Reading Grisham

Reading is a passion and a cultivated art. And, like any other craft, it demands lots of practice and persistence. I picked up this hobby probably from my “Baba” (paternal grandfather) while growing up. I remember he used to devour newspapers and novels. He was well versed with Hindi and Gujarati and possessed decent grasp of English. So, he read in all three. I remember reading a few of his novels back in my summer vacation as well.

Thus began my affair with the written word. Coming from a Gujarati medium school of Ahmedabad, we were never encouraged to indulge extra-curricular reading and besides there was such an enormous pressure to read and re-read and again re-read the syllabus that only thing I read other than my school books were a few articles daily from the 'Gujarat Samachar'. During the college years, though, I was at liberty to explore books beyond prescribed course and exam syllabus. Not surprisingly, my favorite subject in college of English even though I was studying Physics as my major subject. This is when I read poems, plays, biographies of Indian leaders and literature borrowed by students from other streams and colleges. Poetry was as easy as Math then. I got introduced to the vast collection offered by the M.J. library and I was on my way.

Since 1998, I have continued to sharpen my skills as a reader. Currently, I have arrived at intermediate status and passed by beginner level. In college, I read Shakespeare, Ruskin Bond, RK Narayan, Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Munshi Premchand, Anita Desai, among others. I enjoyed short storied from Allan Sealy, Sudha Murty and Jug Suraiya and many more. For obvious reasons, I connected more with the writers of Indian origin than westerners. JK Rowling’s Harry series and Dan Browns’ Robert Langdon series are my all-time favorites other than these most of the “foreign” work don’t inspire a repeat read. Authors like Paulo Coelho, Thomas Harris, Sydney Sheldon, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Twelve Hawks and Ted Kosmatka are good enough only the first time around. Even the great Maria Puzzo can be criticized as being repetitive and lacking original content in his books other than 'the God Father'.

John Grisham is another writer whom I have read for the first time this week (to an avid reader of non-Indian fiction this might sound shocking). It’s not that his name was not visible in every bookstore or library I went, but I just never came across picking his books. This time around, I came across his book “Calico Joe” and I am pleased to say that I am not disappointed. Even though the story is of an American kid and includes myriad details of baseball, the game I know nothing about, I liked it. The story explores human emotions like resentment, regret and gratitude. Most importantly, the style of writing is fascinating and gripping. The narrative is detailed yet light to read. 

Let me give you a quick brief:

"Paul Tracey is the son of Warren Tracey, an ex-major league baseball player (national team player, probably), and has some major daddy-issues (most common theme in American TV and books, it seems). His dad was a big douche bag who got drunk, hit his mother and him. He was not so great a player either. However, in 1973 he was having the best season of his career and so was Paul’s baseball hero Joe Castle. Paul idolized Joe as much as he despised his father. Well, as it was imminent, both Joe and Warren come face-to-face on 24^th August 1973. In this game, Warren “beans” (meaning hits) Joe over his right eye bringing his promising career to a premature death. Even Warren starts to lose his game as he is repeatedly beaten, threaten and booed by “Joe fans”. After 30 years, while Warren is dying, Paul decides to make Joe and Warren meet again and have heart-to-heart. After a few predictable setbacks and delays, both athletes meet and patch things up."

In case of this book I can say that the story is mediocre, but story-telling is brilliant. I can certainly recommend that you read it.

On my part, I look forward to reading more of John Grisham’s work. I have a hunch he might make it to the “re-read” list eventually.