AGAINST FOOTBALL: ONE FAN’S RELUCTANT MANIFESTO by Steve Almond

Steve Almond, Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto (Melville House Printing, 2014). 177 Pages.

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

 

(NonFiction)

 

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

 

This is a treatise written by a journalist and former sports reporter and play-by-play man. It is his ruminations about his fanatical habits of watching football and being a fan of the game since early childhood. This book is neither long nor complicated, but the end result of reading it may be both long and complicated for the reader.

 

I am a football fan, of course, as any family member will attest. I have given some thought through the years to the sham of college football, but that hasn’t deterred me from being a Hawkeye fan or watching NFL games on TV. I will say up front that my fandom and viewing habits have not yet changed since I read this book, but I am still thinking the over the issues which are presented here.

 

Almond divides his concerns over football into chapters addressing each of them. His major moral questions center around head injuries and concussions at all levels of the game, money and tax issues associated with the professional game, the continuous charade of the “student-athlete” in the college game, the “rape culture” that surrounds both college and professional players, and the general and overall affect a game of aggression and violence has on society in general.

 

Almond makes some sweeping recommendations in the epilogue of the book. Among others, they include: revoke the NFL’s non-profit status – let them pay taxes!; enforce a weight limit on players; include graduation rates in a college team’s national ranking; and require a 3.0 GPA to play varsity football. In another part of the book, he also argues for the disengagement of football from universities and substituting clubs (at NFL expense), which is the European model for sport.

 

This book has some food for thought. Mr. Almond has stopped watching all football as a result of his research. He also admits that most who read this book conclude he is crazy!  Each person, after reading what is presented here, can make a decision for her or himself about the future of football in their individual life. 

LET HIM GO by Larry Watson

Larry Watson, Let Him Go (Milkweed 2013 Minneapolis, MN, 2013). 269 Pages.

Also available on Nook and Kindle.

(Novel)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

Larry Watson is a favorite author of Sue’s and mine. Recently he was in Iowa City reading from this new book of his. We spoke with him and had our copy autographed. My favorite book of his in the past was Orchard, although White Crosses is another favorite of the both of us. Some years back we read one of his earliest books, Montana 1948.

I describe Larry Watson’s writing as spare, using only the words necessary to deliver a thought or scene. The current book is set in North Dakota and Montana, a favorite part of the country for Watson. George and Margaret Blackledge have a son who met an unfortunate early demise, and his widow and only grandson left the area of North Dakota where the Blackledge’s live for points west. There is an undertone of the belief that the erstwhile daughter-in-law is mistreating the grandson so they set out for Montana for a possible search and rescue of the grandson.

The book begins in a very mild tone, the characters exhibiting a down to earth mid-western attitude toward life. I don’t think the reader is ever quite prepared for the second half of the book, which takes on a definite unexpected edge. What begins as a rather benign tale of search and possible rescue turns into a very different kind of story. I will not say any more about that now, not wanting to spoil a really good read. This is a very well written book by an author that is not often on the bestseller list, but is very fine author and well respected by his peers. 

THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS by Claire Messud

Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs (Alford A. Knopf, New York 2013). 253 Pages.

Also available on Kindle, Nook and Audio CD.

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

(NOVEL)

This author has written The Emperor’s Children among other books. She was noted in the New York Times book section as having written this current novel. It seemed interesting to me and I picked it up and read it. It came highly recommended from our bookstore, Prairie Lights here in Iowa City.

The main character in this novel is an elementary school teacher, Nora Eldridge, living in the upstairs room of what is essentially a rooming house. Nora’s life is changed by circumstances surrounding the Shahids, the family of a student in her class. The mother is from Italy and the father from Lebanon, presenting an exotic blend of culture and mores not experienced by Nora Eldridge in her past teaching experience. Nora is a frustrated artist and is asked by the mother to help her in her studio. She becomes quite entangled in the dynamics of this family after the Shahid’s little boy is bullied at school.

The plot becomes more and more complex as the novel moves along. Nora has interesting relationships with the boy and the mother of the family, eventually leading up to a somewhat surprising relationship with the father. You will need to read the book to see what that is. I recommend this book if you like stories of relationships, family dynamics, and surprises. 

A FINE BALANCE by Rohinton Mistry

Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (New York: Vintage International, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., 1995;  (Vintage International, 1997), 603 pages.

Also available on Kindle and Nook.

(NOVEL)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

This novel is set in an un-named large city in India in 1975.  The backdrop for this story is the Indian Emergency of 1975 during which a suspension of elections and civil liberties by the Indian government caused hardship for the poor in particular.  Through a series of tragic events, an uncle and his nephew flee the persecution of their native village in the hills of India to pursue a career as tailors in the big city.  Survival is dicey at best.  Food is scarce, there is no housing for lower caste workers in the city, and the slums are the only alternative to not living on the street.  Vivid descriptions of life in the slums and the treatment of the tenants there form a very interesting (if somewhat depressing) narrative.

This is also a story of relationships among people of the same economic plight.  The tailors end up working for a poor single woman in the city.  She also takes in a boarder who is in school to help make her monthly rent payment.  The two tailors, the boarder, and the woman all end up living in the same very small space to save money and keep out of the way of the authorities who are committing all kinds of atrocities on the poor of the city. 

The relationships of the main characters form the basis for a very heart warming story.  Their relationship moves from distrust to friendship to real love in the face of overwhelming odds.

This is a great book if you like a long narrative.  Sue read this book for our long plane flights to Israel and Rome last spring, and I picked it up when she finished.  It is a little known book, but was highly recommended by Prairie Lights book store in Iowa City, Iowa, which makes a business of keeping close tabs on little known books with very good quality writing.  Both Sue and I highly recommend this book.

PRIZE FIGHT: THE RACE AND THE RIVALRY TO BE THE FIRST IN SCIENCE by Morton A. Meyers, M.D.

Morton A. Meyers, MD., Prize Fight: The Race and the Rivalry to be the First in Science (Palgrave Macmillan 2012).  262 pages

(Non-fiction)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

Morton Meyers is a Professor of Radiology at SUNY, Stony Brook in New York.  That information is only important because a large portion of this book is devoted to the competition that developed between two men to be the first to discover the magnetic resonance image (MRI) technique and the subsequent awarding of the Nobel Prize. In his position at SUNY, Dr. Meyers knew both of the people involved, and was able to interview them and render opinions about the development of this historic imaging test. Today, MRI is used in many fields.  Probably most of you have had such a scan of a knee or other joint, looking for a mass perhaps, and on your head after a fall. The advantage of this test is that it requires no exposure to radiation. That is why the Nobel Prize was awarded for this new technology.

The book is more than that story, however. It is a fascinating look into the personalities, egos, and chicanery that goes into the science that leads to fame, fortune, and prizes such as the Nobel. The author looks at “stolen” credit for discoveries, scientific fraud, how grants are funded, and the effect of all this on the personal lives of the people involved.

If you have every worked in health care, been a scientist of any kind, or just wondered how prizes for science are awarded, this book is for you.  It is relatively short, easy to read for a non-scientist, and very entertaining.