Customer Reviews

The Way Home: Scenes from a Season, Lessons from a Lifetime

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

 

 

Like Dunow I decided to coach Little League to relate better to one of my son's and to make sure he got a fair shake at developing as a baseball player. Unlike Dunow I didn't get the job the first time I applied.
I found the Little League situations fascinating and related to the various players coaches, their attitudes and the situations. But it surprised me that Dunow's team improved so much without special coaching or instilling much competitiveness. I would be kind to the kids and almost never yell at them unless they weren't paying attention to the game while they were in the field. Dunow took a very gentle, kind and noncompetitive approach which worked surprisingly well. Even the problem kid Dylan came around in the end.

I was very interested in the Little League story and the fact that his son Max was a baseball trivia nut, knowing everything about the Yankees and his idol Derek Jeter. I was a lot that way as a child too. But Dunow alternates chapters, with one covering how he and his seven year old son progress during the Little League season followed by a chapter covering his own childhood and his relationship to his father.

I found the chapters about Little League more interesting. The switching back and forth breaks up the continuity and the two stories do not connect together very well. In the end he does do a good job of tieing his relationship with his son to his relationship to his father but the connection does not justify the style which I found disconcerting.

Both stories by themselves could make for interesting books but together it doesn't work. I found myself wanting to get through the chapters about his father to get back to the chapters about his son and the Little League. Hence I only gave it 3 stars.

I couldn't put the book down and didn't want it to end. Henry has a very conversational writing style that grabs your heart and involves you emotionally in his wonderful memoir. I laughed and cried my way through every page. It was an incredible journey and one I plan to experience each Father's Day. Henry has a gift and I'm glad he chose to share it with us. Read this book. You will be moved.

Dunow is that rare author, unafraid to reveal that with the great joys of life (his son and the pursuit of Little Leaque) comes the haunting realization of great loss (his own father). This story is universal for all of us who are children or parents and the specific care that Dunow takes to sketch a portrait of each young ball player on the team that he coaches is just one example of the deep humanity of the story he chooses to give us. I found this book lovely and a true testament to what it is to be a father. I look forward to his next book perhaps about his daughter, Maddy!

What a tender and moving story of fathers and sons. Powerful, funny, and tragic, this is a MUST-READ.

This is perhaps the richest, most moving and layered book I've read in years. Anyone who's shared a strong interest with their child--particularly if it is an interest that was either notably present or notably absent in your relationship with your parents--will find this book rich with wisdom and insight. Funny, moving, tender and wise, this book bridges genres as easily as it does generations, thanks to the author's deft and nimble writing. (And judging by the photos of him on the front cover and back flap, he's a hunk as well. Too bad he's married, apparently quite happily.)

I bought this book because just reading the jacket and a few random pages moved me. The story is exceptional and moving. But for a literary guy like Dunow, I'm disappointed in the writing style and execution of the storytelling. He spends way too much time on rants and spacey commentary that neither adds to the story nor moves it along. Furthermore, how many times can the name Derek Jeter be mentioned in one book. I know the guy's a great ballplayer, but geez...

God help those writers who Dunow is giving advice to. This is so sappy and self-serving you need a barf bag at your side while reading it. The writing is weak, the sentimentality suffocating, and the writer's self interest is way over the top. I am surprised that a publisher sunk their money in this; and I am angry at myself for blowing my own on one copy.

If you want to experience the bond between adult and child in all of its emotional breadth, put this book down and go talk to a kid.

Although Mr. Dunow describes some memorable times with his son through the joy of coaching his son's Little League team, his choice of language does not fit what I would expect from a father or a coach. His use of four letter expletives certainly do not fit this type of book. I would think someone of his literary background could certainly express himself far better than street talk.