The novel, "Bucky F*cking Dent," is not what I expected it to be; it is much more. Author David Duchovny - yes, that David Dochovny - is a gifted writer and an erudite student of history, philosophy, and culture. The name "Bucky Dent" sends a frisson up and down the spine of any Red Sox fan who has been paying attention since the watershed 1978 season.
You may recall that after a volatile regular season that saw the Red Sox sprint to a huge early lead in the American League East Division, they fell on hard times in July and the dog days of August and fell behind the Yankees. It took winning the last eight games of the season to draw even with the Bronx Bombers, setting the stage for a one game playoff. A coin flip determined that the pivotal game would be hosted by the Red Sox at Fenway Park, their "lyric little bandbox."
Bucky Dent was a light hitting shortstop penciled into the ninth position in the batting order. The Red Sox led the game 2-0 going into the seventh inning behind the shutout pitching of former Yankee hurler Mike Torrez. Early in the at bat, Dent broke his bat, and borrowed one from the on deck batter, center fielder Mickey Rivers. Dent had fouled off the first two pitches, and then took a cut at Torrez's next offering. The ball gently sailed toward the iconic Green Monster. Leftfielder, future Hall of Famer Yaz, camped under the high fly ball, ready to record the out. But a breeze blowing out toward the Wall turned what would have been an easy out in any other major league ballpark into a 3-run homerun. At that was it. The Red Sox tried desperately to claw their way back into the lead, but the final score was Yankees 5 - Red Sox 4. The cancer that had been eating away at the soul of Red Sox Nation since 1918 - the Curse of the Bambino - rolled on like a juggernaut from the gates of Hell.
It is this historic baseball nugget that Duchovny uses as the seed around which he concocts a moving mythology about an estranged father and son duo - Marty and Ted. As the action of the novel begins, the two had not spoken in several years - Marty living n Brooklyn and Ted subsisting in a fourth floor walk-up apartment in Queens. Ted learns that Marty is dying of lung cancer, and decides to pay him a visit. He also learns from the old neighborhood gang that Marty's physical condition from day to day tends to wax and wane in sympathy with the results of the most recent win or loss by his beloved Boston Red Sox. Ted , despite his Columbia University degree, works as a peanut vendor at Yankee Stadium. He comes up with a plan to fool Marty into thinking that the Red Sox were continuing their winning ways, enlisting the support of the denizens of the neighborhood news stand, characters who had known Marty and Ted for decades. His goal was to maximize the number of good days that Marty would experience as the cancer ate away at what was left of Marty's body. Two significant women play important roles in the saga. Mariana is a "mortality coach," basically functioning as a hospice counselor who visits Marty on a regular basis. She and Ted develop a complex and tortuous relationship. Maria is a former lover of Marty who comes back into his life during his final days.
Ted manages to score two tickets to the playoff game in Boston, and he and Marty embark on a road trip from Brooklyn to Boston. The description of the trip provides author Duchovny with an opportunity to use the trip as a metaphor for Marty and Ted and their lives:
"They drove farther north like that.In perfect loving antagonism. It occurred to Ted that maybe Marty was like all the red and gold leaves he saw burning on the trees. In nature, it seems, things reached their most vibrant and beautiful right at the point of death, flaming out with all they had - why not natural man? His father was red, green, yellow, and gold, like a beautiful bird falling from the sky." (p, 253)
The novel is deeply moving, and a fitting read for Red Sox fans, Yankees fans, and fans of great writing.
Enjoy!
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