Box Socials

The view into the life of an alberta youth by kinsella is a one of a kind book. Kinsella wraps you into the culture of the small town in which the novel is based, doing an incomperable job of getting you involved with not only the lead, but every character involved. They way in which Kinsella writes this book, it is as if it wasn't a novel at all, but an autobiography; as if Kinsella had lived through the story. An unparalelled work, I find myself buying a copy of this book every 5 years or so as the binding wears thin from overuse. One that stands alone with a forever reserved spot in my life

Without the example of T. R. Pearson's A BRIEF HISTORY OF A SMALL PLACE Kinsella would have had no precedent for the repetitive style he uses in BOX SOCIALS, a novel set in the time and place of his own childhood, west of Edmonton near a place called Darwell in the 1930s--when you were supposed to have a license from the government to turn your radio on!That he succeeds in telling a baseball tale in a time when he himself knew no baseball and weaves in some truths about the racism that existed in what was, even there, a multi-cultural environment is a tribute to his inventiveness. This book is best read aloud with a Southern accent. So, if you aren't prepared to "work" at it a bit, you'll probably be disappointed. Otherwise, you'll find yourself noticing the width of the Pembina River-- next time you're on the Edmonton/Jasper highway.

I am a big fan of all of Kinsella's baseball books. This one takes us to 1940's Canada as seen throught the eyes of young Jamie O'Day. We hear about all the eccentric people in Jamie's life including Truckbox Al McClintock, the Little American Soldier, and many other interesting characters of the region. It is always appealing to me how the author revolves his story around baseball. Bob Feller even has a role in the story. My only complaint would be that the way the author repeats names of people and towns throughout the book can be annoying. Box Socials takes us to a time when life was slower and people enjoyed following the small town baseball teams. If you are a baseball fan and enjoy a good story-I think you will have fun reading Box Socials.

When one picks up a book by W.P. Kinsella one may have a pre-conceived idea of what they are getting into. When that conception is not met exactly, then there is usually a sense of disappointment. I did not come to BOX SOCIALS from knowing of his Baseball stories, but rather from knowing of his First Nations (he is Cree?) stories - first the short stories and then his "padded" ones that became noveletts. BOX SOCIALS tries to stride across both cultures. Though I found the voice of the storyteller and the method of the narration delightful and even somewhat intreaguing just to see if the author could maintain it throughout the book, I could see where it might get in the way for some readers. BOX SOCIALS is not a bout baseball, nor about First Nations citizens, but about growing up in a back-water region that is not unlike what we find in some of our own Southern writers venue. He has populated it with some very intersting characters - all sharpely and clearly drawn. He has painted a picture of the area that is both uplifting and depressing (after all, it is the end of the Great Depression). But above all, he tells a story that is well worth listening to.