[bksvol-discuss] just submitted Faithful by Stewart O'nan and Stephen King

  • From: "Amber Wallenstein" <amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2008 17:06:39 -0400

Just submitted "Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox fans chronicle the 
Historic 2004 Season " by "Stewart O'nan, Stephen King".
"Why do you suck?" shouts Stewart O'nan at his TV.
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.
Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.  
Go Sox!
Amber
Book blog:
http://community.livejournal.com/book_cuddler/
I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have 
consented to my own ruin, to your ruin, and to the ruin of our children. I give
you this warning that you may prepare your mind for your fate.
John Adams
E-Mail: amber.wallens@xxxxxxxxx

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