Japanese Baseball and Other Stories

Rating:
Summary: Not for baseball fans
Review: Don't be deterred by those claiming Kinsella is "only a baseball writer." Baseball forms but a backdrop for this stunning collection of Kinsella stories about people. Of these eleven tales, one is about architecture [!], one a compelling examination of human values, and six are love stories. Playing the game itself remains in the background, with the exception of a story showing how a varied community uses a context to unite in a common cause. As he's done before, Kinsella demonstrates his mastery of the short story. His portrayals of motivation and value conflicts find sympathetic responses from readers knowing nothing of the game.

Kinsella has dealt often with poignant issues, but the title story in this gathering of fine writing achieves a summit of excellence. As an Albertan, he's dealt with Native Peoples, Ukrainian, Scandinavian and Irish communities, often in the first person. Here, he adds Japan to his quiver of cultural portrayals. Again, baseball only forms a mechanism to depict the power love exerts over the unwary. Imagine falling in love with someone you can't converse with, then come to realize the barrier isn't linguistic. Craig Bevans goes to Japan to become a star, but falls in love with "the boss's daughter." The formula would be trite in hands other than Kinsella's - the star manipulating the owner for reward. Bevans, however, is driven by love, not ambition, and the ironic end of this story leaves the reader breathless, if not tearful.

The prize in this array of vividly crafted relations is The Arbiter. In any sport, writers focus on the newsworthy. American baseball pitchers, managers and strong hitters are social idols at many levels of both fact and fiction. Their abilities and their activities are recounted, assessed with their lives often scrutinized in agonizing detail. One group of people associated with any sport, however, are almost universally overlooked. The Arbiters - the referees, judges and umpires of any sport, sink into obscurity, relegated to background roles. In baseball, the umpire's dark suit melds them into the grassy horizon of the diamond. Only the contested call brings them to the fore of our attention. Once the game is decided, they fade from view and memory. Kinsella has retrieved one, vividly bringing him into our view as a man of enviable values. In an almost Sophoclean portrayal, Kinsella gives us a man driven to achieve perfection. What can challenges to that drive achieve but to erode it? Kinsella walks us through The Arbiter's confronting those challenges resulting in a nearly inevitable response.

Those who've read Kinsella will welcome this book as a pinnacle among his achievements. He's unquestionably a master of the genre. Some critics have claimed Kinsella shouldn't depart from short story writing. If this is Kinsella's response, their carping is surely vindicated. There's not a word extra nor any out of place. If you're new to Kinsella or not a baseball fan, have no worries; these stories will not leave you wondering what it's all about. Kinsella's people are identifiable by all of us. You will find yourself or someone you know in here without difficulty or distraction. You will come away wondering why you haven't read this excellent author before. You will, however, almost certainly want to read more.

Rating:
Summary: Not for baseball fans
Review: Don't be deterred by those claiming Kinsella is "only a baseball writer." Baseball forms but a backdrop for this stunning collection of Kinsella stories about people. Of these eleven tales, one is about architecture [!], one a compelling examination of human values, and six are love stories. Playing the game itself remains in the background, with the exception of a story showing how a varied community uses a context to unite in a common cause. As he's done before, Kinsella demonstrates his mastery of the short story. His portrayals of motivation and value conflicts find sympathetic responses from readers knowing nothing of the game.

Kinsella has dealt often with poignant issues, but the title story in this gathering of fine writing achieves a summit of excellence. As an Albertan, he's dealt with Native Peoples, Ukrainian, Scandinavian and Irish communities, often in the first person. Here, he adds Japan to his quiver of cultural portrayals. Again, baseball only forms a mechanism to depict the power love exerts over the unwary. Imagine falling in love with someone you can't converse with, then come to realize the barrier isn't linguistic. Craig Bevans goes to Japan to become a star, but falls in love with "the boss's daughter." The formula would be trite in hands other than Kinsella's - the star manipulating the owner for reward. Bevans, however, is driven by love, not ambition, and the ironic end of this story leaves the reader breathless, if not tearful.

