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pugreads's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Homophobia, and Xenophobia
asteroidbuckle's review
3.0
I was recently on a sports (baseball) fiction kick and was searching for baseball books on Amazon. I found this one and the synopsis immediately captured my attention: the superstar shortstop for a competitive professional baseball team (the fictitious LA Valley Vikings) falls in love with the team's second baseman.
What is the All-American athlete with a beautiful wife and twin daughters to do?
This book is a light read and achingly funny. Poor Randy Dreyfus (the shortstop who lends his name to the title) and DJ Pickett begin a torrid affair which is of course discovered in a most inopportune and embarrassing way.
Enter the prudish, closed-minded fans and the ultra-conservative and off-put baseball owners who pressure the baseball commissioner to suspend the players for life.
Of course, the Vikings are in the middle of the pennant race and Randy and DJ are their best players. What to do?
Oh, and there's a hilarious little side story about a neurotic Dalmatian named Calvin.
What is the All-American athlete with a beautiful wife and twin daughters to do?
This book is a light read and achingly funny. Poor Randy Dreyfus (the shortstop who lends his name to the title) and DJ Pickett begin a torrid affair which is of course discovered in a most inopportune and embarrassing way.
Enter the prudish, closed-minded fans and the ultra-conservative and off-put baseball owners who pressure the baseball commissioner to suspend the players for life.
Of course, the Vikings are in the middle of the pennant race and Randy and DJ are their best players. What to do?
Oh, and there's a hilarious little side story about a neurotic Dalmatian named Calvin.
debraserrins's review
4.0
It's brainless but it's got baseball and a gay love affair. What more do I need?
ashrocketship's review
4.0
This was so, so very deeply of the time and reminded me a lot of Aaron Krach's Half-Life which I read in 2019 -- the southern California setting, the shifting, omniscient third-person narrative, the time period, roughly -- except it had the benefit of being about baseball -- with lots of well-written baseball! -- and having characters I was just generally interested in or intrigued by so I never felt I was losing out by shifting to a different POV. I also laughed a lot more than I would have expected and ended up feeling very buoyed by how hopeful it all felt. I mean, I also have to reckon with the fact that it's 2021 and things are probably actually significantly worse than the world Lefcourt wrote in the early 90s, but isn't that true for most things? (As an... insane aside, I read the hardcover version of this book -- It has the original receipt in it still from a bookstore on the east coast from 1993! It rules! -- but cannot stand that the cover isn't populated for whatever reason, so my review is mis-assigned to the paperback. Thank you for understanding that I have many problems and issues that make me this way.)
christy's review
2.0
2.5 stars. I'd probably only recommend this to people who enjoy baseball as the romance was completely unconvincing. The only thing I liked about it was the humor.
fictionista3's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
sophronisba's review
4.0
A charming if somewhat dated novel. I would have enjoyed it more if Randy hadn't been married; my sympathy for his wife and daughters made it hard for me to root for Randy and D. J. in the beginning.