[VAC]≡ Libro Gratis Blue Ruin A Novel of the 1919 World Series Brendan C Boyd 9780393030204 Books

Blue Ruin A Novel of the 1919 World Series Brendan C Boyd 9780393030204 Books

Download As PDF : Blue Ruin A Novel of the 1919 World Series Brendan C Boyd 9780393030204 Books

Blue Ruin A Novel of the 1919 World Series Brendan C Boyd 9780393030204 Books

Blue Ruin is the best read I've had in a while. It moved me to be introspective and I learned a lot about myself. I recommend it to baseball fans and literary fiction fans alike.


Tags : Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series [Brendan C. Boyd] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In a fictional recreation of the early years of baseball, Boston numbers runner Joseph Sport Sullivan convinces players on the White Sox to throw the 1919 World Series,Brendan C. Boyd,Blue Ruin: A Novel of the 1919 World Series,W W Norton & Co Inc,0393030202,(1919),Baseball players,Baseball players;Fiction.,Baseball teams,Baseball teams;Fiction.,Cincinnati (Ohio);Fiction.,Fiction,Fiction - General,General,Modern fiction,Popular American Fiction,World Series (Baseball),Chicago White Sox (Baseball te,Cincinnati Reds (Baseball team

Blue Ruin A Novel of the 1919 World Series Brendan C Boyd 9780393030204 Books Reviews

The problem with Blue Ruin is the narrator/protagonist, Sport Sullivan, the small-time Boston gambler who, in the novel's world, comes up with the idea of fixing the 1919 World Series. His garrulous recounting, filled (too filled) with period jargon, sets up everyone else in the fix, except Arnold Rothstein, as a loser and/or dunce. So why then, if he alone is so smart, does Sport throw away his winnings from the fix on every transparent scam that crosses his path? For a while I thought he was deliberately doing so to repent for the fix. But no, after the fix, he's just a dumb,though still smug and superior, dupe, which makes believing that he carried out all the elaborate twists of the fix just about impossible. Implausible in that way, overwritten, and too long, Blue Ruin is barely in three star territory for two reasons -- some of Boyd's writing does nicely capture the era and I at least am always a sucker for Black Sox stories.
Don't read this book expecting to get close to entertaining re-creations of the 1919 Chicago White Sox players. The main focus is on the set-up man for the fix (who is also set up by a behind-the-scenes big money operator). "Sport" is a gambler and a dreamer -- but finds life sadly sapped of vitality without the thrill of risking what he is told to be important -- financial security, self-respect, even love. So why not the World Series? We follow Sport's narration through the thrills of seemingly arranging the biggest of gambling risks, but the road always seems to bend towards emotional letdown and emptiness. I thought this book would be more about players and owners, but must admit it was an interesting journey into the mind of an addicted gambler. A bit clumsily written in some sections, but very original in its focus and conclusions.
Blue Ruin is the best read I've had in a while. It moved me to be introspective and I learned a lot about myself. I recommend it to baseball fans and literary fiction fans alike.