The prize in this array of vividly crafted relations is The Arbiter. In any sport, writers focus on the newsworthy. American baseball pitchers, managers and strong hitters are social idols at many levels of both fact and fiction. Their abilities and their activities are recounted, assessed with their lives often scrutinized in agonizing detail. One group of people associated with any sport, however, are almost universally overlooked. The Arbiters - the referees, judges and umpires of any sport, sink into obscurity, relegated to background roles. In baseball, the umpire's dark suit melds them into the grassy horizon of the diamond. Only the contested call brings them to the fore of our attention. Once the game is decided, they fade from view and memory. Kinsella has retrieved one, vividly bringing him into our view as a man of enviable values. In an almost Sophoclean portrayal, Kinsella gives us a man driven to achieve perfection. What can challenges to that drive achieve but to erode it? Kinsella walks us through The Arbiter's confronting those challenges resulting in a nearly inevitable response.

Those who've read Kinsella will welcome this book as a pinnacle among his achievements. He's unquestionably a master of the genre. Some critics have claimed Kinsella shouldn't depart from short story writing. If this is Kinsella's response, their carping is surely vindicated. There's not a word extra nor any out of place. If you're new to Kinsella or not a baseball fan, have no worries; these stories will not leave you wondering what it's all about. Kinsella's people are identifiable by all of us. You will find yourself or someone you know in here without difficulty or distraction. You will come away wondering why you haven't read this excellent author before. You will, however, almost certainly want to read more.

Rating:
Summary: Dark and Melancholy
Review: I love baseball and W.P. Kinsella, author of SHOELESS JOE on which the film FIELD OF DREAMS was based, is one of my favorite authors. Prior to publishing JAPANESE BASEBALL AND OTHER STORIES, Kinsella had abandoned the short story in favor of novels surrounding the game of baseball or with a baseball theme. While I prefer novels to short stories, I was still very happy to find this book and I bought it immediately.

The stories in JAPANESE BASEBALL AND OTHER STORIES aren't happy or uplifting and none of them have a "feel good" ending, a la FIELD OF DREAMS, so if that is what you're looking for, you'd best look elsewhere or read SHOELESS JOE, instead. The stories in JAPANESE BASEBALL AND OTHER STORIES are often melancholy and deal with loss and resignation more than they deal with the pure joy of playing, or watching, a game of baseball. Many of the characters, even the younger ones, are quite world weary, and, despite the title, not all of these stories take place in Japan. Some take place in the US, while others take place in Latin America. One thing we know about Kinsella is, that if baseball is played there, Kinsella will take us there.

I enjoyed the title story, "Japanese Baseball," but I don't think it's the volumes very best. It concerns a gaijin baseball player (a player from a country other than Japan), Craig Bevans, who falls in love with the daughter of his team's general manager. One might expect that his attentions would be quite unwelcome, however, they are anything but and his courtship of the young girl uncovers a dark family secret.

A few of the stories, "Tulips" and "Understanding Lynn Johannsen," most notably, centered around very young protagonists, teenagers, really, and while baseball did serve as a backdrop for these stories, it really didn't play a prominent enough role for me. My own least favorite story in the entire collection was "Understanding Lynn Johannsen" and I think the protagonist's very young age had something to do with my not liking it. I also thought the story, itself, was rather cliché, but that could just be personal preference.

I loved "Wavelengths" and "The Lime Tree" because they centered on "baseball buddies." "The Lime Tree" was especially melancholy because the "buddies" were older men whose memories included those no longer with them.

"The Mansions of Federico Juarez" and "Fred Noonan's Flying Service" were good, solid stories that I enjoyed very much.

Two of my favorite stories were "The Indestructible Hadrian Wilks," which contains a very surprising twist and "The Kowloon Café."

Without a doubt, however, "The Arbiter," the story of an umpire with some difficult choices to make, takes center stage in this book. This is a wonderful story with terrific dialogue, terrific characterization, everything.

