Road Swing: One Fan's Journey Into The Soul Of America's Sports by Steve Rushin Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Road Swing: One Fan's Journey Into The Soul Of America's Sports
Book Review: Rushin runs out of gas
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been wanting to read this for awhile, finally did and have mixed feelings about it, the same feelings I had about the author when he was with Sports Illustrated.
Though I miss Rushin's musings in SI (I wonder what he's doing now?), he often gave himself too much credit for his fancy word play and not enough credit for his ability to write excellent, insightful stories. Too often we're left with word play and no insight.
This book is classic Rushin: He's awesome in parts -- the details of the pool players, the story on the "Field of Dreams," and he really hits paydirt with the feature on Tim Couch and his town.
Sadly, he's more into detailing his hotel life, and worse yet, his tricky word play. On page 199 we read this, "How do you take your coffee?" a flight attendant asked. "Orally," I replied. By that time in the book, I was weary of this "Naked Gun" movie lines. At other times, he's very funny. Too often he's questioning bad spelling and grammar on signs instead of going into the personalities of people and the sports that they play.
When Rushin gets to the West Coast you can tell he's tired and I was fatigued with him. Showing typical East or Midwest bias, he barely writes about the West. When he gets to Portland, he doesn't talk about the city, only the rain and something about pro uniforms. His take on Spokane only refers to a story he wrote in Sports Illustrated. Rushin's car wasn't the only thing running out of gas, the writer was, too. He then talks of Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore ... uh, I thought this book was about sports?
I don't understand why Rushin mailed it in the last 50-75 pages. He had a great idea and then bailed on it, opting to write about pro sports, bad grammar, National Parks, the Super Bowl, his family, and ignorning the West Coast.
When I finished, I closed the book puzzled as to why a writer as gifted as Rushin too often plays away from his strengths and writes to his weaknesses.
Book Review: Shallow and disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
The author had a good idea - taking a trip to sports places and writing about them, but this book is very superficial. He spends more time talking about himself and his family than any single thing he saw on the trip.Book Review: Write another one, Mr. Rushin!
Summary: 4 Stars
Books about an author taking a cross-country trip to ''discover'' hidden sports treasures around the fruited plain do not get any better than this.I've enjoyed Rushin's ''Air and Space'' column for some time now, but never knew he had written a book until I came across it in the library one afternoon. He does not disappoint on either account. Rushin also manages to hit places throughout the country that not everyone has heard of. Heaven help the author that drives cross country and then tries to write meaningful, funny and most important of all fresh and interesting prose about the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and the Mississippi River.
As a Midwesterner, I appreciate Rushin's dry and self-deprecating sense of humor. Just his musing while in the car were pointed and funny at the same time. And he comes across as someone who can tell you something deep and profound without it sounding like your parents. (I can still laugh out loud just thinking about his day-trip in and around Selma, Alabama or his visit to French Lick, Indiana.)
The only complaint that kept this from being a five-star review was Rushin's ending, which wasn't that funny and almost too hokey to be believed. Too many authors try to wrap up books like this (think a sportsman's P. J. O'Rourke) by answering life's little (or big) questions. Rushin doesn't do that, but seems like he wants to.
(I'll be honest...I'm not to be one of those reviewers who reserves five-star reviews for books like Oliver Twist and anything by William S. I hate those books because I HAD to read them. I enjoy reviewing books I want to read.)
All in all a laugh-out-loud but think quietly book.