Goldblatt is thorough and knowledgeable as always -- no fault to be found in his research. But at times I felt stuck in I wish I'd thought more of it.
Goldblatt is thorough and knowledgeable as always -- no fault to be found in his research. But at times I felt stuck in a well-written sociology thesis built on the standard academic/pop-political framework for modern Britain, the assumption that Margaret Thatcher's tenure destroyed everything that once was good and true about Britain, wrenching its destiny away from the social-democratic paradise that should have been. Goldblatt assumes the unassailable truth of this narrative, and slots the football* in neatly along that track.
Does it work? Sure -- the view of modern football as denatured is such a well-worn path, Goldblatt's task becomes simply matching parallel (if tired) narratives. But why couldn't he offer something different -- or at least an attempt at persuasion, with an implicit acknowledgment of differing views?
A more open mind might have let Goldblatt see broader benefits to the middle class-ization of football; his admission to decreasing acceptance of public xenophobia and ethnic intolerance almost feels backhanded within the sea of woe. (Denunciations of changing supporter demographics always strike me as loaded: are new supporters simultaneously damned for not watching what came before and damned for signing on now?) Entertaining the idea that football's positive market signals of the 1990s and 2000s, like Thatcher's governments' long tenure, could have been traceable to truly positive developments rather than cynical commercial/political manipulation would have made for a better book -- and an argument we don't see regularly from the WSC/Guardian smart set.
N.B. The American publisher's subtitle does a disservice to Goldblatt's work. The Premier League is a factor in his analysis, but not at all the center -- that emphasis mis-sells the book. Presumably someone decided the U.S. name recognition of the "EPL" brand would help sales vs. the accuracy of "English football" or a translation to "soccer", but it was a poor choice. * I usually say "soccer", but this book is so closely bound to English culture, the American usage felt out of place even in a review....more
First and foremost, this is a pop-business book, and as such it's quite good. I learned plenty about the automotive industry, its PR environment, and First and foremost, this is a pop-business book, and as such it's quite good. I learned plenty about the automotive industry, its PR environment, and Korean corporate culture, as well as the adjustment a journalist had to make moving into PR, but it's all lightweight stuff as the genre demands.
The rest is where it fell down for me. There could have been more incisive general Korean cultural observations -- I'd be shocked if Ahrens doesn't have them -- but neither the business book framing nor Ahrens's obvious continuing loyalty to Hyundai seemed to allow him to go deeper. Living on-base at Yongsan as his wife's post permitted also was a major shortcut around some of the usual challenges of expat adjustment, as he readily admits, and it affects his insight. The book is also much heavier on Ahrens's mid-life personal maturation and new understanding of his faith than its PR suggests. If you're looking for that sort of thing, you'll enjoy it, and full credit to him as a person, but I had hoped for more Korea....more
Very enjoyable memoir -- not comprehensive, but doesn't present itself as such. I really appreciated that Kasinof didn't try to come off knowing more Very enjoyable memoir -- not comprehensive, but doesn't present itself as such. I really appreciated that Kasinof didn't try to come off knowing more than she did, but nor did she go the other way and spend chapters in look-at-me clueless wonder. The feel of her slice of Yemeni life is great, and the book is worth the read for that alone....more
2.5* if I could give half-stars. A hard read, I think because I'm used to English self-hatred carrying a wry undertone. There's nothing wry here excep2.5* if I could give half-stars. A hard read, I think because I'm used to English self-hatred carrying a wry undertone. There's nothing wry here except perhaps in his interactions with his GPS/satnav's Ozzy Osbourne voice. No smile and a wink, just horror upon horror, and by about midway through it's tough to take. It picks up a bit as the author sees the end approaching (and spends time in Wales, which he seems to have a bit more of a sense of humor about than the North of England), thankfully, but the parenthetical clause in the title doesn't come through to an American reader as truthful except perhaps in a political left/Labour-nationalist sense. Perhaps it's different to a native reader....more
As much as I enjoyed the premise, the execution here was spotty at best. The author acknowledges in the foreword that this manuscript largely sat on tAs much as I enjoyed the premise, the execution here was spotty at best. The author acknowledges in the foreword that this manuscript largely sat on the shelf for 17 years, and that leads to too many asides where he takes us out of the flow of the season to let us know how (for example) Jamie Cureton reflected much later on his time with Busan I'Cons, or to point out where 2020 technology would have fixed a problem or a certain practice rang oddly in a post-COVID world. Readers can figure those last few out on their own, and reminiscences would have been better saved for a few critical points. As is, I'm reading with 75% of my brain in 2003, but 25% in 2020 because the author keeps reminding me that's where he is now, and it's not a good experience.
