Review by NZarina -- The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song

[NZarina]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song" by Brian Kaufman.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Fat Lady’s Low, Sad Song written by Brian Kaufman is a novel of a professional baseball player Parker Westfall, who has his last chance to get into professional league, but he ends up in a minor indie baseball league despite his high rank of home runs and due to the lack of other choices. Parker is a bit out of shape and has to lie about his age if he wants to play, but that does not stop him. This is also a story of a young talented female pitcher who struggles with the game and needs some guidance to succeed in baseball. The big role in the book is given to the development of relationship inside the team, how new characters blend in and influence other players.

This book caught my interest even despite me being unfamiliar with baseball terminology. It was a bit hard to focus in the beginning due to some unknown concepts, but once I got into characters, it did not to seem matter anymore. The story is engaging and easy-going, you do not really notice how you flip the pages because all you want to know is what will happen next.

What I enjoyed the most about the book was the characters. They are very likable and what is more important, live. Brian Kaufman skillfully introduces the players without revealing their motives and qualities, but guiding the reader to open the character himself little by little and by the end of the book each of them gets into you and makes you sympathize and feel each person. I guess telling the story from every character’s perspective contributed to making every person so live and interesting.

The book was well edited. My only concerns were about the structure of the book which only bothered me in the beginning. Once I understood it, the story was easy to read. It was a bit confusing starting a new chapter and not realising whose perspective of telling it was. The second thing that also bugged me first was only using Parker Westfall’s name and surname repeatedly without exchanging it with other synonyms. Those are not really major issues and do not affect the joy of the reading in general.

Overall, I rate this book 4 out of 4 for the catching plot and charming, complex characters. Once I got into them, I could not stop until I finished the book. It is a very easy story to read even without having sport background information.

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The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song
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