Xtra credit on "Faithful"
Faithful, written by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan, documents the breathtaking 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox team from the perspective of two fans (King and O'Nan). What sets Faithful apart from other books about the Red Sox historic season, or any other extroadinary event, is its remarkable timing. The Red Sox, long known to many before 2004 as the perennial washouts/folders, had not won a world series title since 1918 despite a plethora of heartbreaking last minute defeats; so when King and O'Nan decided to write a book as a day by day journal of the Red Sox year before the start of the 2004 season, they couldn't have fathomed that they had happened upon the year that Sox fans had waited 86 long years for. Although it's unlikely that any one reading this book is unaware of the Red Sox "cursed" history, Faithful does an excellent job of dropping a dash of Sox history here and there in between daily reports of the Sox scores and news so that even the previously uninformed reader can fully appreciate the magnitude of the Red Sox winning the World Series, a vitally important aspect of the Red Sox story which might have otherwise been lost upon non-baseball fans. Despite Faithful's 400 pages of diary-like entries which relate the day's Sox news, the book never loses its intrigue due to skillfull writing on the part of King and O'Nan who show the season from an objective point of view by informing the reader of every score, trade, and fact which relates to the Red Sox season, but also manage portray the incredible emotion of the Red Sox Nation (fan base) throughout the year. Although King and O'nan both create a masterpiece, they do so differently. King, being older, and therefore a much more weathered Sox fan, repeatly warns against being too optimistic, citing the multitude of occasions which gave the Red Sox their reputation for losing in the face of almost sure victory. Even after the Red Sox beat the d Yankees and become the first team in over 100 years of baseball playoff history to come back from a 0-3 deficit and advance to the World Series, King reminds the readers of the 1986 nightmare in which Red Sox first baseman "Bill f***ing Buckner" misses a routine ground ball which costs the Red Sox the championship and cements the existence of "The Curse". O'nan on the otherhand, is younger and seems more optimistic, viewing the historic comeback against the Yankees as an indication that 2004 is the year which the Red Sox are meant to finally win it all. Of course, the book ends with the Red Sox sweeping the Cardinals and becoming World Series Champions for the first time in 86 years, a breathtaking moment which is captured by King and O'Nan beautifully. Faithfull is a wonderfully written book which describes in excellent detail the emotions of a team and its fans who, in the face of yet another dissapointment make an unprecedented comeback against their archrival, the Yankees, and win the World Series for the first time in 86 years; it is a must read for all Sox fans as well as any baseball fan, unless of course, you happen to be a Yankee fan.
posted by Mark Francis @ 3:55 PM
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