Thom reviewed The progress of the seasons by George V. Higgins
Review of 'The progress of the seasons' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Pretty scattered memoir and loose Red Sox history. Definitely doesn't live up to the hype on the back cover - sorry George V. Higgins, this book does not prove you to be a "writer of genius" or "a master".
The author was a Boston newspaper writer, covering crime and occasionally sports. His crime and trial work led to his mystery novels, the sports led indirectly to this book. I say indirectly because his upbringing had a lot to do with this also - both his father and grandfather were Red Sox fans.
This book was very scattered, and while the first chapter and last had a sort of "theme", the rest seemed to be plunked in after 20 or so pages. Stories of the authors life (often with father and/or grandfather) mixed with Red Sox history (especially the 80s, though earlier eras were also in attendance) and very rough statistical …
Pretty scattered memoir and loose Red Sox history. Definitely doesn't live up to the hype on the back cover - sorry George V. Higgins, this book does not prove you to be a "writer of genius" or "a master".
The author was a Boston newspaper writer, covering crime and occasionally sports. His crime and trial work led to his mystery novels, the sports led indirectly to this book. I say indirectly because his upbringing had a lot to do with this also - both his father and grandfather were Red Sox fans.
This book was very scattered, and while the first chapter and last had a sort of "theme", the rest seemed to be plunked in after 20 or so pages. Stories of the authors life (often with father and/or grandfather) mixed with Red Sox history (especially the 80s, though earlier eras were also in attendance) and very rough statistical analysis. Chapters had some or all of those, with no particular order or conclusion. Jim Rice receives a fair amount of complaints. Unlabeled black and white pictures crop up occasionally - if you are lucky, you also get a uniform number.
For most people, this book would probably rate one star (did not like). The Red Sox of the 70s and 80s were the teams I followed most closely, and that aspect of this book was a good fit for this reader. There were bits of good writing also - I liked the comparison of Red Sox to Wilder's Our Town (see the subtitle), and the loving descriptions of Fenway Park. I'll probably check out one of his crime novels - it is said he inspired Elmore Leonard.