Yay! I Finished Another Book - "Calico Joe" by John Grisham

I rarely read fiction anymore.

Oh, I have done my share in life.  Back in the school days, I did my required assignments of Gatsby and Silas Marner and Babbitt.  And, during my youthful summer nights reading by the kitchen fan, I would tackle those novels that were headed to the big screen.  Read the book before the movie, they would say.  So I devoured "The Godfather" and "Airport" and "The Other Side of Midnight."  I needed to be able to make those book-to-screen comparisons with my pals when the discussion went that way.

But, years later, I am fiction-less.  The big bestselling novels of the day come and go without me cracking the spine.  I spent one summer reading all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes adventures and another disastrous fall week wondering what all the fuss was about the first Harry Potter installment, which I found amateurish and boring. 

And that's it for me and novels.

Until recently.  A good friend of mine, who travels a lot and likely is always picking up a paperback in an airport book store, recommended that I should read one of John Grisham's latest, "Calico Joe."  He said he thought of me while he was reading it.

And that's no surprise since, at the heart of this novel by an author who usually spends most of his literary time in court rooms or police stations, is the sport of baseball.  More specifically, the 1973 baseball season which I joyously lived through as the New York Mets came out of nowhere to go to the World Series. 

My friend knows me well apparently.

I do recall now remembering that I did read one of Grisham's first works, "The Firm," and I was impressed at how fast I could zip through it.  Well, "Calico Joe" was no different.  I finished in a shade over two hours.  Either Grisham is a pretty simplistic writer or I'm a graduate of Evelyn Wood. 

Indeed, when it comes to deep and insightful prose, John Grisham is probably further from Charles Dickens and closer to Charles Schultz.  This is not the type of work that Rhodes scholars will debate in years to come.  But, nevertheless, Grisham tells a story and does it marvelously.  He's not reaching for the stars, but he doesn't have to.  If the author can come up with a novel that yours truly won't put down, that's a major literary achievement.

Grisham explains away his intentions at the back of the book.  While he focuses on the 1973 baseball season and certainly doesn't alter history, he does play fast and loose with some facts.  And the characters he creates for this tale are interspersed with real life figures like Tom Seaver, Yogi Berra, and Ron Santo.  He also acknowledges the assistance of such baseball luminaries as the Cubs shortstop Don Kessinger and former Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.  Their input is key to what goes on in "Calico Joe."

The novel revolves around a fateful collision course between two fictitious baseball stars.  A young phenom named Joe Castle from Calico Falls, Arkansas who sets the baseball world on fire with the Chicago Cubs much like Yasiel Puig has done for the Dodgers in 2013.   And a journeyman pitcher for the Mets named Warren Tracey.  He is supposedly the fourth man in the pitching rotation behind Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, and Jerry Koosman.  Hey, I know that was really George Stone, but I refer back to Grisham's apology.  Anyway, Castle and Tracey are at opposite ends of baseball fortune and this tale, told in flashback by Tracey's son Paul, is one where the two players will come together to live in baseball lore forever, just as Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca and Bill Buckner and Mookie Wilson have done.

To tell you more about "Calico Joe" would deter you from reading it yourself.  Oh, you know what's going to happen pages before, but some of the reading fun is the trip, not the ultimate destination.  Suffice it to say that this novel is all about the baseball "code."  It's not frequently discussed, but it does indeed exist.  What's the "code?"  Well, Dodger pitcher Don Drysdale once explained it best.

"You hit one of my guys.  I'll hit two of yours."

And Grisham takes it from there.

With a book that is semi-based in facts, I, of course, will pay attention to inconsistencies that nag me.  Because Grisham explains away some literary license, he has a long leash attached to me.  But he got a lot of the detail right.  The character's son rides to Shea Stadium on the train from Westchester County.  That was me.  For getting that correctly done, Grisham gets a gold star.  There are minor items to quibble with.  But, overall, the story itself pulls it all through.

If I had to dabble back in fiction again, "Calico Joe" was a perfect way to do so.  A terrific summer read.  And, now to tie in some reality, my next reading project will be a recent biography on Mickey Mantle.

Hey, you didn't think I was going to leave the world of non-fiction forever, did you?

Dinner last night:  Chinese chicken salad.