Customer Reviews

Chance

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Okay, okay, I am the author's son, so I may not be totally unbiased. But hear me out. I hate sports. I can't stand baseball. Bores the hell out of me. I grew up with my father watching every bloody game and even got suckered into playing t-ball in the first grade -- a mistake which I never, thankfully, repeated. Which is why I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Chance. "Okay, here's the deal. This is a book about a baseball player. Do you care? If you don't care, read it anyway. There's some other stuff in it, too." Those are the first lines of the book. I didn't care. But I read it anyway. Okay, there were parts of Chance I didn't get in the least. I have no clue what a box score is, much less how to actually read one. But it's the characters that make Chance come alive. They are funny, human, and...well, funny. This is a story everyone can relate to -- something everyone can laugh at, regardless of whether or not they even know what an outfielder is. More than a book about a baseball player, this is a book about a man. Hey, this book has everything from baseball poetry to bizarre stories within the story with passages such as: "In the beginning, after the end, when the fourth dimension was made known to us, the lords of the fourth dimension were more than kind. The lords of the fourth dimension were more than patient with us. They were more than protective of us. They were, in fact, drunk. Consequently, we were forced to turn aside from them and to struggle along on our own." There's even a short short story about a blood crazed fish. Do you like baseball? Read the book. Do you hate baseball? Read the book. Do you like Monty Python? Definitely read the book!

Chance is a funny, poignant novel. It presents an engaging rogue and his outrageous teammates, family, & acquaintences. I've read it at least four times. I come back to Chance every spring as hope is born anew for a World Championship for all the great players who have never made it. Chance is, after Sharra's classic, the best baseball novel I've ever read.

I really enjoyed this book thoroughly. It's funny, charming, devlish, and very clever. Shilstone has a wonderful way with words, and his characters (and especially their names) are all, well, "characters". If Brautigan had written a baseball novel, I think it would have been similar to this. Hats off, though, to Shilstone and his obvious love of America's Favorite Pastime

"Chance" kept me in the game for 9 innings. I loved the character and the story. There's nothing like a shortstop star -- they are the athletes of the team -- and here was a rare case of a shortstop who had a heart and a life