ARA Review by Clare Blando of The Tarantulas Best Season
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Clare Blando
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ARA Review by Clare Blando of The Tarantulas Best Season
[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, The Tarantulas Best Season.]
I was drawn to this book because of its subtitle, “A Quirky Baseball Story”, and the story did not disappoint in that regard. I give The Tarantula’s Best Season by James N. Sarvadi four out of five stars. The story did not disappoint on the quirky side but neither was it extraordinary to read.
A minor league baseball team is languishing in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and unexpectedly wins its final game of the season. Afterward, three players and the coach are sent to Tupequena, Mexico for the off-season. Once the team lands in their new temporary home, the quirkiness begins. The Tarantulas are staying at the female-owned Hotel Tupequena which competes with a similar hotel which is also female-owned. In fact, the entire town is female-centric, which makes the town both quirky and welcoming for the ball players. Throughout the course of the story, the team experiences a lightning strike from out of a clear sky, a bull rampaging across the stadium during a game, and a wandering player who gets lost in a cave. To celebrate the Day of the Dead, both hotels plan dueling parties. One guest, Liberty La Chance, is accident-prone and, ironically, in town to investigate a mysterious case of “accidental cannibalism”. Liberty keeps hitting dead ends until she discovers more about the man at the center of the controversy, Professor P. D. DeWitt. The sinister El Aya Fat Kabat, from an Arabian conglomerate that wants to buy the team, plots to kidnap two Tarantula players. Liberty finds herself drawn into the rescue attempt, which ultimately proves successful.
Probably the best thing about this novel, and also one that added to its quirky nature, is the characters. Although a few weren’t as well defined as they could have been, each was unique in his or her personality traits and behaviors. The team’s best hitter, Bradley, had a habit of wandering off which leads to trouble. Sanchez longs for the days when the Tarantulas filled the stadium so he could add to his secret room filled with keepsakes. Although his wife owns the team, it’s clear Sanchez would be a better manager than the angry coach Springer. Liberty La Chance was one character who was introduced early on as being accident-prone but who didn’t display that quality until she and Bradley, the wanderer, became lost in the cave. Polk, one of the ball players, was much more interested in the weather than in baseball but, nevertheless, didn’t say how lightning could strike out of a clear sky. Regardless, the characters remained interesting and engaging.
Particularly enjoyable in the book are the detailed descriptions of the jungle, the Mexican town of Tupequena, and the stifling heat in Mexico. While sometimes it felt like the author was adding, or repeating, detail simply to expand the work, I appreciate the level of accuracy described, especially regarding the heat and humidity. The baseball games also were enjoyable to read but didn’t overpower the story. The author clearly knows the game of baseball and its nuances and endowed the Sanchez character with those traits. Even though Sanchez’s wife owns the team, he is the one who obviously loves the team more than anyone else. He would suffer the most if the team were sold to an Arabian conglomerate and, therefore, capturing the kidnapped players became absolutely essential.
The only negatives I saw in the book, were a few typographical errors, which can be resolved by a thorough proofreader, and also, the few characters who were not as developed as I would have liked. For example, Liberty La Chance’s accident-prone nature. Regardless, those negatives don’t outweigh the positives except to support withholding a fifth star in the rating. Any given reader will either like The Tarantulas Best Season, or not, but in the end, they probably will.
***
View The Tarantulas Best Season on Bookshelves
I was drawn to this book because of its subtitle, “A Quirky Baseball Story”, and the story did not disappoint in that regard. I give The Tarantula’s Best Season by James N. Sarvadi four out of five stars. The story did not disappoint on the quirky side but neither was it extraordinary to read.
A minor league baseball team is languishing in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and unexpectedly wins its final game of the season. Afterward, three players and the coach are sent to Tupequena, Mexico for the off-season. Once the team lands in their new temporary home, the quirkiness begins. The Tarantulas are staying at the female-owned Hotel Tupequena which competes with a similar hotel which is also female-owned. In fact, the entire town is female-centric, which makes the town both quirky and welcoming for the ball players. Throughout the course of the story, the team experiences a lightning strike from out of a clear sky, a bull rampaging across the stadium during a game, and a wandering player who gets lost in a cave. To celebrate the Day of the Dead, both hotels plan dueling parties. One guest, Liberty La Chance, is accident-prone and, ironically, in town to investigate a mysterious case of “accidental cannibalism”. Liberty keeps hitting dead ends until she discovers more about the man at the center of the controversy, Professor P. D. DeWitt. The sinister El Aya Fat Kabat, from an Arabian conglomerate that wants to buy the team, plots to kidnap two Tarantula players. Liberty finds herself drawn into the rescue attempt, which ultimately proves successful.
Probably the best thing about this novel, and also one that added to its quirky nature, is the characters. Although a few weren’t as well defined as they could have been, each was unique in his or her personality traits and behaviors. The team’s best hitter, Bradley, had a habit of wandering off which leads to trouble. Sanchez longs for the days when the Tarantulas filled the stadium so he could add to his secret room filled with keepsakes. Although his wife owns the team, it’s clear Sanchez would be a better manager than the angry coach Springer. Liberty La Chance was one character who was introduced early on as being accident-prone but who didn’t display that quality until she and Bradley, the wanderer, became lost in the cave. Polk, one of the ball players, was much more interested in the weather than in baseball but, nevertheless, didn’t say how lightning could strike out of a clear sky. Regardless, the characters remained interesting and engaging.
Particularly enjoyable in the book are the detailed descriptions of the jungle, the Mexican town of Tupequena, and the stifling heat in Mexico. While sometimes it felt like the author was adding, or repeating, detail simply to expand the work, I appreciate the level of accuracy described, especially regarding the heat and humidity. The baseball games also were enjoyable to read but didn’t overpower the story. The author clearly knows the game of baseball and its nuances and endowed the Sanchez character with those traits. Even though Sanchez’s wife owns the team, he is the one who obviously loves the team more than anyone else. He would suffer the most if the team were sold to an Arabian conglomerate and, therefore, capturing the kidnapped players became absolutely essential.
The only negatives I saw in the book, were a few typographical errors, which can be resolved by a thorough proofreader, and also, the few characters who were not as developed as I would have liked. For example, Liberty La Chance’s accident-prone nature. Regardless, those negatives don’t outweigh the positives except to support withholding a fifth star in the rating. Any given reader will either like The Tarantulas Best Season, or not, but in the end, they probably will.
***
View The Tarantulas Best Season on Bookshelves
