IF I NEVER GET BACK. A Novel.
by Darryl. BROCK
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Book Summary Information
Author: Darryl. BROCKEdition: Hardcover
Published: 1990
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: Crown
Book Reviews of IF I NEVER GET BACK. A Novel.
Book Review: As American As Baseball, Apple Pie and Time Travel
Summary: 5 Stars
"If I Never Get Back" by Darryl Brock has something enjoyable for everybody. It's a historical novel with adventure,danger,action,humor,fantasy and romance, but will be especially loved by those who love time travel and baseball(and train enthusiasts as well). You'll go back in time and escape to a time with no electricity,phones, credit cards, TV, radio or cars, but in the just post civil war era of 1869, there was our National Pastime - Baseball.
Sam Fowler does not start out as the most likeable character. He's a drinker,has a bit of an anger management problem, and is brooding over the separation from his beloved little girls due to a messy divorce. On top of that he has just been notified of the death of his own absentee father(no great loss to Sam) but has the dubious job of burying him.
The boozing had led Sam to "milky" periods where things are just not quite in focus. While at the train station on his way back from dealing with his father, he is having one of his episodes and falls into unconsciousness. He awakes on the same platform but things are quite different. He hops the train - some old classic - and finds himself aboard with one of the first pro ball teams - The Cincinnati Red Stockings.
Not knowing at first, if he is hallucinating or just having a bad day, he eventually comes to realize he has somehow gone back in time and forms a relationship with the team. He travels with this extraordinary group of young men and becomes a big part of their world.On his transcontinental travels- using the early RR system, horse and buggys, etc)there is one adventure after another. He falls in love with a woman he feels a deep connection, gets in hot water with some real toughs who are after him throughout, befriends the great Mark Twain, has a spiritual connection with an apparition,and plays baseball 19th century style - a might rougher and faster then today's version of the game. He's even involved in a shoot out in a poker game in a western saloon! While searching for the reason he is there(an enjoying the change of pace quite a bit), he becomes a new man. One we can't help but cheer for as his life is in danger at so many turns.
The book is a page turner. You can't help but become attached to Sam and the boys. Brock puts you right there in the 19th century, with remarkable detail of each city,the trains,food,clothes,dress,etc and through Sam we are living the life of someone who has gone back over a hundred years(this book was published in 1990, so there are even more differences now!).The Civil War plays a small but integral part of the story too. And then there is Baseball - we are treated to a real look at how the game was played, and feel the intensity with which they played.Even then, the game was popular and the players heroes. But think of never seeing them play unless you were fortunate enough to actually be at a game.
I for one was having such a great time, I hoped he would never get back! Baseball, apple pie,old trains, wonderful colorful characters...and a refreshing look at historical America....enjoy!.....Laurie
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