And I think the reason the manuscript languished for so many years is that the author simply couldn't find a reason for us to care. The results on the pitch are awful; Ian Porterfield's managerial style is best described as self-harm; Jamie Cureton's half-season becomes a footnote in an incredible itinerant career up and down the English football pyramid; the team barely escapes being moved after a season of attendance even worse than the football. Rowcliffe wants to share Korean football and Busan's fan culture rather than making it about himself, and that's laudable, but we never get to know any of the Korean fans or players as more than names on a sheet. I'm left to guess that he didn't have the language skills to engage past a superficial level -- he doesn't want to be the story, but he doesn't seem to have access to the story he's trying to tell. The result is that the whole narrative feels curiously distanced, save a few rants from Porterfield. And that alienation is the expat experience, but Rowcliffe won't let me care about him to share that feeling....more
The footballer-book style grates. Ignore it. He's still incredibly interesting.The footballer-book style grates. Ignore it. He's still incredibly interesting....more
I don't want to reduce Adiga's writing to the caricature of trying to impress Western readers with the fraught nature of modern India, but with this bI don't want to reduce Adiga's writing to the caricature of trying to impress Western readers with the fraught nature of modern India, but with this book it's hard to avoid. What else are we supposed to take away from this? Is this a psycho sports dad story? We have plenty of those already, fiction and non-, book and film – and this isn't a very good one, unless I'm supposed to marvel at the cultural expression of the dad's craziness being different from the North American Anglo version. Coming-of-age story? (view spoiler)[Why push Manju's trip to Manchester off-stage, then? And for the love of all that's holy, why quit writing as soon as Manju walks out on Javed and only come back over a decade later? (hide spoiler)] And did Adiga just get bored with Radha? (view spoiler)[And with the boys' mother? Come on. Walk away from enough plot lines and it stops feeling like a literary device and starts feeling more like disorganized or disinterested writing. (hide spoiler)]
So, all you're left with is: Manju is stunted because of his dad and the influences his dad brings into his life. Modern India is stunted because, on top of its own historical dynamics, modern upper-class Indians abroad get a free pass in educated Western culture due to post-colonial guilt (as Adiga's seeming avatar Anand Mehta spouts off), and returnees bring that back to India as trickle-down havoc, both economic and cultural. Manju is stunted. India is stunted. Manju is India. There. There's your thesis if you're stuck reading this in freshman English class, and there's this book. Done.
And if you have the choice, read The White Tiger instead. At least Adiga developed that book's characters instead of jumping to a new subplot every chance they had to grow up a little....more
In one sentence: I kept going back to Barnes and Noble until I finished reading it, but I refused to just buy it and take it home because I didn't wanIn one sentence: I kept going back to Barnes and Noble until I finished reading it, but I refused to just buy it and take it home because I didn't want to give the author any money.
It's a compelling narrative of McCarthy's time in the minors, but he comes across as every bit as intolerable as the teammates he slags -- and he doesn't seem to realize it. People comparing this to Ball Four must not have gotten much from Jim Bouton's humility in that volume, because there was certainly none in McCarthy's writing. Humility is what makes a tell-all tolerable. Without that it's just condescending voyeurism....more
A grinding mess. Kurlansky seems to know the Dominican Republic and San Pedro de Macorís, but the book makes me wonder whether he resented having to uA grinding mess. Kurlansky seems to know the Dominican Republic and San Pedro de Macorís, but the book makes me wonder whether he resented having to use baseball as the hook for the history volume he would have preferred to write. The baseball descriptions are overly detailed for anyone who knows the structure or history of the game, and the history is difficult to push through as he seems to think every so often "I guess I have to say something about baseball here."
