Title/Author:
“Pitching For Sanity:
A Nervous Man’s Journey” by Mike Reuther
Tags:
Baseball, amateur, fiction,
illness,
Publish date:
January 4, 2017
Length:
107 pages
Rating:
4 of 5 stars (very
good)
Review:
It isn’t often that a book will combine the themes of baseball and a
mental health condition but this short novel by Mike Reuther does just
that. While there isn’t a lot of
baseball in the story, it does play a key role as pitching baseballs is how the
main character, Bill Barrister, deals with his anxiety. The condition has
affected Bill enough that it ended his marriage and has affected his ability to
work or do many other simple things that most people do.
A former pitching phenom whose tryout with a major-league team was a
disaster, Bill was a career Air Force man where a colleague’s suicide left him
shattered. That is one of the many events that led to his anxiety and each one
is addressed in the story with a complete picture – a trait that illustrates
the fine writing done by Reuther throughout the book.
Bill ends up leaving his Pennsylvania hometown to go on a road trip to
California with his friend Godfrey. There are many twists in this journey which
leads them to Texas where Bill learns a lot about his friend, a woman from
their hometown whose son saw Bill throwing the baseballs, and also himself and
how he can cope with his anxiety in other methods. The ending of the story was
a bit surprising to me, but it is open enough so that the reader can draw his
or her own conclusions. That fits the rest of the book – detailed enough to
illustrate the situation, but open enough for the reader to fill in the blanks.
A good quick read for those who like stories of self-discovery.
I wish to thank Mr. Reuther for providing a copy of the book in exchange
for an honest review.
Book Format Read:
E-book (Kindle)
Buying links:
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