|
Book - Product Information
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Stewart O'nan, Stephen King
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Rank: 3494
Fans watching the 2004 baseball playoffs were often treated to shots of
Stephen King sitting in the stands, notebook in hand.
Given the bizarre
events on the field, from the Red Sox's unprecedented comeback against
their most hated rivals to their ace pitcher's bleeding, stitched-together
ankle--not to mention the Sox's first championship in 86 years--you could
be forgiven for thinking King was writing the script as he went along,
passing new plot twists down to the dugouts between innings. What he
was writing, though, along with his friend and fellow novelist Stewart
O'Nan, was Faithful, a diary of the 2004 Red Sox season.
Faithful is written not from inside the clubhouse or the press
room, but from the outside, from the stands and the sofa in front of the
TV, by two fans who, like the rest of New England, have lived and died
(mostly died) with the Sox for decades.
From opposite ends of Red Sox
Nation, King in Maine and O'Nan at the border of Yankees country in
Connecticut, they would meet in the middle at Fenway Park or trade emails
from home about the games they'd both stayed up past midnight to watch.
King (or, rather, "Steve") is emotional, O'Nan (or "Stew") is obsessively
analytical. Steve, as the most famous Sox fan who didn't star in
Gigli, is a folk hero of sorts, trading high fives with doormen and
enjoying box seats better than John Kerry's, while Stew is an anonymous
nomad, roving all over the park. (Although he's such a shameless ballhound
that he gains some minor celebrity as "Netman" when he brings a giant
fishing net to hawk batting-practice flies from the top of the Green
Monster.) You won't find any of the Roger Angell-style lyricism here
that baseball, and the Sox in particular, seem to bring out in people.
(King wouldn't stand for it.) Instead, this is the voice of sports talk
radio: two fans by turns hopeful, distraught, and elated, who assess every
inside pitch and every waiver move as a personal affront or vindication.
Full of daily play-by-play and a season's rises and falls, Faithful
isn't self-reflective or flat-out funny enough to become a sports classic
like Fever Pitch, Ball Four, or A Fan's Notes, but
like everything else associated with the Red Sox 2004 season, from the
signing of Curt Schilling to Dave Roberts's outstretched fingers, it
carries the golden glow of destiny.
And, of course, it's got a heck of an
ending. --Tom Nissley
Editorials
Sample 3 of 4
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Stewart O'nan, Stephen King
![]() | | | Amazon.com | | Fans watching the 2004 baseball playoffs were often treated to shots of
Stephen King sitting in the stands, notebook in hand. Given the bizarre
events on the field, from the Red Sox's unprecedented comeback against
their... read full editorial |
![]() | | | From Publishers Weekly | | Of all the books that will examine the Boston Red Sox's stunning
come-from-behind 2004 ALCS win over the Yankees and subsequent World
Series victory, none will have this book's warmth, personality or depth.
Beginning with... read full editorial |
![]() | | | Book Description | | A fan's notes for the ages, Faithful grew from an email exchange
last summer. Filled with the heady mix of exhilaration and frustration
familiar to all Boston Red Sox fans, Stewart O'Nan fired off a note to
fellow Sox fan,... read full editorial |
Customer Reviews
Sample 3 of 58
Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season
Stewart O'nan, Stephen King
![]() | | | "Ball Four", written from the fans' P-O-V; indispensible | | (Duluth, GA, USA) December 26, 2004 - 5.0/5 stars | | One of the more famous quotes made throughout the long history of baseball
comes from John Cheever, who noted that "All literary men are Red Sox
fans. To be a Yankee fan in literary society is to endanger... read full review |
![]() | | | "They played like a NL team, all hitting, no pitching" | | (Tampa, Florida United States) June 11, 2005 - 4.0/5 stars | | That is how Stewart O'Nan described the Red Sox the first time he saw them
play live, approximately a quarter of a century ago. He was a Pirates fan
then, and sometimes in the book he sounds like he still is, but he took... read full review |
![]() | | | Just goes to show you... | | (Jersey City, NJ) February 3, 2005 - 2.0/5 stars | | Because two guys are old pros doesn't necessarily mean that they can write
about sports. For the first time in my life I appreciate the skill and
craft that the professional sportswriter brings to his/her work... read full review |
Top 10 Best Selling Sports Recreation Book Categories
|
|