Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
As exemplified by his gargantuan appetite! And his hospitalization for overeating was borrowed from a Babe Ruth incident.
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Malamud obviously borrowed heavily from baseball lore, even down to baseball lingo when describing games. (I admit it; I had to look up "bingle.") But for all that and other influences, I wouldn't describe the book as derivative.
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There's a ton of baseball mythology. Roy saving the kid's life by hitting to end his slump, Casey striking out...
The biggest problem I had was that ending. "Say it ain't true, Roy" (Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox). Tragedy turning into farce? Was Malamud saying to not take it too seriously?