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Indlæser... Calico Joeaf John Grisham
   Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. I don't know how I feel about this book. It was good and interesting and well written, but it was also short and predictable with not too much substance. Kinda hard to describe. I finished it in a couple of hours, a quick easy read. The baseball was there, which is also kind of strange, as Grisham himself describes, as a blend of fact and fiction, real and imagined players, a seemingly factual 1973 season overview, but with a fictional schedule...anyway, I digress. What makes a book good or bad at its core is the story, obviously. This one had a good story, which made it enjoyable enough for me, just don't look for too much out of it. (  ) MrMet | Apr 28, 2023 |  An excellent read. I initially was doubtful as I know nothing of baseball, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. (  ) pete2000 | Feb 13, 2023 | In 1973, Warren Tracey is a pitcher for the Mets. Upcoming phenom Joe Castle plays for the Cubs. The story is told from the perspective of Warren’s son, Paul, who is eleven years old at the time of an incident involving both players. Joe Castle is Paul’s favorite player. John Tracey is his father. He is now an adult, and his father is dying. A large portion of this slim novel is spent with unpleasant characters. The son despises his father for philandering, physical abuse, and abandonment of his family. The father is so mean he is almost cartoonish. Grisham mixes real baseball players of the time with fictional players of his own creation. Baseball fans will notice a couple of glaring inaccuracies (e.g., the Cubs do not hold spring training in Florida). It is a decent story with a predictable ending. The audio book is competently read by Erik Singer. Grisham is known for his legal thrillers. You might say he has thrown the reader a “change-up” with this novel. Baseball fans will likely enjoy it more than those with no interest in the game. ( ) Castlelass | Oct 30, 2022 | i had to read this because a student wanted to read something and this is the book she chose. neither of us liked it, but at least it was short, and i speedread my way through most of it. but now i'm thinking a lot about why i didn't like it, and i think there are a lot of things going on in my head. number 1, though, is all the baseball. I mean ALL the baseball. all the baseball in the world is in this book, but luckily it's pretty much contained to every other chapter. number 2, certain people are pretty much all evil or all good, or empty shells of nothing that exist only to forward the story. boooorrriiinnnng. still, i was sort of shocked by some aspects of the father-son relationship, which i don't want to go into in much detail, but which made it so much more interesting to me than the rest of the book. but it wasn't enough. (  ) J.Flux | Aug 13, 2022 | A fantastic summer read. ( ) btbell_lt | Aug 1, 2022 |
 Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida, U.S.A. September 30, 2012 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of Review: The Code of Baseball, A Ruined Childhood & A Trip Down Memory Lane! Anyone that became a teenager in the early 1970's will immediately take to John Grisham's "Calico Joe." Especially one that grew up in New York and liked baseball. I know, I was one of them. Grisham's book revolves around a washed up, aging picture for the New York Mets named Paul Tracy and his mercurial, volatile relationship with his son Paul. Added in is a rookie phenom for the Cubs named Joe Castle. Castle, dubbed "Calico Joe," sets major league records in his 1973 rookie debut for consecutive games safely hit. Paul Castle fell in love with Calico Joe, even keeping a scrapbook of his accolades unbeknownst to his father. Grisham portrays Warren as a philanderer, a beanball artist, a drunkard and an abusive husband and father. Shades of the Tony Conigliaro incident are introduced when the Cubs come into town to play the Mets with the National League East pennant on the line. With Paul and his disgruntled mother in the stands at Shea Stadium, the two watch as Castle goes up against his father after successfully pounding Warren for a hit his first time up. The "code of baseball" is introduced, at least Warren's conception of it. If a batsman shows up the pitcher in any way the previous at bat, or is a cocky rookie, the next at bat will surely be a beanball. However, Warren was a cruel, mean "headhunter," and demanded Paul be like him in playing Little League. Without any remorse, the senior Tracy will throw at anyone's head as revenge, rarely missing. In Castle's second at bat, the lives of both the Castle and Tracy are forever changed. The ironies involved and the unpredictable twists of fate make this novel truly amazing. The names thrown out, e.g. Tom Seaver, Bobby Murcer, Ron Santo, Ferguson Jenkins, etc., bring back such vivid memories of a reader's lost youthhood that it is impossible to not love and embrace this fantastically written novel. Even more realistic are the memories Grisham introduces, such as his descriptions of the Long Island Railroad being ridden, Willets Point in Flushing and both old Shea and Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, etc., with fitting descriptions of the temperaments of the fans of each. Grisham fast forwards forty years later and cleverly plays out a scenario involving Warren, dying of cancer, a caustic Paul and a forever enfeebled Joe Castle. The realism is strikingly apparent, regardless of Grisham's introduction of a fictional protagonist. In fact, the author cleverly let former Cub infielder Don Kessinger proof read and correct "Calico Joe" for realism. Kessinger's interjections make this story so absorbing, captivating and realistic that anyone reading this cannot but be spellbound by "Calico Joe." Memories flash of Carl Mays, Ray Chapman and Tony C. Mays was a right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1929. Despite impressive career statistics, he is primarily remembered for throwing a beanball on August 16, 1920, that struck and killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians, making Chapman the only Major League player to die as a direct result of an injury sustained on the field. Similarly, Tony Conigliaro nicknamed "Tony C" played for the Boston Red Sox during their "Impossible Dream" season of 1967. He was hit in the face by a pitch from Jack Fisher, causing a severe eye injury and derailing his career. Though he would make a dramatic comeback from the injury, his career was not the same afterwards. Whether you like baseball or not, "Calico Joe" has something for any reader, guaranteeing a satisfying read! Calico Joe is a typical virtuoso display of Grisham’s natural story-telling skills. Slowly emerging through flashbacks within flashbacks and fragmented conversations is the history of Paul’s unhappy childhood at his father’s hands. Warren’s treatment of his family goes deep and Paul’s pain will not ease but barriers are broken down. The result is a superbly written book which, though fewer than 200 pages long, deserves a place on any family bookshelf. Distinctions
In this novel, the careers of a golden boy rookie hitter for the Cubs and a hard-hitting Mets pitcher take very different paths. The baseball is thrilling, but it is what happens off the field that makes this story a classic. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Indlæser...GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit: (3.67)
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