Kinsella is a wonderful writer, both of short stories and of novels. I love it when his writing involves baseball to a greater degree than it does in most of the stories in JAPANESE BASEBALL AND OTHER STORIES, but still, these stories are all first-rate and quite beautiful. Kinsella has, in this volume, moved away from the humorous and into the dark and melancholy, instead. Rather than the promise fulfillment, these stories focus on the resignation of loss and dreams that must, in the natural course of life, go unfulfilled. That doesn't mean they aren't as good as his earlier stories, it only mean they are different.

Lastly, JAPANESE BASEBALL AND OTHER STORIES is definitely not a book for children interested in baseball. This is definitely a book for grown ups and it definitely portrays a world and emotions that only grown ups will be able to understand. A Little Leaguer would have no interest in this book, but adult readers of literary fiction and lovers of baseball the world over should definitely give this book, and Kinsella, a try.

Rating:
Summary: Stories of love and lost opportunities
Review: W.P. Kinsella, best known as the author of SHOELESS JOE, the novel upon which "Field of Dreams" was based, has long been a critically acclaimed writer of short fiction. In this collection, Kinsella has once again taken his passion for baseball into the heart of his stories, with wonderful results. Sometimes, as in "The Kowloon Café," baseball is only a peripheral player, but in others, it becomes its own character that shapes and defines those around it.

The most disappointing story is perhaps the title one, which follows a gaijin baseball player as he falls in love with the petite, traditional Japanese daughter of his manager, only to discover that love does indeed require a language. Instead of taking the reader deep into this love story, the author skirts the larger issues he brings up. But Kinsella includes some real gems as well. "The Arbiter" is a first-rate story about an umpire who lives by exactitude, even at great personal cost. The exchanges he has while on the field are some of the most hilarious baseball on-field conversations I've read, but the real strength of this story lies in the passion the protagonist has for his job. "Underestimating Lynn Johannsen" tells of an eighteen year old high school student headed to pitch in college ball and his undying love for his other-side-of-the-tracks girlfriend. Unlike in "Japanese Baseball," here Kinsella reveals the complicated mess of young love and what to do with it, of dreams lost, of responsibility and passivity. "Wavelengths" follows two minor leagues ballplayers at the end of their first season. One failed miserably, and will do anything to improve. The other did well, getting the attention of the management and fans, but refuses to play baseball ever again. The story is about envy and friendship, and dreams lost to circumstance.

Anyone who loves baseball needs to read Kinsella's fiction. He has a deep understanding not only of the game but of what it means to the people who love it.

Rating:
Summary: Stories of love and lost opportunities
Review: W.P. Kinsella, best known as the author of SHOELESS JOE, the novel upon which "Field of Dreams" was based, has long been a critically acclaimed writer of short fiction. In this collection, Kinsella has once again taken his passion for baseball into the heart of his stories, with wonderful results. Sometimes, as in "The Kowloon Café," baseball is only a peripheral player, but in others, it becomes its own character that shapes and defines those around it.

The most disappointing story is perhaps the title one, which follows a gaijin baseball player as he falls in love with the petite, traditional Japanese daughter of his manager, only to discover that love does indeed require a language. Instead of taking the reader deep into this love story, the author skirts the larger issues he brings up. But Kinsella includes some real gems as well. "The Arbiter" is a first-rate story about an umpire who lives by exactitude, even at great personal cost. The exchanges he has while on the field are some of the most hilarious baseball on-field conversations I've read, but the real strength of this story lies in the passion the protagonist has for his job. "Underestimating Lynn Johannsen" tells of an eighteen year old high school student headed to pitch in college ball and his undying love for his other-side-of-the-tracks girlfriend. Unlike in "Japanese Baseball," here Kinsella reveals the complicated mess of young love and what to do with it, of dreams lost, of responsibility and passivity. "Wavelengths" follows two minor leagues ballplayers at the end of their first season. One failed miserably, and will do anything to improve. The other did well, getting the attention of the management and fans, but refuses to play baseball ever again. The story is about envy and friendship, and dreams lost to circumstance.

Anyone who loves baseball needs to read Kinsella's fiction. He has a deep understanding not only of the game but of what it means to the people who love it.