At first, I wanted to write this off as a Middle Class Problems book -- a guy who's crushed because he can't throw a baseball perfectly anymore, a spoAt first, I wanted to write this off as a Middle Class Problems book -- a guy who's crushed because he can't throw a baseball perfectly anymore, a spoiled woman who's unhappy at her married life, and an old academic who's new to being gay. It still is about that, but it's nicely written and the characters started growing on me.
For the first half of the book, I was annoyed with how earnest and honest the characters were. Maybe it was because I read in Vanity Fair's How a Book is Born about the Disney-esque characters, but I couldn't shake that thought. Luckily, once more serious problems showed up, the characters started acting more like real people.
Something that happened in the end (view spoiler)[digging up the dead body (hide spoiler)] was a little *out there* but all in all, a bittersweet book. It makes me want to read Moby Dick. I do have to give Harbach props on getting me excited about the fictional baseball games. It made me excited for a spectator sport in the same way Friday Night Lights does....more