Looking for a baseball review I found this reviewfrom Al Tucher, way back in 2010.
THE GREATEST SLUMP OF ALL TIME, David Carkeet
Over the weekend of November 13-14 I attended the Crimebake conference in Dedham, Mass. On Saturday a gentleman about my age joined my breakfast table. I read his nametag and blurted, "Mr. Carkeet. I'm a big fan of The Greatest Slump of All Time."
David
Carkeet's comic novel, which came out in 1984, supports my belief that
baseball is life, only more so. It's the story of a major league team,
each member of which suffers
from a secret depression. That would be bad enough, but the team is
also on a winning streak, The wrose the players feel, the more they
win, and the more they win, the more like worthless frauds they feel.
An excerpt says it better than I can:
"Bubba
fears someone is going to break into his apartment on a dark night
while he is in bed. The intruder will of course steal from him, but he
will also abuse him with words. Bubba feels that the man will have every right to do this."
The scene in which the teammates break through their manly silence and share their pain is hilarious, but I won't spoil it here.
David
Carkeet also wrote at least two crime novels in which a researcher in
linguistics solves the mystery, and he has a new book set in Vermont
called From Away. I plan to get hold of it.
3 comments:
I've read several baseball books, but not this one. Thanks for the tip!
I'm not usually one for sports-themed books, but this one sounds good. Thanks, Patti
I am not familiar with this book but I have one of the mysteries by Carkeet so thanks for the reminder.
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