mindfullibrarian's review
4.0
I guarantee that I would never have picked this book up on my own because baseball is not my preferred reading topic and I don't know much about it. BUT two things pushed me to read it: 1) this was the May 2023 pick for the Mom Advice Summer Book Club and 2) I finally realized that Wade Rouse is the author behind [a:Viola Shipman|14056193|Viola Shipman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1681334831p2/14056193.jpg] - he writes absolutely wonderful women's fiction under his grandmother's name. I ended up really enjoying this memoir of a father-son relationship that perseveres despite some pretty tough stuff including a lot of homophobia from Rouse's father. I will be adding this to my list of "books for dads" in the near future!
Source: public library print
Source: public library print
leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Bullying, and Death of parent
heathero621's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
This book is about Wade Rouse's complicated relationship with his father. This book was a Mom Advice book club selection for 2023 and when I heard the synopsis of Wade and his father bonding over their love of baseball I wasn't super interested in it because baseball is not my jam, but the book was so much more than that. I listened to the audio, which was good. The relationship with Wade and his father is really complicated because they are so different in what they believe and the lives that they live. His story reinforces the concept that children need their parents no matter how complicated it can get. If Wade and his dad were not related, there would be no way that they would keep in contact. There is a lot of baseball references, but it never got to be too much. The ending is sad and I wished that I had a hard copy of the book to be able to remember some of the things that Wade said that were really poignant.