I also have a tough time trusting Kurlansky's conception of the U.S.'s political role in the modern baseball economy. I don't know the historic sugar economy nearly well enough to doubt him on that, so no disputes there, and he points out rightly that the size of the modern Dominican academy system is partially attributable to American baseball's inability to pursue and sign Cuban players. That's undeniable. It's quite jarring, though, to see him assert multiple times that this would change "if the U.S. [government] would stop requiring Cuban players to defect to play in the major leagues" -- as if the Cuban government has no responsibility for and plays no role in preventing its citizens from freely traveling abroad or otherwise interacting with the global economy. It makes me wonder what else he distorts to feed a narrative -- although it's hard to ferret out what narrative he would be trying to feed....more
I love Coach Beamer, but I'm not gonna pretend this is a good book or that it offers much any Hokie doesn't already know. It's exactly what you think I love Coach Beamer, but I'm not gonna pretend this is a good book or that it offers much any Hokie doesn't already know. It's exactly what you think it is from the cover: what amounts to a couple weeks' worth of tape recorder worked into something that would sell fine for a couple seasons of alumni hitting up Tech Bookstore on football weekends. That's fine; it's what veteran coaches do. Doesn't make the book a good read, though....more
Interesting, especially for the typical American latecomer to Everton support that I am, and probably better than the average 'footballer book'.
That Interesting, especially for the typical American latecomer to Everton support that I am, and probably better than the average 'footballer book'.
That said, the writing standard of North American athlete books is so much higher than that of their British counterparts (i.e. NA ghostwriters rewrite much harder), Brit books are often a tough slog if you've grown up on US/Canadian style. Footballer books also often come across as uninquisitive monologues vs. the American warts-and-all approach of the post-Ball Four era. Southall fights that impulse way more than most, to his credit, but it seems hard to completely shake the apparent cultural norm that writing a book is how you settle your scores....more
3.5*. 2* to start, 5* once he hit the afterburners at the halfway mark. So much so that it made me angry that a third of the way in I was ready to scr3.5*. 2* to start, 5* once he hit the afterburners at the halfway mark. So much so that it made me angry that a third of the way in I was ready to scrap it because (view spoiler)[he did the same thing at the beginning here as he did for the car crash at the end of Us Against You, only for a hundred twenty-eight damned pages of teasing different people he might kill to bring Benji and Maya home. (hide spoiler)]
As others have said, much of the first half is repetition yet it's still nowhere near enough to make it readable as a stand-alone book. But once he decides it's time to stop telling and start showing, it's another gripping story with characters actually growing, finally, and new characters that make meaningful contributions. (view spoiler)[Although Leo still isn't quite a real person. (hide spoiler)]...more
Just the low side of 3.5. I like the concept, the world-building is thoughtful, and I believe most of the characters. Another reviewer pointed out thaJust the low side of 3.5. I like the concept, the world-building is thoughtful, and I believe most of the characters. Another reviewer pointed out that after the divergence between the UDPs' timeline and ours seemingly everything changed, and I'd agree that's a little excessive. At the same time I wanted to learn more about their timeline, though clearly the point of the book isn't that world so much as the refugee experience.
