In 1943, with the country at war, seventeen-year-old shortstop Danny Boles signs with a class C baseball farm club and heads into strange relationships, dramatic escapades, and lessons about life, dreams, and desire. 20,000 first printing. $30,000 ad/promo.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Frankenstein meets Field of Dreams in this nostalgic, gracefully written but fundamentally flawed baseball novel. Set in a sleepy Georgia town during WW II, this coming-of-age saga is based on the real-life story of Danny Boles, a major league scout who died of throat cancer in 1989. The fictional Boles leaves his rural Oklahoma digs to become shortstop for the Hightower Hellbenders, vaulting the Class C team into a pennant race in the process. Veteran writer Bishop ( No Enemy but Time ) delivers smooth and polished baseball prose and does some nice tricks with sports colloquialisms. He also tackles gritty issues such as the origins--in sexual abuse--of Boles's stuttering, the ravages of war and the rampant racism that plagued the sport. More problematic is Boles's huge teammate, slugging first baseman Henry "Jumbo" Cerval, who bears a suspicious resemblance to the gargantuan outcome of Victor Frankenstein's grand experiment. In the beginning, Bishop presents Cerval as a literate, likable freak. As the season unfolds, Cerval is revealed as the original monster, having escaped and survived for almost a century in the frozen North. Bishop milks the ludicrous premise for an intriguingly macabre ending, but the real problem is that Henry is far more interesting as a flawed human than as a scientific creation. That flaw aside, Brittle Innings should prove an engaging read for both sports buffs and fiction fans.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Nebula Award-winning author Bishop presents a most unusual fantasy: Frankenstein's monster as a minor-league first baseman. The plot grows slowly as baseball scout Danny Boles recalls his season in the class-C Chattahoochee Valley League in the war-torn summer of 1943. What begins as a simple coming-of-age saga shifts radically with the introduction of Boles's roommate Henry "Jumbo" Clerval: "I was ugly," Boles recalls, "but this guy'd been put together in a meat packing plant by clumsy blind men." The mute Boles and the gigantic Clerval lead their team, the Highbridge Hellbenders, into the thick of a pennant race, initially with triumphant results but ending, ultimately, in tragedy. The game of baseball is secondary, however, to the bond that grows between these two castoffs and the truths each man uncovers. Recommended for fantasy collections.
- Jeffrey Gay, Bridgewater P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Jeffrey Gay, Bridgewater P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They said it couldn't be done,
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This review is from: Brittle Innings (Mass Market Paperback)
Or maybe they did. Or maybe nobody ever thought of it before. If you had a contest of either the most unlikely types of books or ideas that you just didn't think would work, this would probably top the list. Baseball and Gothic horror? Taking place in WWII-era South? In the summer? But oh man is it good, in large part to Bishop's attention to period detail and his creation of a unique and feisty narrator in the young (and old) Danny Boles. The premise is that a young reporter has tracked down Mr Boles in an attempt to write a book about his life (he's a well known baseball scout) and Danny agrees, only if the first book the reporter does is a story of his only season playing in a professional fashion, with the Hellbenders. Thus the story begins, winding along, following Danny and his attempts to fit in with his team. The team consists of some of the most interesting characters, nay, people to come by in a long time. There is no one there that you can either straight out love or hate, the worst person has an endearing trait, the best of them hides a secret of some sort. Towering over it all literally is Jumbo Hank Clerval, the man who winds up being Danny's roommate (partway through the book he loses the ability to speak, which makes it even more interesting because Danny is forced to watch without acting more often than not) and the focus of the book itself. If you don't know how Mr Clerval is, well I won't spoil it for you, but that's where the unlikely concept comes in. The rest of the book is pitch perfect summer baseball, I don't even like sports that much and I loved this book. You sweat with the team as they win and lose game after game, fighting for the pennnant, trying to get some dignity and recognition in a country where everyone else is focused on the war effort and using baseball just as reason to forget their worries. Against this backdrop the summer falls and you are immersed into the South, warts and all, racism and truimph, tragedy and heroism. It's all there, this book breaks genres and it's a book you can recommend to most anyone. And I suggest you do.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
What Now?,
By
This review is from: Brittle Innings (Mass Market Paperback)
I thought I was getting a book about baseball when my in-laws gave this to me for Christmas. Frankenstein's monster? Who'd a thunk? And to imagine that he's a vegetarian power hitter for a minor-league club in Georgia. Well, don't that just beat all.
The strange thing is that, though I should have hated this, I didn't. I was charmed.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a concept!,
This review is from: Brittle Innings (Mass Market Paperback)
A fabulous combination of the horror genre and sports writing. To top it off, Bishop is strong writer. His characters are well-developed and likable (I hate reading a book where I don't like anyone) and he's excellent at turning a phrase. He's even able to provide a highly believable re-creation of 18th century writing. Some of the events are disturbing, some humorous, and it all comes together beautifully.
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