{"id":1715,"date":"2009-01-14T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2009-01-14T06:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2009-09-30T20:09:37","modified_gmt":"2009-09-30T19:09:37","slug":"bang-the-drum-slowly-by-mark-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=1715","title":{"rendered":"Bang the Drum Slowly by Mark Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Bison Books, 1984) 243 pages<\/strong><\/p>\n

First published in 1956, Bang the Drum Slowly is often referred to in lists of the great baseball novels.\u00c2\u00a0 This emotional story has been adapted into both a successful TV series and a film, the latter starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, and it is a wonderful introduction to the medium of baseball fiction.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Bang the Drum Slowly tells the tale of the New York Mammoths’ 1955 season.\u00c2\u00a0 A year with a baseball club provides plenty of scope for a writer to create emotional highs and lows with many laughs in between, but the story gains strength through the presence of one of the players being diagnosed with Hodgkins disease.\u00c2\u00a0 Bruce Pearson was a third-string catcher largely made fun of by his teammates, yet as they learn of his fate one-by-one they are forced to confront their own mortality, to question how they treat each other and the way they live their lives.<\/p>\n

The story is written from the perspective of the team’s main pitcher Henry Wiggen who is consciously writing the book (he is nicknamed “Author” by his teammates as a result).\u00c2\u00a0 This is a brilliant narrative device that Harris utilizes extremely well.\u00c2\u00a0 At one stage, Wiggen comments on the crowd who have run out of steam near the end of the game, stating “they were bushed.\u00c2\u00a0 A ballplayer must never be bushed playing ball all year but a fan is in title to be bushed sitting on their ass keeping score.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a cockeyed world”.\u00c2\u00a0 The “in titles” and other slight mistakes bring a great deal of character to the text.\u00c2\u00a0 The earthy, vernacular language is always convincing and it helps to draw you into the world of the baseball club.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wiggen occasionally addresses the reader directly, sharing his thoughts about various predicaments and even the writing of the book you are reading, but there are also moments when he unwittingly reveals his emotions.\u00c2\u00a0 Pearson is struck ill at one stage and Wiggen explains the scene in a matter-of-fact tone that allows the reader to see past the detached masculine voice:<\/p>\n

“I took his shoulder and held it, and he reached up and took my hand, and I left him have it, though it felt crazy holding another man’s hand. Yet after a while it did not feel too crazy any more”.<\/p>\n

However the device is best employed near the end of the novel when a discussion about the developing book itself allows Harris to reinforce the central theme of the story.\u00c2\u00a0 The veteran coach known as Red had read through the first few chapters and implored Wiggen to focus on Pearsons’ plight:<\/p>\n

“Stick to Pearson” he [Red] said.\u00c2\u00a0 “Stick to Pearson, Pearson.\u00c2\u00a0 You must write about dying, saying \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcKeep death in your mind'” .<\/p>\n

“Who would wish to read such a gloomy book?” I said.\u00c2\u00a0 “Everybody knows they are dying”.<\/p>\n

“They do not act like they know it,” he said.\u00c2\u00a0 “Stick to death and Pearson”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a book about a baseball team and the many different details and accounts of games being played help to add to the enjoyment for a baseball fan.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet the central theme is universal and helps to make it a great story regardless of the baseball connection.<\/p>\n

Bang the Drum Slowly is the second of four novels \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwritten’ by Wiggen.\u00c2\u00a0 I bought a copy of this one on a recommendation and found that it took a little while to understand Wiggen’s character, something that probably would not have been a factor had I read the first book, The Southpaw, first.\u00c2\u00a0 Not knowing any of the previous storylines wasn’t a hindrance in any other way though as Wiggen thoughtfully refers back to points mentioned in his previous book where necessary.<\/p>\n

I will soon be able to fill in the blanks, in any case.\u00c2\u00a0 No sooner had I turned the last page then I was ordering a second-hand copy of The Southpaw and no doubt I will buy the other two books, A Ticket for a Seamstitch and It Looked Like For Ever, as well.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Judging on Bang the Drum Slowly, if you enjoy reading fiction and have an interest in baseball, this series cannot be recommended highly enough.<\/p>\n

Have you read \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bang the Drum Slowly”? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Can you recommend any other similar books? If so, let us know.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Bison Books, 1984) 243 pages First published in 1956, Bang the Drum Slowly is often referred to in lists of the great baseball novels.\u00c2\u00a0 This emotional story has been adapted into both a successful TV series and a film, the latter starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, and it is a wonderful introduction to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[79,76],"class_list":["post-1715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-books","tag-baseball-fiction","tag-book-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1715"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4963,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1715\/revisions\/4963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}