Dream Season : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: I Was There...
Review: Dee Merriken sure knows her baseball! I'll admit it; I never was much of a baseball fan before Dream Season, but just like I learned to appreciate a Mozart opera by digging into its construction and evolution, I grew to appreciate the intricacies of baseball by watching (so it seemed) Walter Settle perfect his pitching form. I have to thank Ms. Merriken for whisking me, with the ease of a master storyteller, into this by-gone world of fast pitching games and slow Southern California life; wheeling & dealing owners and dedicated preachers; and exciting minor league and nail biting small-town baseball.

Dream Season is a must-read for baseball aficionados, history buffs, and people like me who can't seem resist a well-told story.

Rating:
Summary: Wake up and smell the neat's foot--Spring's on the way
Review: Dream Season is one of those books that lets us peek into a little corner of American history and savor what we see. A 14-yr-old son of a pioneer family dominated by a Bible-strict father happens to be a pitching whiz. Add to that a theft, a fire, some social prejudice, and a weathered-board look at the early days of Los Angeles County--and, oh yes, an eye-opening take on the infant days of Natonal League Baseball. Put it all together and the result is an instant remembrance of what we are, and how we got here. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story, great characters. . .
Review: Ms Merriken brings the past alive in this beautifully written story of her family. I loved the way she depicted the innocence of the characters, the challenges and trajedies they faced and, the life and times at the eve of the 20th century. You don't have to be a baseball fan or a local of the area to enjoy this 5 star book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story, great characters. . .
Review: Ms Merriken brings the past alive in this beautifully written story of her family. I loved the way she depicted the innocence of the characters, the challenges and trajedies they faced and, the life and times at the eve of the 20th century. You don't have to be a baseball fan or a local of the area to enjoy this 5 star book.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, character-driven fiction.
Review: The late nineteenth century springs to life once more in E Dee Merriken's tale of a young man of humble background whose closest contact with the game of his dreams is copying down the next week's baseball schedule from borrowed newspapers, or being invited to pitch in pick-up games by the local Mexicans because he can speak Spanish.

This is more than a sports novel. It is a splendid piece of period fiction, in which the reader can hear the strike of boot heels on hardwood of porches and storefronts of Norwalk, and taste dust on dry lips on its arid streets. Dream Season takes place in a century before time-saving luxuries such as cars and telephones, but which allowed the luxury of taking all morning to pick up the mail. It is in this simple time and place that one glimpses the athletic potential of young Walter Settle--a potential better appreciated from our modern perspective than by the young man himself, who has never seen an actual professional baseball game until his eccentric aunt hatches a plan to take him to Los Angeles for just this purpose.

Walter is so un-worldly, in fact, that he must ask the adopted uncle with whom he shares a bedroom the meaning of the word "Negro." And Uncle Frank is a black man.

Norwalk is populated by pioneers, a preacher, Mexican ballplayers, a Jewish tailor, Walter's drunken father and cultured aunt, and a husband-wife team of thief and con artist, all wrapped up in a story line that is truly a gift. Give it to someone you know who appreciates a good read. Better yet, treat yourself. The baseball angle makes it tempting to call Dream Season a homerun, but this fine book reminds us that even a walk can be gratifying. Enjoy it.

James D. Chlovechok, M.D., author of Game Face.

Rating:
Summary: Wake up and smell the neat's foot--Spring's on the way
Review: WOW! I bought this for my baseball fanatic brother as a gift, and ended up reading it all in one sitting myself. The book brings alive the early days of baseball in Los Angeles, and details the history of Norwalk, a suburb of LA. The baseball is so real and colorful, I could smell the peanuts, feel the hot sun, hear the voices of the characters. I was there!

As a history buff I was facinated by the detailed history of the the people who founded the town, but as the information came from the characters it was exciting, not textbook. I cared about the people, their trials and ultimate successes.

What a great read - I'm buying it again for other friends, and I look forward to seeing more of this author.