Calico Joe

by John Grisham

Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…

“Grisham knocks it out of the park.”—The Washington Post

It’s the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle is the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone has ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzles Chicago Cubs fans as he hits home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shatters all rookie records. Calico Joe quickly becomes the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing New York Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faces Calico Joe, Paul is in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren throws a fastball that will change their lives forever.

Don’t miss John Grisham’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345536648
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/26/2013
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	127,624
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.82(h) x 0.66(d)
Lexile:	900L (what's this?)

About the Author

John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Judge's List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.
 
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
 
When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
 
John lives on a farm in central Virginia.

Hometown:

Oxford, Mississippi, and Albemarle County, Virginia

Date of Birth:

February 8, 1955

Place of Birth:

Jonesboro, Arkansas

Education:

B.S., Mississippi State, 1977; J.D., University of Mississippi, 1981

Website:

http://www.jgrisham.com

Read an Excerpt

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Excerpted from "Calico Joe"
by .
Copyright © 2012 John Grisham.
Excerpted by permission of Diversified Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

John Grisham's legal thrillers are dense and hefty, full of twists and turns and tension. His latest novel, Calico Joe, is not like that at all. It's a sweet, simple story, a fable really. And like all fables, it has a moral: Good can come out of evil; it's never too late to confess your sins and seek forgiveness…if you believe in redemption—and who doesn't—you won't be disappointed. Grisham knows baseball as well as he knows crime.
—The Washington Post

Steven V. Roberts

Praise for Calico Joe

“Grisham knocks it out of the park.”—The Washington Post
 
“An enjoyable, heartwarming read that’s not just for baseball fans.”—USA Today
 
“Grisham has hit a home run.... Calico Joe is a great read, a lyrical ode to baseball, small-town America, youthful innocence and a young boy’s search for heroes.”—The Buffalo News

“[A] pleasure . . . Suffice to say [Grisham] knows his way around the ballpark as well as he does a courtroom.”—The Washington Times
 
Praise for John Grisham

“Never let it be said this man doesn’t know how to spin a good yarn.”—Entertainment Weekly

“Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

From the Publisher

Paul Tracy, a fan grown up, tells the tale—fact and fiction woven seamlessly by Grisham—of phenom Joe Castle, who mesmerizes baseball fans for a brief time in the 1970s. Tracy watches Calico Joe burst into the majors to captivate fans. Erik Singer makes the most of the story’s few characters. He doesn’t miss a pitch, so to speak—all vocal tones, from Southern lilts to snarling disgust, sound fully credible. He especially excels with the characters of a boy and his father. In sum, Singer’s narration more than distinguishes the characters—it gives them identities, like players on a team. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

MAY 2012 - AudioFile

Only one player in Major League Baseball history has been hit and killed by a pitch, but bean balls—balls thrown near the head—have ended careers. Grisham's (The Litigators, 2011, etc.) novel imagines the act and its consequences. It's 1973, another magic baseball season. The National League East has six teams contending, among them the traditionally hapless Chicago Cubs, soon jinxed once again when its first baseman is injured. Now the Cubs must add a minor leaguer to the roster. That's Joe Castle, a kid from Calico Rock, Ark. Calico Joe immediately begins to set rookie records, leading the Cubs to the top of the standings. Watching from New York is Paul Tracey, a baseball fan as avid as only an 11-year-old boy can be. In fact, Paul's father pitches for the New York Mets, but Warren Tracey, "accustomed to getting whatever he wanted," is a jerk. Warren is a journeyman pitcher, solid in an occasional game, kicked around from one team to another, never an All Star. Warren also abuses his family, drinks and chases women. The novel unfolds from Paul's adult perspective, with flashbacks. The crucial plot point comes in a flashback when Calico Joe, putting up "mind-boggling" numbers over 38 games, meets Warren in Shea Stadium and hits a home run. During his next at bat, as part of some unwritten "code," Warren goes head-hunting and beans the young player. Calico Joe's career is over, and he drifts home to Calico Rock, partially paralyzed, speech impeded, to work as a groundskeeper rather than earning a plaque in baseball's Hall of Fame. Decades later, long estranged from his father, Paul learns that Warren is dying of pancreatic cancer, and he decides to force his father to confront what he did to Joe Castle. Interestingly, the novel's most fully formed character is Warren, and while the narrative and settings are solid, the story drifts toward a somewhat unsatisfying, perhaps too easy, conclusion. A reconciliation story, Hallmark style.

Kirkus Reviews