The only major element that didn't work for me was the excerpts from The Pyronauts. I couldn't get enough into that story in what little we had of it for it to work. Another minor scene near the end of the book could have been done a little better and probably wasn't strictly necessary to the storyline, but it at least made sense....more
**spoiler alert** I wanted to like it more. The story drew me in just as strongly as Beartown, but I kept clocking out because the writing jerked me a**spoiler alert** I wanted to like it more. The story drew me in just as strongly as Beartown, but I kept clocking out because the writing jerked me around in so many places:
The hockey storyline is missing pieces. Knowing that Backman is a hardcore sports fan, players on a select team just not showing up for games, or materializing during the second intermission and going in as if there were no consequences, rings terribly untrue (especially Vidar, the goalie!). Their unreliability would be part of every discussion in the locker room and coach's office. It's not a hockey book, so all I can surmise is that he chose to leave it out to help focus the story -- but its absence is glaring if you care about the hockey, and it at first made me think Backman didn't really understand the sport until I read more about him.
Peter felt almost like an afterthought in this book, and I don't get why. I mean, I get that he's broken, and in some ways has been broken all his life, but in Beartown we could empathize with him and his dedication to family, club, and town no matter how badly the town treats him. Here, we swing from him doing his absolute damnedest to support Maya, to being supposed to accept that he's a miserable spineless sad sack and always has been, to maybe the marriage is failing, oh oops they're trying again yay.
Leo isn't real to anyone in or involved with this book, including the author, and the times Backman tries to puppet Kira and occasionally Maya into pretending he is just make it more glaring. He seems to be setting Leo up as the center of book 3, but if he's going to be just as wooden as in this one, I hope that's another misdirection!
The whole political storyline was crowbarred in. He managed to put Peter in the same binds just fine in Beartown without tossing in a third-rate local populist Svengali that we were supposed to... follow? Care about the machinations? Care about the person?
And, most glaringly, the car crash scene was way, way too cute. An author can misdirect us on which person you're killing off once, maybe twice without drawing readers out of the story. By the time we get to four or five in a two-page stretch it's hard not to (a) see the man behind the curtain and (b) start yelling at him.
At least the translator learned this time that the position in hockey is called defenseman, not back....more
A slow go unless theory is your thing, but worth the read for the anecdotes and examples as much as anything. As mentioned below, it's not really a noA slow go unless theory is your thing, but worth the read for the anecdotes and examples as much as anything. As mentioned below, it's not really a novel idea that many aspects of Soviet life on an individual and micro-social level were, essentially, orthogonal to politics, even if expressed using forms either taken directly from the Soviet political context or from the "anti-Soviet" West. But the examples, again, are quite striking.
I found it interesting that Yurchak seemed to avoid likening aspects of the Party and Party activities to an established church or faith (complete with varying levels of devotion among the nominal members, appropriation of symbols and forms, and debatable levels of integration with operational aspects of the state), because the implied analogy was so obvious as to be stifling, especially in early chapters. Does making a comparison seriously that others might offer facilely get you disinvited from the good academic conferences? Or was state religion simply a can of worms it wasn't necessary to open?
n.b. I did start skimming about 40% of the way through....more
In general, it's a worthwhile immersion into the scouting world, and it's very interesting to see who's panned out and who hasn't.
I had one huge boneIn general, it's a worthwhile immersion into the scouting world, and it's very interesting to see who's panned out and who hasn't.
I had one huge bone to pick, though: when Joyce discusses non-North American players, he clearly understands that their developmental experience is different from Canada's. And he recognizes that this different experience yields different NHL readiness at age 18, both on the ice and professionally/socially. It's jarring, then, to watch him completely fail to apply the same rubric to American players, instead taking every opportunity he can find to condemn the US draft cohort that year in particular and USA Hockey in general for not acting like Canadians. Of course, the US player development experience is vastly different: ice time is more scarce and far more expensive when you can find it; finding top-tier competition requires far more travel (again, more money). School systems don't automatically defer to hockey as in Canada. Other sports are always knocking on the door, with often a far easier path to elite competition and a better guarantee of at least some usable compensation for their adult lives via NCAA scholarship, vs. the few NCAA hockey programs or the CHL's limited scholarship program hamstrung by more professional-style high player turnover.
