A Thing or Two About the Game

A THING OR TWO ABOUT THE GAME, by Richard Paik, follows Brad, who is recently unemployed and searching for what to do next with his life. When Brad is asked to coach a girls softball team as a favor to his ex-wife, Brad reluctantly accepts. Almost without realizing it, Brad begins to enjoy coaching and imparting a wisdom and a desire to succeed to this group of young women. While passing wisdom forward, Brad also learns what is important to him and gives him an inner peace that leads to where he wants to go with his life.
Paik creates a main character in Brad that the reader can immediately connect with as we have all been lost in life. The pace of the book is slow and steady, but all the time Brad and the team he coaches are slowly evolving and growing as people which reflects real life. Finding success and purpose doesn't happen overnight and as it does in the book, success is often only found when looking back after the fact. There are a couple of subplots that drift in and out and distract from the meat of the story and there are a couple of shifts in perspective that are a little jarring. Another aspect of the book that is fascinating to watch unfold is that Brad doesn't really know softball all that well, but he teaches the team what he can, which isn't always the conventional thing taught in girl's softball, like aggressive baserunning and how to execute a proper run down. Because of the unconventional nature of what Brad has taught, the team slowly becomes a team to be reckoned with, which no parent or coach in the league saw coming.
A THING OR TWO ABOUT THE GAME is a pleasant read about a coach and his team and how they grow as people over the course of a softball season. While not flashy or mysterious or exciting, the book is a heartfelt escape from the the real world and reminds the reader how the simple things in life can also be the most inspiring.

Thank you #AtmospherePress, #AThingorTwoAbouttheGame #NetGalley and #RichardPaik for allowing me to read this wonderful novel in exchange for an honest review. As a player from way back and as someone who has coached her daughters softball team this was a novel that went inside the real world of coaching. As a coach we help develop more than just the skills of the game which is what Brad does but we also learn a little about ourselves. A pleasant read and one I would recommend.

Coaching youth sports, no matter the sport or the gender of the players, is never easy and the rewards can be more than just the performances on the field of play. This novel by Richard Paik illustrates this in a delightful and touching manner.

Brad is a man who is unemployed and not sure where his life is going. His ex-wife Stephanie contacts him and asks him to coach a girls’ softball team, the Marlins, when her boyfriend is unable to commit to doing so because of his job. Brad accepts and wonders what exactly he signed up for – it turns out to be a lot more than he thought.

The best aspect of this novel, aside from its ease of reading, is the character development. The reader will soon not only begin to connect with Brad, but with just about every other character in the book. Every one of Brad’s players has some type of quirk or issue that is nothing unusual for 11–12-year-old girls. They also are diverse for these traits – Jamie is an excellent athlete and is the Marlins’ best player. Kacie, while not having the skills of Jamie, is determined to succeed and plays her heart out. Those are just two small examples of how Paik develops each character in such a way that the reader will cheer for them. There really is not a character who a reader will dislike or cheer against, even opponents (players and coaches) of the Marlins, as Paik makes sure to provide the reader a little insight into them as well.

In the meantime, there are all kinds of mini-stories that take place around the main focus of the book and that is the play of the Marlins, both in practices and during games. For the players, these can range from family matters to health issues. For Brad, and his best friend Mike (who is a coach for another team, the Braves) these can include relationships (at least for Mike, as Brad is not seeing anyone during the book) and work-related issues. There are times that a reader might wonder what Brad’s work in biotech research has to do with girls’ softball but as the book progresses, it is clear how these items, along with others, mesh together.

This book isn’t going to come with a nice neat ending, nor is the story one that is clear from beginning to end. But that is what makes the book different – it reflects what will happen in life. This is the case for both the girls and the adults in the book. Put their stories together on the softball field and one gets a very enjoyable novel that is a treat for readers of many different tastes.

I wish to thank Atmosphere Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.