Customer Reviews

The Fan

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

 

 

Gil Renard is a man on the edge, in more ways that one. Unable to keep his marriage together, unable to have a positive relationship with his son, and unable to climb the corporate ladder except for the glossy traps he surrounds himself with. The right car, the right suits; but his attempt at gloss fails when it comes to his one room apartment in a broken down building. Gil barely controls his rage, his drinking, and his contempt for his own son. Lost in his glory days of being MVP pitcher (which we discover was only Little League), he's obsessed with Baseball and player Bobby Rayburn in particular.

Bobby Rayburn is a talented player, batting .314 last season and commanding the largest salary the Sox have ever paid. But there's one problem with him joining the Sox, another teammate Primo has his number: Number 11. Bobby is a womanizer, a player who's in the game for money and fame, who often scorns at his legion of fans. He takes advantage of being away from his wife Valerie and five-year-old son Sean to bed different women every night. When his abilities suddenly take a nosedive, he at first believes it must be due to his eyesight, but discovers his problem lies much deeper than the physical.

Jewel Stern, a sports reporter for JOC radio, loves her career so much she's given up a normal life for it. Though she sees herself becoming "long in the tooth" as a woman, her career advancements more than make up for it.

When Gil finally loses his job, the full force of his psychotic behavior breaks out, leaving behind no more boundaries. He's served a court order to stay away from his son, begins to drink more, and winds out in his old town digging up his father's grave to retrieve his old Little League trophy. He takes up with old friend Len Boucicaut; a childhood friend from Little League who's become a backwoods piece of trailer trash. It's Boucicant that teaches Gil that even legal boundaries are to be scoffed at. Gil, driven by his desire to be "closer to the game", takes his friend's advice and finally finds a way through his madness to get close to Bobby Rayburn.

The book alternates chapters between Gil's life, Bobby's life, and Jewel's life; as each of them begin to closely intertwine as the story progresses. The characters are realistic with individual personalities. There is, of course, a lot of baseball description in the book, and though I'm not a sports fan I still found the storyline intriguing and captivating. 'The Fan' is an excellent tale of one man's degeneration into total madness.

On a personal note, I saw the movie before reading the book, and despite highly different physical descriptions I could only picture the characters from the movie. The endings are quite different, though each story is done very well, so I recommend watching the movie after reading the book. Enjoy!

Bobby Rayburn, the best hitter in professional baseball, has just signed on with the Boston Red Sox, an act which most believe will ensure the team a pennant. There's just one problem--early in the season, Bobby becomes mired in a slump of epic proportions.

Gil Renard is also in a deep slump. His life is a shambles--he's lost his job, his ex-wife won't let him see his son, and he's drifted into a life of crime to make ends meet. The only things that make his life bearable are baseball and his beloved Red Sox.

Two men, at crossroads in their lives, with little in common except baseball. The Fan tells the tale of how they meet, and the deadly and bloody results as hero worship degenerates into loathing.

Abrahams masterfully draws readers into his narrative, never relaxing his iron tight grip on their attention; then, just when you think you might have guessed where he's going, he delivers a knockout punch guaranteed to leave you reeling right until the very last line of the novel. The last few chapters go by in a blur, as you turn the pages with ever increasing velocity. Taut, tense and terrifying, The Fan is vintage Abrahams, another satisfying thriller from a true master of suspense.

This is a haunting book. I mean that in a good way. You probably know somebody who is only a couple of clicks away from turning into The Fan. It's an especially appealing book if you love baseball, of course. The author does a great job of making you continue to feel for The Fan even though he is very selfish, and not merely disturbed -- although he is clearly that, too.

I think this was a good book. Just when the suspense started to ease up, the author would drop a bomb on you. The book started so strong, but the finish was far from great. The ending left you hanging, but not a good hanging, a ending that didn't conlcude the book or characters. This book was a 4 until the author got tired of writing and wrote a ending like a 5th grader.

Gil Renard is an unforgetable, but unlovable charater in Peter Abrahams's "The Fan". He is slowly simmering over the crap that other people give him, with stupid bosses selling crappy knives and blaming him for them not selling. His ex is also shrewish, and he tries to relate to his son, but fails. Soon, Gil finds himself getting closer to a star hitter for the Sox(a unnamed city, but we know he's talking about Boston), while Gil himself starts descending in murder and theft. The commentary about Sox Fans is mostly true, and the ending is definately out of science fiction.

I gave this to a female friend and she was hesitant because there was a baseball on the cover. "It's not just about baseball," I told her. She returned it a day later saying she stayed up until she finished it. Being from Boston area made book fun and I could visualize scenes. Youn start out feeling bad for Gil, but, oh, do things change.

I agree with Stephen King about Peter Abrahams. He really knows how to hook a reader and keep him turning the pages. Out of all of his work, THE FAN is my favorite.

The movie, IMO, paled in comparison, although I did like it, too.

Usually, if I were to see a book marked as a favorite of Stephen King's, I'd quickly scroll away - Fast. But I'm a baseball fan and the description of this book was too enticing to ignore.

And I'm so GLAD that I got this one! TERRIFIC! I was fascinated by the hero, reminiscent of Willy Loman and very well drawn. As I read, I thought Author Abrahams had to be part of the pro-ball world; he's THAT convincing. But I've found that's the author's style; he writes "real" (as I learned by reading 'Nerve Damage' and 'Delusion' after finishing 'The Fan').

From the start, we know that the hero is a loser who loves baseball. But we quickly discover that his feelings for the game are more of an obsession, over-the-top demented, as he's drawn ever downward, to crime and insanity (or insanity and crime - hard to say which comes first). I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but it's GOOD. And all of the characters (from the young son to the ever nasty "super-hero" slugger) are believable.

Baseball fan or not - Don't miss this one! Great fun under the "I Couldn't Put It Down" category.

The Fan is a fast paced thriller that will appeal to both to fans of the genre (no pun intended) and to the sports geek who wants to expand into other reading areas. The storyline is fast-paced with quite a bit of suspense and more than enough baseball and behind the scenes of professional sports for the sports enthusiast. The novel does a nice job of switching back and forth between the protagonist (a knife salesman who is down on his luck), the sports star (who also is battling through a career slump) and the media. It's an entertaining book that moves along pretty quickly and is really good for an escape from the day to day.

Of course, if you've seen the film with Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes, there aren't a whole lot of surprises in the book, but there are a few differences. The film actually did a really good job of capturing the feel of the book though and although there are some changes here and there, both the book and the film work at accomplishing their ultimate goals.

Gil Renard is a failed knife salesman, failed husband and a failed father. Gil lives in the distant past when he was twelve years old and the MVP of his little league team. Gil is fueled by rage at the world who doesn't see his importance. Gil is going to prove to the world that he does matter by getting baseball player Bobby Rayburn out of his batting slump, no matter who or what gets in his way.

This book is a slow read and doesn't get going at all until the last sixty pages when Gil's pent up rage explodes.