Review of The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe
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- Latest Review: The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler
Review of The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe" by Otto L. Wheeler.]
This novel drew me in even despite my confusion toward sports. The pages I was able to preview caught my interest because of the writer’s ability to make anything sound interesting, and so I read the whole thing. The Greatest Game Ever Played…Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler is a novel about sports, if you couldn’t tell, which centers around several characters between two teams before and during a big game.
This book has many strengths. For starters, the addition of visuals in the form of fictional rosters helps to immerse the reader in the author’s universe. The author makes several creative choices which I believe add to the reader’s experience. For example, the book contains many stylistically shortened sentences to give the chapters a certain snap. The formatting changes to highlight certain plot points such as changing to emulate the transcript of an interview or sectioning parts of the main game underneath headers that detail the current scores. One of my favorite elements of the story is how the characters are described. The author’s descriptions of people and things are often unique and paint a vivid picture. Characters are well-fleshed-out and their additions to the story through dialogue often keep the reader’s focus on events: I kept reading mostly to see what happened next to the announcers Clifton and Harper. Clifton became my favorite character because of his unique personality and dialogue, which clashed in a fun way with his coworker.
Despite its strengths, I discovered several flaws in this book. Firstly, showing strong differences between characters is often a positive thing that keeps the audience engaged. However, in this novel, these differences had become tiring by the end. I first noticed a trend when the two coaches were detailed upon their arrival to the stadium: In this novel, the author’s portrayal of rival characters becomes a bit too good versus bad. For instance, one coach restricts phone usage as talking to each other is more important whereas the other coach’s team is glued to their phones. One coach requests each player to pray to God before they play while the other does not. Other instances of morality versus immortality were not as on-the-nose, but this pushed me over the edge into annoyance. Clifton and Harper have a similar dynamic, in which one character comes off as frank and possibly a bit nerdy, whereas the other has the air of a homophobic jock. However, the jock who takes every opportunity to slip something offensive into his official commentary is the character who is glorified by the author, which became clear to me by the end. Additionally, the insertion of a romance plot seemed a tad strange. A romance plot would have been fine, but the random turn of events within that particular plot arc threw me off. Some of the female characters seemed superficial, with one fleeting character fitting the ‘dumb flirty girl’ trope perfectly while also having no relevance to the plot aside from providing one bizarrely perverted plot point. Some plot points just seem too random to fit well with the rest. Finally, the novel contains some editing errors as well as switches verb tense often, which I believe is a stylistic choice because of its frequency, but I could not find the author’s reasoning.
I am rating The Greatest Game Ever Played…Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler a 3 out of 4 stars. The flawed editing and uncanny wackiness of certain plot points removed a star from my rating. The strong language and nice flow of the writing kept it at a solid three.
I would recommend this book, obviously, to sports fans. Even if you are not a sports fan, the author does well to describe football terms and procedures succinctly so that they can be understood. This novel contains coarse language, so I would not recommend it for those younger than their teenage years, or those who are sensitive to repetitive swearing. In addition to that reasoning, there are sexual themes, though no sex scenes. I must also add that if you don't approve of 'fruitcake' jokes and pokes at men's femininity portrayed as light humor, steer clear of this book.
******
The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
This novel drew me in even despite my confusion toward sports. The pages I was able to preview caught my interest because of the writer’s ability to make anything sound interesting, and so I read the whole thing. The Greatest Game Ever Played…Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler is a novel about sports, if you couldn’t tell, which centers around several characters between two teams before and during a big game.
This book has many strengths. For starters, the addition of visuals in the form of fictional rosters helps to immerse the reader in the author’s universe. The author makes several creative choices which I believe add to the reader’s experience. For example, the book contains many stylistically shortened sentences to give the chapters a certain snap. The formatting changes to highlight certain plot points such as changing to emulate the transcript of an interview or sectioning parts of the main game underneath headers that detail the current scores. One of my favorite elements of the story is how the characters are described. The author’s descriptions of people and things are often unique and paint a vivid picture. Characters are well-fleshed-out and their additions to the story through dialogue often keep the reader’s focus on events: I kept reading mostly to see what happened next to the announcers Clifton and Harper. Clifton became my favorite character because of his unique personality and dialogue, which clashed in a fun way with his coworker.
Despite its strengths, I discovered several flaws in this book. Firstly, showing strong differences between characters is often a positive thing that keeps the audience engaged. However, in this novel, these differences had become tiring by the end. I first noticed a trend when the two coaches were detailed upon their arrival to the stadium: In this novel, the author’s portrayal of rival characters becomes a bit too good versus bad. For instance, one coach restricts phone usage as talking to each other is more important whereas the other coach’s team is glued to their phones. One coach requests each player to pray to God before they play while the other does not. Other instances of morality versus immortality were not as on-the-nose, but this pushed me over the edge into annoyance. Clifton and Harper have a similar dynamic, in which one character comes off as frank and possibly a bit nerdy, whereas the other has the air of a homophobic jock. However, the jock who takes every opportunity to slip something offensive into his official commentary is the character who is glorified by the author, which became clear to me by the end. Additionally, the insertion of a romance plot seemed a tad strange. A romance plot would have been fine, but the random turn of events within that particular plot arc threw me off. Some of the female characters seemed superficial, with one fleeting character fitting the ‘dumb flirty girl’ trope perfectly while also having no relevance to the plot aside from providing one bizarrely perverted plot point. Some plot points just seem too random to fit well with the rest. Finally, the novel contains some editing errors as well as switches verb tense often, which I believe is a stylistic choice because of its frequency, but I could not find the author’s reasoning.
I am rating The Greatest Game Ever Played…Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler a 3 out of 4 stars. The flawed editing and uncanny wackiness of certain plot points removed a star from my rating. The strong language and nice flow of the writing kept it at a solid three.
I would recommend this book, obviously, to sports fans. Even if you are not a sports fan, the author does well to describe football terms and procedures succinctly so that they can be understood. This novel contains coarse language, so I would not recommend it for those younger than their teenage years, or those who are sensitive to repetitive swearing. In addition to that reasoning, there are sexual themes, though no sex scenes. I must also add that if you don't approve of 'fruitcake' jokes and pokes at men's femininity portrayed as light humor, steer clear of this book.
******
The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Greatest Game Ever Played...Maybe by Otto L. Wheeler
