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Title: The Flop Heard Round the World
Review: I love baseball, as well as good and adventuresome writing, and was looking forward to this novel. The initial section at the 1951 playoff game was the best part of the book (but still pretty relentless), and it went downhill from there. I also love long and intricate novels in which I can get lost, but I found this one incredibly tedious. It was impossible to maintain a stake in the characters or in the jumpy plot, which seemed to be more of an exercise in showing off than anything else. It was impossible to draw the much-touted universal insights from this mess, though I'm of about the right age and experience to do so.I didn't finish the book, and it was a wonderfully liberating feeling to bail out.Maybe it's just because I'm a Dodger fan. . . But, hey, I wouldn't wish this one on George Steinbrenner, or even on the late Billy Martin.
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