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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you love (fill in the blanks) . . . Search Out This Book!, December 17, 2001
There are countless reasons I'd recommend this book. But first, a note of personal regret: I didn't come across this gem until it found me, one day several years ago, as I was prowling through the "bargain books" bin outside a used bookstore on San Francisco's Valencia Street. Frankly, considering all the re-readings I've subsequently done and hopefully will continue to enjoy long into the future, I'd much rather have bought this novel new. Author David Ritz deserves every last possible cent in royalties.And now to the merest handful of the reasons I'd recommend this book: If you love novels in which youthful dreams seem to die, only to be replaced by even better dreams once their dreamers grow big enough to match them . . . Search Out This Book! If you love a tale with a happy ending which won't leave the bitter taste of saccharin in your mouth, one which you can read time and again with your heart in your throat, a lump as big as Brooklyn itself . . . Search Out This Book! If you love a book which spans years and is driven by a narrative voice so perfectly rendered that you'd swear you can hear him speaking to you alone, allow me to introduce one Daniel "Squat" Malone, standout catcher at New Utrecht High and onetime future "can't-miss future Dodger Hall-of-Famer," as I urge you to . . . Search Out This Book! If you love a sense of "what could have happened" or "what should have happened," if you can give yourself over long enough that the improbable becomes at least plausible, and love yourself for doing so . . . Search Out This Book! If you love baseball, whether we're talking its past, its present, or simply its lore . . . Search Out This Book! And finally, if you love anything -- anything or anyone at all worth loving -- enough so that your heartstrings can be plucked to a perfect resonance . . . Search Out This Book! Search it out used through Amazon, or via z-Shops, or wherever else you may find it (heck, if all else fails, there's always the public library!), just do yourself a favor . . . Search Out This Book!
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