If you are a little surprised by the quick release of ‘Calico Joe’ by John Grisham, so soon after the Litigators, don’t be. This book is one full of baseball scores, averages, homeruns and pontificating on them and is even sure to put off a baseball fan.
As a story, there is nothing in it. I’ve often heard that Tamil movie directors and producers often ask for a story to be told in 3 lines. Somewhere I read that Hollywood movie producers go even further - they want the whole story in 1 single sentence. This John Grisham story, if you can call it that, can be told in one such sentence.
It is not a long novel, running only 200 odd pages even in Hard Cover. If you discount all the baseball stats filling it in, you can punt (pun intended) another 60 odd pages. That leaves about 140 odd pages for John Grisham to fill in the life and times of Joe Calico and the narrator Paul Tracey.
For a capable story teller like John Grisham, it is sad that 140 odd pages was not good enough to develop the characters of Calico Joe, Paul Tracey and Warren Tracey. All we get is glimpses of Calico Joe on the diamond, the absence and abusive presence of Warren Tracey and the rumination on the whole circumstances by Paul Tracey.
Except for some minor touching base with the character of Paul Tracey, there is nothing in the storyline as such to enthral the readers. If you are a Grisham fan, go ahead. If you are a baseball diehard, sure step into it. But if you are neither, you can safely strike out this one (again pun intended).
As a story, there is nothing in it. I’ve often heard that Tamil movie directors and producers often ask for a story to be told in 3 lines. Somewhere I read that Hollywood movie producers go even further - they want the whole story in 1 single sentence. This John Grisham story, if you can call it that, can be told in one such sentence.
It is not a long novel, running only 200 odd pages even in Hard Cover. If you discount all the baseball stats filling it in, you can punt (pun intended) another 60 odd pages. That leaves about 140 odd pages for John Grisham to fill in the life and times of Joe Calico and the narrator Paul Tracey.
For a capable story teller like John Grisham, it is sad that 140 odd pages was not good enough to develop the characters of Calico Joe, Paul Tracey and Warren Tracey. All we get is glimpses of Calico Joe on the diamond, the absence and abusive presence of Warren Tracey and the rumination on the whole circumstances by Paul Tracey.
Except for some minor touching base with the character of Paul Tracey, there is nothing in the storyline as such to enthral the readers. If you are a Grisham fan, go ahead. If you are a baseball diehard, sure step into it. But if you are neither, you can safely strike out this one (again pun intended).
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