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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
What a fascinating read. It really had a lot to it. There was a baseball side, a history side and an emotional side. The baseball side was what I expected a basic recount of the early 50s Brooklyn Dodgers. It was well written and effective. The history side was phenomenal. It captured the era, but also was great to see the interaction between the writer and the players 18 years later. Add to that, the fact that I am reading the book 40 years after it was written added a new level to it. The emotional side is contained within the memoir elements of the book. It really plays well with the line between schlock and sweetness.
Can't recommend it enough.
Can't recommend it enough.
I’m a die hard Yankees fan, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the Brooklyn Dodgers because my grandmother grew up going to games at Ebbets Field. And it was really fun reading about those classic 1950s teams with Jackie, Pee Wee, the Duke, and more. It’s one of those eras that I feel like all baseball fans should read about.
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I loved this book. So easy to read with interesting people, and an important period in American history.
Wonderful stuff. Justly reknowned. Dispels a lot of the watering down and whitewashing of Jackie Robinson’s life and career (though probably not brutal enough in the telling by half).
Easily the best non-fiction sports book I've ever read. Although this was written nearly 50 years ago now, it speaks to a different era in a way few books can pull off years later. This is the baseball of yesteryear, of kids growing up in poverty playing with a stick in the street or rural fields. It's the story of Jackie Robinson, but it's so much more than that. It's really the story of a group of men who grew up in the 30s and 40s wanting nothing more than to play ball and finding themselves on the iconic Brooklyn Dodgers of the early 50s. You may think this would be an uplifting story, but for most its quite sad, yet completely enthralling. The story starts with the author describing his childhood in Brooklyn and how he found a love for the Dodgers and eventually ended up covering them for a paper at a young age. It then covers the years of glory and agony of the late 40s and early 50s for the Dodgers with a lot in depth looks at the players. Jackie Robinson is covered here in a much different way than the mantle we put on him now, but it's only a small part of the story. The second half of the book is the author catching up with a dozen of theses players 10-15 years later after their careers have come to and end and many struggle with the Dodgers years being the best years of their lives. As Ed Linn said, "Sooner or later, society beats down the man of muscle and sweat." This is a moving and captivating look at baseball of another era.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Baseball is poetry, and it invites magnificent writing in a way no other sport does. If they did, I’d watch more sports than just baseball.
Roger Kahn describing this book: “There are a plethora of books on sports. This one is not on sports but on time and what time does to all of us. King Lear is on the same subject as The Boys of Summer, and my work differs from Lear in that it isn’t as good.”
Roger Kahn describing this book: “There are a plethora of books on sports. This one is not on sports but on time and what time does to all of us. King Lear is on the same subject as The Boys of Summer, and my work differs from Lear in that it isn’t as good.”
I just finished “The Boys of Summer” by Roger Kahn. Many say it’s one of the best baseball books of all time, but it’s much more. It’s the autobiography of a boy from Brooklyn who loved the Dodgers and found himself reporting on the team for the Herald Tribune as a young man. It’s about life after baseball as Kahn tracks down and follows up on the lives of the players he got to know, including Clem Labine, Cark Erskine, Carl Furillo, “Preacher” Roe, Gil Hodges, Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, and especially Jackie Robinson. The lives of these men after the glorious days of their youth were filled with challenges and in some cases tragedy. So, really this book is about the hard road of life itself. Highly recommended – even if you’re not an old Dodgers fan like myself.