So by American kids' draft year, of course their parents are brash and assertive, and of course their kids have picked up on that. If they weren't, their son would have been done with competitive hockey before he got out of bantams. Joyce didn't have to spend much time on that (it's a whole other book, really), but his lack of curiosity when faced with the alternative of an easy stereotype -- especially one that sells well to the Canadian market this book mostly targets -- tells its own story....more
After the revelations of 2014-16 that the author's father was not part of the storied second photo (though he was part of the first flag-raising and aAfter the revelations of 2014-16 that the author's father was not part of the storied second photo (though he was part of the first flag-raising and a Navy Cross-decorated hero of the campaign), it's difficult to give this book a fair star rating, but I'll go with my impressions anyway.
The research as a labor of love, I can credit. But learning in the acknowledgements that the initial manuscript was rejected 27 times before his agent brought in Ron Powers as co-author tied some loose threads together. The narrative jerks back and forth between campaign and research in a way that presages the 2010s oral-history trend. As good a man as John Bradley seemingly was, there's far too much my-hero-my-dad, and the contrast of that hagiography with the very harsh judgment of the Gagnons and the pitying yet condescending portrayal of Ira Hayes is glaring. And the author couldn't have known what the 2014-16 researchers would find – but with that knowledge, his confidence in the reasons for his father's silence becomes badly misplaced.
I want to like it. It brings light to the backstory of a key cultural touchstone of the Pacific War, and the narrative pulls you through. But too much morality play makes it hard to enjoy by the end....more
"What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?"
--
And what can he learn of cricket who does not cricket know? An awful lot with this book in hand"What do they know of cricket who only cricket know?"
--
And what can he learn of cricket who does not cricket know? An awful lot with this book in hand, actually. It's an outstanding read on so many levels, from conveying the institutional culture of cricket to illustrating its history and conflicts with the cultures outside it ("beyond [the] boundary") to general colonialism and post-colonialism to even side observations of America and its contrasting sport culture that James observed during his time in the US. If you don't understand cricket gameplay at all, you'll want to brush up (Wikipedia or a similarly informal reference is fine), but it's worth the time investment as an onramp to the cultural experience conveyed by this book.
--
I read this book after returning from a trip on which I saw my first match, Middlesex County Cricket Club v. Surrey at Lord's Cricket Ground. The format of that match, Twenty20, was designed to last three hours rather than the up to five days of a traditional match; it's meant to be presented in spectator format matching American sports, complete with music hits after a batsman is retired, a crowd-pumping public address announcer, and cheerleaders (who looked to American eyes like knockoffs from a football movie that didn't license NFL or NCAA team identities).
It's extremely popular, and yet extremely controversial. Cricket's old guard despise it because, in their view, the format fundamentally changes the skills valued in the game and the presentation threatens the culture. After watching the match and reading this book, I think I agree with them. The T20 format came across, even to me with approximately one hour lifetime cricket-watching experience prior to that night (in a hotel lobby in Manchester in 2001, waiting for our group leader to get us checked in), as a watered-down misfit, particularly to the general mood of the crowd. It's as if fifteen minutes of 7-on-7 passing drills were substituted for an American football game, or more charitably, home run derby for baseball.
The closest approximation to a cricket crowd I can give in my American sports experience, despite being from a completely different class/economic segment, is NASCAR. Sure, the spectators are interested in what's going on, some of them deeply so. But in neither place did it seem the competition on the field/track took precedence in individual spectators' minds over bringing a few beers in, sitting with your friends or business partners, and having a good afternoon/evening out with company. (Perhaps an American golf crowd is the same way; I wouldn't know.) The pace of gameplay and mindset of the crowd didn't match the T20 presentation in the way it seemed a leisurely afternoon of play with little external interruption would have.
Also, for the record: it's tough to avoid doing so as an American, but approaching cricket through analogy to baseball doesn't work for reasons not immediately obvious. They're far more different games than they appear, and applying baseball terminology in some ways leads to a fundamentally broken understanding of the game....more
Close to 3.5*, but not enough so to round up to 4. Reading this on the tail of The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock offered a goodClose to 3.5*, but not enough so to round up to 4. Reading this on the tail of The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock offered a good contrast. Unlike Weigel, Hyden was able to get control of single-band anecdotes before they got out of hand and took over multiple chapters of a book, and it let him give a much better overview of a genre that demands a wide treatment.
