Novelist Quarrington (Whale Music, 1989) coaxes a wealth of bright humor from a couple of unlikely suspects: a fishless fishing trip and some really bad weather. Quarrington's fly fishing had hit one of those transitional moments when a guide was needed to facilitate passage to a higher plane, in this case mastering the double-haul cast. He became an acolyte at the feet of Gordon Deval, a magus and ``Old Guy'' who knew the secrets and was willing to share them—``Oh no, Grasshopper. Too much motion. The wrist must lock like a door against thieves.'' And in addition to the mysteries of casting, he was also willing to share the holiest of holies: the secret glory hole, where only lunkers lurk. It lay north, far north, in Quebec. For two weeks in August, Gordon and Quarrington and two others would form a balanced, equitable little society on an island in a lake that just might, Gordon had a feeling, surrender the biggest speckled trout in the world. The isle turned out to be something Dr. Moreau would have fancied: cruel wind, dark low skies, every prospect vile. The men were cold and wet and hungry, fetid and confused and angry because, of course, there were no fish there. During the extended lull, Quarrington's mind wandered, to tournament casting and casting clubs, to fishing for ``wyatt bias'' in Arkansas, to a rueful salmon encounter. There are times when the writing can get a tad wordy, as when the author probes distant autobiographical reaches; but before it gets oppressive, Quarrington is back in form, flashing drollery and wit, a big- hearted younger guy who understands the poetry of the double-haul, though the technique remains beyond him. If Quarrington is half as entertaining around a campfire as he is in this book, then he represents the Platonic ideal of the fishing buddy.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 1-56836-155-6
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Kodansha
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
A devoted and comprehensive tour guide, Trecker delivers the goods with gusto.
A veteran sports commentator shares the hard-nosed, insider machinations of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
A Chicago-based columnist and analyst for Fox Soccer Channel, Trecker got his first taste of World Cup fever at the 2002 games co-hosted (for the first time) by political rivals South Korea and Japan, in which the United States surprisingly progressed to the quarterfinals. Four years later, the author found himself in the commerce-driven German city of Leipzig, witnessing a rather lackluster team-placement ceremony at the start of a commissioned four-week tour of Germany for the 2006 World Cup. Finely balancing his personal experiences with comprehensive historical detail, and a generous supply of factoid footnotes, Trecker begins with the basics, explaining that the games are the end result of four years of carefully tracked worldwide competitions wherein 210 nations vie for 32 coveted placement slots. He ponders the controversial host-city selection process and profiles such better known team managers as suave, seasoned veteran “Bora” Milutinovic from Serbia and Wayne Rooney, pride of the Manchester team and polar opposite of “remote tabloid figure” David Beckham. A guaranteed cash cow, the World Cup event was positioned by Germany as “the biggest sales event the planet had ever seen,” even as that country continued to struggle with spiking unemployment rates and the residual shock of Eastern bloc unification. Trecker traveled to Hamburg, the United States’s home-base city; Munich, where he unexpectedly was housed in the gay district surrounded by Asian-staffed brothels and adult novelty shops peddling “World Cup–branded sex toys”; and onward to a spontaneous pub crawl in Frankfurt with the ever-thirsty English fans. Two weeks into the tournament, however, the author fell seriously ill, delaying his coverage (and the publication of this book). He recovered in time to witness the championship game, in which a game-altering headbutt would send 350-million spectators into a historic frenzy.
A devoted and comprehensive tour guide, Trecker delivers the goods with gusto.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-15-603098-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
New York Times sportswriter Durso (Madison Square Garden, 1979, etc.) adds a tepid volume to the lengthy shelf on the fabled Yankee Clipper. This book was almost an autobiography: DiMaggio thought the time was right for his own version of his oft-told story, and a publisher was willing to give him and Durso a $2 million advance. But when DiMag realized that he would have to discuss his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, he pulled out of the project; Durso decided to proceed without him. Durso's tome opens promisingly with a chapter on DiMaggio's return to the public eye in the early 1970s as a TV spokesman for the Bowery Savings Bank and, later, for Mr. Coffee. This fascinating material reveals a side of the reclusive hero that few know; Durso perceptively notes that DiMaggio was a shrewd businessman who proved a natural pitchman, projecting great sincerity on the small screen. Unfortunately, subsequent chapters add little to the familiar saga of this first-generation Italian- American kid from San Francisco, the fisherman's son who become not just a great baseball player but an American icon. Durso rehashes the tale: high school dropout, sandlot player who joined the Triple-A San Francisco Seals at 18 and tore up the Pacific Coast League, 13 seasons with the Yankees, the 56-game hitting streak, the Homeric comeback to win the pennant in 1949, the 274-day marriage to Marilyn. It's all been told before and most of it has been told better. If you have never heard of DiMaggio, this will give you the basics. Otherwise, nothing special. (b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: June 7, 1995
ISBN: 0-316-19730-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
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