Battle Creek

Battle Creek by Scott Lasser

July 28, 2002

This book drew me in right away for a couple of reasons. First of all, since I've lived in Michigan all my life, the references to familiar roadways, cities, radio stations, etc. was really refreshing. Also, I've been a baseball fan all my life, so the subject matter was right up my alley.

Overall, I liked this book. The important characters were developed well enough and the story moved along. The biggest problem was that there didn't seem to be a firm conclusion to me. It's not that I want a "what we have learned" segment, but I wasn't sure the main characters really learned their lesson, or if they'd grown or changed any. For instance, how did Gil really feel about winning the championship because his best pitcher was throwing spitballs and his star hitter took a ball to the head and died?

The only other problem I had was that the entire book was written in present tense. For instance, "He walks into the room" instead of the traditional, "He walked into the room". It took some getting used to, because my reading ear has been trained all these ears that books are written in past tense.

Anyway, other than those small problems, I really thought this was a great book. And if you want to read something that is similar and also good, although not about baseball, I'd recommend "Empire Falls" by Richard Russo.