| |  | Author: Mark Harris
Publisher: Rosettabooks LLC
Category: Book
This item is no longer available
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Format: Import
Media: Unbound
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
ISBN: 079530160X
EAN: 9780795301605
ASIN: 079530160X
Publication Date: August 2001
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| Customer Reviews:
 Baseball as Americana August 21, 2001
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Mark Harris wrote perhaps the finest baseball novel ever with "The Southpaw." The book portrays the coming of age of a young left-handed pitching prodigy, Henry Wiggen, as he tries to make his mark in the majors in the 1950s. The book is written as a memoir by Wiggen himself after his rookie season with the New York Mammoths. The Mammoths are chasing a pennant and Wiggen is seeking to become "an immortal" and a man. Laconic, wry, amusing and gripping all at the same time, Wiggen's memoir slowly but surely draws in the reader. I had to get up at 5 in the morning to finish the last 100 pages to find out what happened to Henry and the Mammoths. Truly a "perfect game" for Harris.
 Book Shows It's Age June 22, 2001
1 out of 18 found this review helpful
As an avid baseball fan but a first-time baseball novel reader, I was disappointed with Southpaw. I didn't think twice about when the book was written (50 years ago) when I bought it. As I read through, the age of the book was obvious; not because of the style of baseball described, but because of the laughable simplicity of the characters. Some will rejoice that this book takes us "back to the good old days", but if you're looking for a more realistic novel of the game with thrilling twists and turns of a drive for the pennant, this book is not for you.Also, if you know little about baseball, the book will be hard to follow when it describes game action.
 Highly enjoyable and humorous April 25, 2001
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I truly enjoyed this book the more and more I read it. I am a baseball fan so I definitely got caught up in the pennant race, but what captured my imagination was the essence of the story. The story features characters and events and descriptions that just feel so real and they are in the eyes of Henry Wiggen. It's strange that Henry gives us all this information and details of his early baseball career, but yet he needs to figure out what is really important in his life. I commend Harris for fabricating a story that felt genuine and did not cheat the main character by straying off the plot which is to be about Henry Wiggen. I also appreciate the breaking down of the baseball mystique of its players - reading about Sad Sam Yale and Dutch made me realize even more how far baseball players really are separate from heroes.
wonderful January 21, 2000
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
if you care anything at all about baseball, you must read this book. the pennant race is captivating. the dialogue is so refreshing. the time so simple, that it is really a breath of fresh air in a time of $17 million dollar a year salaries.
My Favorite Book( when I was a teen) December 5, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I read this book at least once a year when I was growing up in the early 60's. The first few times were for the baseball, but that became less & less important. I insisted my fiance read it before we were married so she could understand "where I was coming from". I'm here(at Amazon.com) now to buy copies for some friends of mine. I wish it was still available in hardcover! I couldn't recommend it more highly.
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