Official Review: The Hockey Saint by Howard Shapiro

[Circling Turtle]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Hockey Saint" by Howard Shapiro.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Fame, friendship and the cost of both are just some of the central themes in the graphic novel The Hockey Saint by Howard Shapiro, a motivational and thought-provoking story that will linger with the reader long after they have put it down.

Tom Leonard is a college sophomore struggling to cope with the deaths of his parents the previous year. He finds a sense of refuge in ice hockey, and is offered a partial scholarship based on his athletic prowess, yet he is still haunted by a pervading sense of loss. It is small wonder that he looks up to sports celebrity Jeremiah 'Jake' Jacobson, widely regarded as one of the best hockey players in the world at the age of only twenty-one. After all, celebrities have it all figured out, don't they? When Tom discovers his hero's address by chance and drives by out of curiosity, little does he know that this first brief encounter with the sports superstar will lead to a deep and possibly dangerous new friendship.

Howard Shapiro does an excellent job of characterising not only the main protagonists but also minor players such as Tom's grandmother. It is Jake, however, who stands out as the strongest and most fascinating character. He is a man both revered for his talent and resented for his reticence when it comes to talking to the story-hungry media. He disdains many of the conventional trappings of stardom, and guards his privacy intensely. To many people this comes across as rude and arrogant, but as the bond between Jake and Tom strengthens, the reader is shown the reasons behind Jake's secretiveness and comes to question a society in which the famous are under constant scrutiny. Jake is a complex and flawed character with good intentions, yet his reluctance to discuss his personal life may become his downfall when a rival attempts to launch a smear campaign against him.

Among other things, The Hockey Saint is a coming of age story. During the course of the graphic novel Tom must make some difficult and mature decisions which will test all of his relationships. The book does a very good job of illustrating how complex friendship can be, especially when one has to choose between potentially losing a friend and doing what will ultimately be best for that friend. It also explores the idea that very often we do not in fact know what is right for another person, or even ourselves. The author expresses these messages with a minimum of preachiness, making them even more pertinent.

Howard Shapiro's crisp dialogue combines with clear and colourful illustrations by Marica Inoue and Andres Mossa to make for easy readability, and the graphic novel format will help endear the book to its target audience of middle- to highschoolers. The panel layout is well planned and cinematography techniques are used to good effect to enhance action and progress the story line. The only part of the book that niggles me is a problem with perspective in a few of the graphics, but it is not a major issue. Another interesting aspect of the book is the 'recommending listening' at the beginning of each chapter, short lists of songs that form a soundtrack to the various sections of the story. The inclusion of these song titles heightens tension and atmosphere and makes the book even more compelling.

The Hockey Saint is the sequel to The Stereotypical Freaks, which focuses on a high school rock band and gives more back story about Tom and the loss of his parents. Despite being a sequel, I felt that The Hockey Saint stood very strongly on its own and I never once felt that a part of the story was missing. I would love to read the prequel when I get the opportunity, and I look forward to Howard Shapiro's future work.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed The Hockey Saint and would happily recommend it, especially to young teenagers. I give the book a final rating of 4 out of 4 stars.

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The Hockey Saint
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Like Circling Turtle's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Levi]

Wow, an interesting and well formatted review. I think the story speaks for itself, but you did an amazing job bringing it to life workout bouncing around or revealing too much or too little. Your review made me connect with the characters already and long to hear the story of their lives. A very timely subject matter as well, with the emphasis being placed on vapid celebrities in our society today. Great job highlighting the main points Circling Turtle!

[Circling Turtle]

Thanks so much Escapeartist!

[Levi]

You're very welcome!

[zeldas_lullaby]

Wow. Great review, and great book, from the looks of it!! I'm not really into sports stories, but if I were, I'd want to read this!!

[Circling Turtle]

Thanks zeldas_lullaby! It wasn't really a sports story, despite the title. Maybe I should have made that clearer in my review Hockey as a game was more a background for the other issues that the book deals with (although the idolisation of sports stars in particular was one of the main themes).

[zeldas_lullaby]

Oh, no, don't worry. You made it clear. Your review shows that this book is good on many levels. I just don't like sports themes at all, unless it's figure skating or gymnastics. But yeah, I could tell from your review that the sports (hockey) are used to deal with thematic material!

[bookowlie]

I enjoyed reading your review. The plot looks interesting. I think it's also nice that the book can be read as a standalone, even though it's a sequel.

[howard222]

Thanks everyone for the kind words and thoughts about the review for my "The Hockey Saint" book! If I can be of any assistance as far as passing along links to the book or for any more info on it, please email me

Thanks again!!


Howard Shapiro