Review by edesilva -- The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song
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edesilva
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- Latest Review: The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song by Brian Kaufman
Review by edesilva -- The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song" by Brian Kaufman.]
Parker Westfall is a baseball player in the twilight of his career while still holding forth hope for a shot at the big leagues. Waiting for that once-in-a-lifetime call, Parker instead is offered a one-year deal with the Colorado Miners, an independent minor league team. Not even close to the dream call he wants, reluctantly Parker takes it anyway—a decision that sets him on an adventure marked by personal and professional challenge, frequent frustration, and a healthy dose of self-reflection.
The Colorado Miners is a mixed bag of a team. Its players possess widely differing levels of talent as well as a dizzying array of personalities. Their coach, Grady O’Connor, a rather sour human being, really ought not be a coach at all. And perhaps most intriguing, the team has on its roster an attractive young female pitcher who throws a mean knuckleball. How the protagonist, Parker, navigates these variables (including an unsettling as well as confusing attraction to the young female pitcher, Courtney Morgan) while in pursuit of his own dream provides a thoroughly interesting story told by the talented author, Brian Kaufman, in The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song.
If you are a fan of sports in general, or of baseball in particular, you will love this book. If not, perhaps another story will be better suited to your tastes. Using the minor league system as both the backdrop of the story and the thread that gives it coherence and direction, Kaufman does a masterful job of creating an interesting read. The story moves at a satisfying pace and is punctuated with elements that both surprise the reader and add depth to the plot. The main characters are thoroughly developed along the way, including Parker Westfall, who grows on the reader as a rather complex and likeable individual. Kaufman stirs our empathy for Parker as he struggles to keep his dream alive while daily confronted by the sometimes-harsh realities of life in the minor leagues.
Given the high quality of Kaufman’s writing, his ability to tell a story that holds the reader, and along the stellar editing of the book itself, I give this book four out of four stars. Although it is a relatively short read, Kaufman succeeds in telling a fully developed story that contains believable characters with believable lives. With that said, one caveat for those who may be sensitive to the use of profanity. Though far from excessive, the book is nonetheless peppered with a healthy amount of locker room language. But such language does little to detract from the storyline; to the contrary, it makes both setting and character the more genuine.
Kudos to Brian Kaufman for giving us a story that so successfully blends a love of sports with the deeper, more complex dreams and struggles of the human psyche.
******
The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Parker Westfall is a baseball player in the twilight of his career while still holding forth hope for a shot at the big leagues. Waiting for that once-in-a-lifetime call, Parker instead is offered a one-year deal with the Colorado Miners, an independent minor league team. Not even close to the dream call he wants, reluctantly Parker takes it anyway—a decision that sets him on an adventure marked by personal and professional challenge, frequent frustration, and a healthy dose of self-reflection.
The Colorado Miners is a mixed bag of a team. Its players possess widely differing levels of talent as well as a dizzying array of personalities. Their coach, Grady O’Connor, a rather sour human being, really ought not be a coach at all. And perhaps most intriguing, the team has on its roster an attractive young female pitcher who throws a mean knuckleball. How the protagonist, Parker, navigates these variables (including an unsettling as well as confusing attraction to the young female pitcher, Courtney Morgan) while in pursuit of his own dream provides a thoroughly interesting story told by the talented author, Brian Kaufman, in The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song.
If you are a fan of sports in general, or of baseball in particular, you will love this book. If not, perhaps another story will be better suited to your tastes. Using the minor league system as both the backdrop of the story and the thread that gives it coherence and direction, Kaufman does a masterful job of creating an interesting read. The story moves at a satisfying pace and is punctuated with elements that both surprise the reader and add depth to the plot. The main characters are thoroughly developed along the way, including Parker Westfall, who grows on the reader as a rather complex and likeable individual. Kaufman stirs our empathy for Parker as he struggles to keep his dream alive while daily confronted by the sometimes-harsh realities of life in the minor leagues.
Given the high quality of Kaufman’s writing, his ability to tell a story that holds the reader, and along the stellar editing of the book itself, I give this book four out of four stars. Although it is a relatively short read, Kaufman succeeds in telling a fully developed story that contains believable characters with believable lives. With that said, one caveat for those who may be sensitive to the use of profanity. Though far from excessive, the book is nonetheless peppered with a healthy amount of locker room language. But such language does little to detract from the storyline; to the contrary, it makes both setting and character the more genuine.
Kudos to Brian Kaufman for giving us a story that so successfully blends a love of sports with the deeper, more complex dreams and struggles of the human psyche.
******
The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Fat Lady's Low, Sad Song by Brian Kaufman
