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somechelsea's review
5.0
First: I have the envelope I was using as a bookmark, and written on it (at 3 am last night, when I couldn't sleep) is "I want to marry this man's tangents and have little half-tangent, half-human babies with them." I love a good tangent, and not only were they plentiful in this book, but they were appropriate, topical, enlightening, funny, and often touching.
But, so was the book.
I'm a sucker for a heroes-as-men story, and this is a good one. Hornig tells the story of the 1975 Boston Red Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds World Series basically pitch by pitch. He interviewed most of the members of the Red Sox team (the focus of his story), giving us not only their background and context for their performance in the Series, but also what happened to them after; there are some fascinating lives that were part of this team, both good and bad.
Hornig does a great job of keeping up the tension, despite all the tangents and, you know, everyone knowing how this one ends. And the ending is just as painful 32 years later (says the girl who wasn't born until 11 years after these games were played).
Hornig's take on the series isn't as poetic as [author:Roger Angell]'s, which was practically a religious experience for me (and which Hornig quotes several times), but it's much more in line with an actual fan's experience, I think; he frequently refers to watching the Series with old timer Uncle Oscar. (The postscript mentioning that Uncle Oscar passed away in 1992, having never seen a Red Sox World Series win during his lifetime, was a tough read for me, because I had an Uncle Oscar of my own.)
It's also interesting to note that this book came out in 2003, so he's writing from the perspective of a fan who still hasn't gotten a Championship.
But, so was the book.
I'm a sucker for a heroes-as-men story, and this is a good one. Hornig tells the story of the 1975 Boston Red Sox vs. Cincinnati Reds World Series basically pitch by pitch. He interviewed most of the members of the Red Sox team (the focus of his story), giving us not only their background and context for their performance in the Series, but also what happened to them after; there are some fascinating lives that were part of this team, both good and bad.
Hornig does a great job of keeping up the tension, despite all the tangents and, you know, everyone knowing how this one ends. And the ending is just as painful 32 years later (says the girl who wasn't born until 11 years after these games were played).
Hornig's take on the series isn't as poetic as [author:Roger Angell]'s, which was practically a religious experience for me (and which Hornig quotes several times), but it's much more in line with an actual fan's experience, I think; he frequently refers to watching the Series with old timer Uncle Oscar. (The postscript mentioning that Uncle Oscar passed away in 1992, having never seen a Red Sox World Series win during his lifetime, was a tough read for me, because I had an Uncle Oscar of my own.)
It's also interesting to note that this book came out in 2003, so he's writing from the perspective of a fan who still hasn't gotten a Championship.
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