Season's End: A Novel
Author | : | |
Rating | : | 4.74 (799 Votes) |
Asin | : | 0803270674 |
Format Type | : | paperback |
Number of Pages | : | 319 Pages |
Publish Date | : | 2015-08-03 |
Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
George O'Kane is his Buddha: a fellow minor leaguer who plays like an all-star, yet is unconcerned with the scrambling for success or the constant incremental measures of his performance. Mike Williams is a minor league player looking to make it big by attaining the ultimate measure of success: a remarkable batting average. An entertaining tale of minor league baseball, Zen philosophy, death, fame, and statistics. . Tom Grimes's novel is the story of Williams's own rise into the majors and his ascent in understanding the real lessons of baseball. O'Kane teaches his philosophy of baseball to Williams before being called up to the big leagues. He develops a method of hitting that inverts the standard injunctions of batting coaches: he takes his eye off the ball and knocks them out of the park
james Talis jr said At times interesting. At times it was an interesting read but overall too philosophical and drifted away. Many sub-stories were started and never finished. I had many unanswered questions in the ends. "Season's End" according to Michael Kirkland. I liked the novel but didn't feel it was of the same quality as "A Stone of the Heart" or "Mentor." Powerful insight into the harsh reality of major league baseball and the price of stardom. The characters are finely drawn. However, the many literary allusions that Grimes makes through his main character, Mike Williams, are hardly believable for a professional athlete. To retain them, Grimes might have done better had he written this book in third person limited point of view rather than in first person singular. Stunning and almost overwhelming imagery conveyed through powerful use of simile and metaphor.
Mike Williams tempts fate when he appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age twenty-one. He becomes a major league batting champion and a national icon as he travels from innocence to disillusionment. Through the prism of baseball, Season’s End examines the rich, dark themes of young love, fathers and sons, rags-to-riches wealth, and the cult of celebrity in the media age.