that were uninteresting and not enough coverage of games that really defined the season. In the end during the ALCS O'Nan or King would simply say that the Sox won the game and go on to describe the aftermath. There is nothing really special about "Roberts stole second and Big Papi hit a walkoff to keep the Sox alive." Tell me about the tension and excitement leading up to those plays not just that the Sox won. Also I do wish that King would keep his political beleifs out of the book. This is a book about a baseball team and should have nothing to do with that mess that happened this November. On several occasions I almost put the book on my shelf and stopped reading it all together but I kept going for the Sox. If you want a quick summary of the entire season buy this but if you are really looking to go deeper into the post-season I suggest you look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Just goes to show you...
Review: Because two guys are old pros doesn't necessarily mean that they can write about sports. For the first time in my life I appreciate the skill and craft that the professional sportswriter brings to his/her work. Because this, ach, reading this book is like being trapped on a desert island with the two worst bores from the sports bar. These aren't even the guys who jump up on the table and holler. At least those fellas have a stupid trick or two in them. No, King and O'Nan are the two quiet nerds at the end of the bar, droning meaningless statistics at each other. Hard to believe that anything could make the Red Sox' 2004 season look dull--but, in combining their lack of skill with the pressure to have a finished book on the shelves by Christmastime, King and O'Nan have managed it.

Rating:
Summary: By the Faithful, For the Faithful
Review: Frankly, I read "Faithful" because I'm a diehard Stephen King fan, and I tend to follow all his work the way he follows the Red Sox. I trumpet his successes to anyone who will listen, and I look at his failures as an opportunity to do better next time. While I like the way King writes about baseball (most especially in his wonderful short story "Head Down"), I'm not particularly a baseball fan myself, and this is definitely a book by baseball fans, for baseball fans. More specifically, it's a book by Red Sox fans, for Red Sox fans.

King pretty much nails the structure of this book in the early pages, when he describes the differences between his writing style and that of his partner, Stewart O'Nan. "Do I need to bother with all this in-game detail?" King asks himself at one point. "Probably not; O'Nan will have it." And later, King expands a little bit on this: "Stewart's the brains of the operation, no doubt. He knows where all the fielders are playing at any given time, and who'll be covering second...in any given situation. I'm more of a from-the-gut kind of guy."

And indeed, King is absolutely right. Stewart O'Nan's contributions to "Faithful" outnumber King's (in a very rough estimate) by about two-to-one. O'Nan's portions often read like a play-by-play calling of key games, with a healthy dose of baseball stats thrown in for good measure. He definitely takes his baseball pretty seriously. He also is a huge fan, and he comes at this book from that perspective; that of a devoted fan who loves the game right down to the nitty-gritty of it.

King is no less a devoted fan, but his contributions are less detailed. His musings in the book can wander from the legendary "Curse of the Bambino" to the events of last night's nail-biter to the unfortunate treatment of the Red Sox by the press without much difficulty, and only rarely does King delve into the land of statistics.

It makes for an interesting balance: two skilled writers, both looking at the same baseball team during the same season and keeping their fan diaries in their own way. Neither contribution is less meaningful than the other; O'Nan's portions form the meat of the book, while King's provide much of the garnish. Both are key to expressing the fan's perspective.

For myself, I enjoyed the personal touches more than I got into the play-by-play. Some of this may be due to the fact that I already knew how the season ended (does anyone NOT know?), so I was less interested in the games themselves and more interested in the things that happened uniquely to O'Nan and King in their pursuit of capturing the fan's perspective. For example, O'Nan made a habit of going to batting practice prior to most of the home games, and in a few memorably funny passages he brought a big fishing net to help him catch the fly balls. I'm still uncertain whether this did him more harm than good, but the image sticks out in my mind. Another good moment for O'Nan was on the night when John Kerry (yes, that one) threw out the first pitch for a home game, and O'Nan was throwing balls back and forth with him, getting his signature for himself and another fan. These are the things that make baseball interesting to me -- the camaraderie, and the way it brings people together.

King had some of those moments as well, though he had the distinction of being both a local celebrity and a devoted fan, and the book captures both sides. We get the absolutely thrilling description of King throwing out the first pitch of a game, and then getting blamed by a local paper after the Sox lose that game. A few pages later, there's the humbling description of King in a hotel room, in his underwear, wearing a David Ortiz t-shirt and a Red Sox ball cap, watching the latest game on television. Now that's a true fan. And when the last game of the ALCS was over and the Sox had beaten the Yankees in a record-breaking comeback, we get the sour, departing Yankee fans sniping at both King and the Sox: "Red Sox suck, and you suck too, Steve." It didn't lessen his joy one bit...in fact, it probably magnified it. The burdens of celebrity.

I bought "Faithful" expecting something different than what it is. I suppose I was hoping for a longer version of "Head Down," that excellent King reflection on little-league baseball. Even so, I wasn't disappointed by the book at all. "Faithful" is just what it purports to be: an honest, personal account of two diehard fans during one season of one of the most infamous teams in baseball, a season that just happened to be the one where their faith and hope were finally rewarded. I came to understand the Red Sox and baseball in a way that I hadn't before, and while I don't think I'll ever appreciate it the way these guys do, I have certainly had my eyes opened a bit, and that's always a good thing. "Faithful" is a light, enjoyable read about one of America's most enduring pastimes, and what makes it so special for the devotees who stick with it year after year.

Keep the faith, lads. Because that's what you do.

