Monday 14 June 2010

Book review – Blockade Billy by Stephen King

blockadex Oh dear, what can I say about this book?

First of all, it’s not much of a book, size-wise.  Normally Stephen King writes these huge brick books, which I love, but Blockade Billy is only a novella, and a small one at that.

Blockade Billy is about a kid from a small town being called up to play baseball for one of the pro teams.  He is an amazing baseball player, but he hides a dark secret.

I really wanted to like this book – hell, I always want to love Stephen King’s stuff.  As his main character says in ‘Misery’ ‘I am your number one fan!’  But this one really disappoints.  If you are not into baseball or, like me, have absolutely no idea about the rules of baseball, don’t even pick it up.  If you know and love the game then you will probably also enjoy the book. I suspect that American’s will probably enjoy the book more than us Brits, cause even if you are not a baseball fan you will probably have some idea of the game.

For the first twenty-five pages or so I found myself skim-reading because most of it was about game-play and I just didn’t get it.  I’m not a sport person – I don’t watch sport, I don’t play sport, so I certainly don’t want to read about sport!

I also dive into King’s books expecting (and hoping) for a bit of the paranormal to be involved, but in Blockade Billy, and in the short story ‘Morality’, which is included at the end, both stories are essentially just about not very nice people doing horrible things.

Sorry, I’m probably being harsh, cause I’m not a sports fan, but for me this one is a stinker.  Definitely not worth £9.99.

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for the honest review Marissa, I'm not a big Stephen King fan and am not too keen on sport either so I probably wont be reading this novel.

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  2. I might like this as I like Kings non paranormal stuff but baseball? Just running around in a circle, isn't it?

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  3. I didn't even know that much... but you never know, if you like his non paranormal stuff that it might be worth you taking a look at. After all, it's so short you would only lose about an hour of your life if you didn't like it!

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  4. Marissa! How are you doing? I hope things have settled down since your big move. Now that most everything has been put away and boxes have been recycled...and hopefully not still stacked in a garage or spare bedroom. I've moved a few times, myself, so I know what it can be like. I have stopped by to share an award with you that I just recently received. It's just a little way to show you some appreciation for what you are doing over here. Please stop by whenever you have a chance and pick it up.
    --Jimmy

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  5. What a boring, boring book. Such a disappointment after finishing Blockade Billy, I just thought uhhhhhh what was that all about and as for Morality deeply disturbing. 3/10 you can do better Stephen.

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