That said, I think Hyden struggled with how much to construct a broad narrative vs. deep cuts into the distinctions in the classic rock oeuvre, and it played out choppier than I would have liked. The chapters could easily have been individual articles at Uproxx (or back at Grantland) without much rework. I'd hoped for something more cohesive.
Still a good read and a good approach to the evolution of not just classic rock, but the entire American popular music scene. And the Boogie Nights reference to condemn the Spotify-era mass-market shift from albums to self-constructed playlists -- "What passed for cokehead logic in the early eighties is now conventional wisdom" -- just about justified the purchase in one shot anyway....more
I like the Simpsons. I like Canada. I like media critiques, cultural critiques, and especially social analysis of pop-culture phenomena. I work with acadI like the Simpsons. I like Canada. I like media critiques, cultural critiques, and especially social analysis of pop-culture phenomena. I work with academic research every day. I deal with plenty of leftist politics, given where I live.
But I didn't like this book at all. Two parts Simpsons-fan one-upsmanship, two parts journo trying to overwrite his way to academic credibility, one part irrelevant Canadiana, and one part the "Don't you hate George W. Bush? Man, I hate George W. Bush. Doesn't everyone hate George W. Bush?" trope so common in early-'00s book releases with little topical connection to the U.S. president of the time, more intended to establish the author's cool factor than provide any information.
He could've written a great social history by removing himself from the narrative and cutting the overwriting back one notch. I assume he knows this, given his professional success. I'm stuck with the conclusion that he didn't want to....more
Free Kindle First book, so expectations weren't high. The scene-setting was enjoyable, and it didn't drag out long enough that you got hung up in the Free Kindle First book, so expectations weren't high. The scene-setting was enjoyable, and it didn't drag out long enough that you got hung up in the details of (view spoiler)[how long the men had been hiding and what their needs would have been for sustenance over that time. But the tone of the college student's writing was awful -- the airheadedness and the doggedness of her research were completely at odds. Maybe he was attempting to port kawaii into American English, I don't know, but it failed badly. (hide spoiler)]...more
Worth reading as a newbie, and there were a few interesting tidbits for me as a veteran hockey watcher, but there's nothing revolutionary here if you'Worth reading as a newbie, and there were a few interesting tidbits for me as a veteran hockey watcher, but there's nothing revolutionary here if you've paid more than passing attention to hockey in the last 10 years. I'd expected better given the raves online and having read Puck Daddy for years.
If you've ever listened to Marek vs. Wyshynski (I've been a regular listener up until this season's irregular, Lozo-riddled schedule), you'll hear Wysh's voice in every line, almost distractingly so. Most people write differently from how they talk; the odd thing is that this book takes a *more* personal, informal tone than his PD writings, closer to his spoken style. I expected the opposite, and even just staying even with the PD journalistic style would've made a smoother read. The sidebars with Wysh's headshot make it feel like a knockoff of the Dummies series, too.
Not awful, but not nearly as good as it should have been....more
Bacon is Big Ten Feinstein, with all the positives and negatives that implies. He has good access and insight, but if you don't share his feeling thatBacon is Big Ten Feinstein, with all the positives and negatives that implies. He has good access and insight, but if you don't share his feeling that Michigan in particular and the Big Ten in general (pre-Rutgers and Maryland, at least) embody the Best of All That Is Good And True About Not Only College, But America Itself, he gets intolerably smug with a quickness. (His reaction to the Rutgers and Maryland reveal, late in the season this book chronicles, could have earned him a This Week in Schadenfreude special excerpt.) All that said, the insight into Penn State's 2012 and Bill O'Brien's approach to setting a new foundation for that program is especially worth the read.