Rating:
Summary: Faithful
Review: I am a passing Red Sox fan. By that I mean, if they are on TV (rarely here in Texas, but it happens), I will make plans to watch the game. And I was happy to see them finally bump the "curse' and win the big one. But the main thing that drew me to this book was not the Red Sox, but Stephen King. I compare King to pizza and beer. His style is friendly and readable, like a good buddies getting together to hash over old times. The bold print is King's and although the subject tends to drag over the course of the book, I always looked forward to reading King's entries. The same can't be said about O'Nan. If King is pizza and beer, O'Nan is bread and water; bland, tasteless and not very appetizing. I could care less how many balls O'Nan cons or cajoles out of the players, his writing style is boring, and does everyone in Red Sox Nation drive an escalade or is O'Nan just hung up on them?

There are plenty of other books out there chronicling the Red Sox victorious season, and probably most of them make for better reading.

Rating:
Summary: not just for Red Sox fans, really
Review: I am a Red Sox fan, though not from New England. I love baseball, and during the off-season one year I stumbled across a Red Sox-Yankees game on ESPN Classic. Captured by the scrappy, ultimately victorious underdog-like play from the Red Sox, I have been hooked ever since. Visiting Fenway to see games played in the First New England Church of Baseball deepened the addiction. I loved Faithful...I laughed, re-read entire passages just for fun, and even cried at the end. (Sort of the way I cried when the Sox won the Series: partly out of happiness and partly because it was over and there wouldn't be any baseball the next day.)

It isn't a play-by-play of the 2004 season, nor was it intended to be. It's a journal, kept by two gifted writers who are also Sox fanatics. I recommend it to anyone who's ridden the Red Sox rollercoaster for a few years, and also to fans of other hard-luck teams who haven't seen a championship in a while. It'll give you some hope, and an entertaining look at a great baseball season.

Rating:
Summary: Much more enjoyable if you only read the bold print!
Review: I read every word of the first two-hundred pages of this book, when the fear that I may actually become bored with the book prompted me to skim the pages for only the bold print sections written by King. It would be unfair of me to judge Stewart O'Nan, having never read any of his books, but if this is any indication of his writing style, I would probably find greater enjoyment watching a BBC documentary about Whooping Cranes with Whooping Cough. I was thoroughly bored with his passages, which constituted the majority of the first half of the book. He rambled on, constantly on like a retarded pony with attention deficit disorder. There are pages and pages of text with no other purpose than to pitch to the reader that he, Mr. O'Nan, is way super cool -- He talked to Gape Kapler once, you know. Oh! He also conned Kevin Millar into thinking he was with the press and granted him an interview. He carries a big net, and nabs a game ball practically EVERY TIME he's at Fenway Park. Wow, what a fan! His physical composition actually attracts horsehide! No wonder he sits atop the Green Monster!!

This book is not a total loss. If you're a Sox fan, this book certainly does bring back the up and down emotions of the 2004 season. However, if you are more than die-hard, the type to get up at three in the morning and check box scores on the internet, the kind of superstitious fan that will wear the same boxer shorts for an entire week if only it meant the Sox will come back from a 3-0 deficit and defeat the Yankees ... stick with the bold text.

Rating:
Summary: Glory Revisited
Review: This book is a must for any Red Sox fan. After 86 years of agony, the Red Sox captured the 2004 World Series in the most unlikely of scenarios. First, down three games to none in the ALCS against their arch-rival Yankees, and trailing in the ninth in game four, the Sox complete a historic comeback to capture the pennant. Next, they sweep the powerful Cardinals in four games. This book brings back every step of the triumphant 2004 season, game by game. King and O'Nan are not only two of today's most prolific writers, they are also diehard fans. Their passion and knowledge shine in this diary. It is not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: WARNING:
Review: This book may be harmful to your 2004 Red Sox memories. Indeed, if you treasure your recollections of that glorious World Series year, you'll want to keep them untainted by this laborious and witless tome. It does nothing to enhance the memory of that magical season, and only serves to crush it under a torrent of unceasing and pointless personal detail as written by these two unrelentingly self-satisfied and self-referential would-be diarists. The whole experience is akin to being trapped on a bus or plane next to two high-fiving Sox fans who ramble on and on about the games (and even more tediously, themselves) in the most smug and annoying manner imaginable. If you really want to relive that wonderful 2004 season, just close your eyes and let your own memories unfurl. And if you feel you must check out this book, just wait a little while and pick it up at your local bookstore on the bargain or remainder table, where it is destined to be very soon.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Look at 2004 Red Sox
Review: Written in diary style, Faithful is Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King's view of the 2004 Boston Red Sox season. O'Nan contributes the most to the book, especially at the beginning of the season, while Stephen King writes more about the middle and second half of the season. Their styles are quite different - O'Nan, who became a Red Sox fan as an adult, is more analytical about the game, yet at time is almost childlike in his attempts to catch balls at batting practice or get players autographs. King, a lifelong Red Sox fan, has experienced all the joy and heartbreak of being a member of Red Sox nation and it comes through in his writing. Some of his writing is memorable, especially the part where he throws out the first pitch, which had me laughing, and when he takes his mother-in-law to a playoff game, which brought tears to my eyes.

As both a Red Sox and Stephen King fan, I really enjoyed reading this book. It was fun reliving certain games (including a few I'd like to forget about!). O'Nan and King not only talk about the games, but their own lives, in such a way that I felt like I was sitting next to them at Fenway Park, rather than reading a book!

Red Sox fans will enjoy this book. After all, it has the perfect ending!