Suder

This book has a main character, Craig, who's a professional baseball player who has hit a major slump in the major leagues and takes some time off. While soul searching and trying to maintain some semblance of sanity, Craig takes the reader through his abnormal childhood and reflects on the antics of his mother who was mentally insane. Although the ending leaves much to be desired, the content of the book will make you laugh, and say, "WHAT!" several times. Craig and his mother will stay with you long after you've finished this novel. The most memorable scene for me was the baseball game with the mother being an unofficial coach to Craig by showing him how to run the bases while wearing a full length mink coat. Happy reading.

Equally impious and improbable, Percival Everett's story of Craig Suder's sacrificing his baseball career to (inadvertently?) end up pursing an unacknowledged life-long dream is likely to disturb respectable folk. Those with delicate sensibilities need not open this wonderfully instructive and sometimes comically funny work. Nevertheless, Everett's finely detailed chronicle of a slumping professional third baseman's journey to self-awareness is an affirmation in the best sense of the word. Bringing in a diverse cast of characters- -including a taxidermically-obsessed baseball manager, an abused run-away sub-teen, and a long-suffering elephant who finds happiness in the Oregon hill country- -Everett leads the slumping pro ball player to an epiphany of the soul which concludes with a satisfying Icarus-like journey that is also a moving tribute to the jazz of Charlie "Byrd" Parker. Have fun!