And he's not wrong about the fault lines in modern college sports. He's just every bit the homer you'd find in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge or Athens; the only difference is a couple extra layers of warm clothing....more
Very good and thought-provoking within the domains Hari is comfortable with, but I could only marvel at an author spending lots of time on what he calVery good and thought-provoking within the domains Hari is comfortable with, but I could only marvel at an author spending lots of time on what he calls Western societies' thorough replacement of community/contributory values with junk (consumerist) values, yet having almost nothing to say about the correlated broad decline in religiosity in those societies....more
It's a fine apologetic for departing the LDS church in favor of conventional evangelical Christianity, and that's clearly his main purpose for writingIt's a fine apologetic for departing the LDS church in favor of conventional evangelical Christianity, and that's clearly his main purpose for writing. The story of his personal conversion and progression is insightful in some spots and cliché-laden to the point of distraction in others, having myself been plugged in to some of the 1990s Christian-culture currents this book was written to swim in. I had hoped for more insights on his musical development, having purchased this book after singing Redford's "Welcome All Wonders" cantata this fall, but that's not what this is about.
Overall, Redford seems a genuine, decent person, and that's nice, but maybe this just wasn't the read for 2017 me that it would have been for someone questioning childhood LDS faith or seeking reassurance in 1997-style evangelical faith and practice....more
It's a lot to think about. Tufekci is *very* good at stepping outside assumptions of the rightness or wrongness of a protest movement's cause to find It's a lot to think about. Tufekci is *very* good at stepping outside assumptions of the rightness or wrongness of a protest movement's cause to find ways to assess its actual value, which is sorely lacking in common discussion – the "signals and capabilities" framework seems incredibly important. I wish there had been a little more exploration of the Chinese model of response to online opposition, but the crapflooding/DDoS analogy that she starts there and expands to the "fake news" model of 2016 is quite useful....more
Reid is an observant, experienced journalist and a fluent Japanese speaker who was engaged enough to partially immerse his children in a Japanese publReid is an observant, experienced journalist and a fluent Japanese speaker who was engaged enough to partially immerse his children in a Japanese public school environment during his time in the country. He's neither slack-jawed in wonder at the workings of Japanese (and to a lesser extent other East Asian) society nor defensive about his American cultural assumptions -- more than anything he comes across as an honest, charitable interlocutor.
But it's still hard to read this book, published 1999, in 2017 and not trip up on how dated the cultural framing is. I doubt he could publish it now without a massive rewrite, and that's more a comment on how narrow the acceptable band of inter-cultural discussion has become, in the name of tolerance, than anything else....more
Reading Coupland 25 years on from the culture he both reflected and influenced makes it hard to evaluate him honestly. It's not like reading William GReading Coupland 25 years on from the culture he both reflected and influenced makes it hard to evaluate him honestly. It's not like reading William Gibson, where even if you recognize that you can't get the feeling of novelty because his themes kicked off a generation of cyberpunk sci-fi, you can still appreciate his mastery of the craft. Coupland's style is, as always, a little bit self-consciously quirky, and not always positively so.
But his understanding of the culture? So deeply perceptive and dead-on that it holds up through the years (has it really been twenty-five years?). And his characters, archetypal as they are, have heart -- partially because Coupland has a talent for hitting them with the personal growth equivalent of a two-by-four at exactly the right time....more
It's a perfectly nice, quick read, but nothing earth-shattering. Using the no-hitter as framing helps hide that it's pretty light on actual content, eIt's a perfectly nice, quick read, but nothing earth-shattering. Using the no-hitter as framing helps hide that it's pretty light on actual content, especially in the successful parts of his major-league career.
It would've been interesting for Abbott to explore his relationship with Scott Boras in more detail. He mentions mutual misunderstanding, but ultimately his current work as a motivational speaker isn't served by a tell-all or any focus on negatives past light individual foibles and challenges to his own self-confidence, and he and co-author Tim Brown seemed to keep that in mind throughout. But overall, Abbott comes across as an honest, decent guy; his book's an enjoyable flashback to my teenage baseball fandom via newspapers and baseball cards, and that's good enough....more
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