Using the unlikely device of his childhood collection of baseball cards as a series of metaphors, Josh Wilker recounts his life growing up in a changing America. Narrator Jim Meskimen lends a likable credibility to the story, which began as a blog on the joys of baseball and its players. Wilker particularly delights in talking about little-known facts relating to lesser-known players from the 1970s and 1980s. The skillful part comes when he blends the world of baseball cards with his own successes and failures in coming-of-age, including his growing estrangement from his family. Meskimen’s breezy, conversational style makes listeners feel Wilker’s enthusiasms—from the heady delights of opening up a new packet of baseball cards in childhood to the delightful memories associated with them decades later. M.S. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
Cardboard Gods is the memoir of Josh Wilker, a brilliant writer who has marked the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child. It also captures the experience of growing up obsessed with baseball cards and explores what it means to be a fan of the game. Along the way, as we get to know Josh, his family, and his friends, we also get Josh's classic observations about the central artifacts from his life-the baseball cards themselves.
Josh writes about an imagined correspondence with his favorite player, Carl Yastrzemski; he uses the magical bubble-blowing powers of journeyman Kurt Bevacqua to shed light on the weakening of the powerful childhood bond with his older brother; he considers the doomed utopian back-to-the-land dreams of his hippie parents against the backdrop of inimitable 1970s baseball figures such as pinch runner Herb Washington and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. Cardboard Gods is more than just the story of a man who can't let go of his past, it's proof that-to paraphrase Jim Bouton-as children we grow up holding baseball cards, but that in the end, we realize it's really the other way around.
Cardboard Gods is the memoir of Josh Wilker, a brilliant writer who has marked the stages of his life through the baseball cards he collected as a child. It also captures the experience of growing up obsessed with baseball cards and explores what it means to be a fan of the game. Along the way, as we get to know Josh, his family, and his friends, we also get Josh's classic observations about the central artifacts from his life-the baseball cards themselves.
Josh writes about an imagined correspondence with his favorite player, Carl Yastrzemski; he uses the magical bubble-blowing powers of journeyman Kurt Bevacqua to shed light on the weakening of the powerful childhood bond with his older brother; he considers the doomed utopian back-to-the-land dreams of his hippie parents against the backdrop of inimitable 1970s baseball figures such as pinch runner Herb Washington and Mark “The Bird” Fidrych. Cardboard Gods is more than just the story of a man who can't let go of his past, it's proof that-to paraphrase Jim Bouton-as children we grow up holding baseball cards, but that in the end, we realize it's really the other way around.
Editorial Reviews
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169809794 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Blackstone Audio, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 07/21/2010 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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