A Crooked Number

by Nathan Jorgenson

With a remarkable combination of pathos and humor, Nathan Jorgenson spins another unique and powerful yarn about the human condition. A Crooked Number chronicles the relationship of freshman dental student Grant Thorson and Professor Kate Bellows. Jorgenson weaves the themes young love, graduate school, and amateur baseball into a rich and tender coming-of-age story.

Genres: Book Club

499 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2011

Reviews

[Jean Haberman]

If you want to read about daily life as a dental student or community baseball, this is the book for you. I found it monotonous and uneventful.

[Gloria]

So long. So boring. Shame on the editor for not chopping in half.

[Julie]

I was not going to read this book because NO WAY could it be as good as Waiting for White Horses but a friend of mine gave me his other 2 books to read while in AZ. I would have missed out on a good one! This is not teensy quite as good as his first book. I love the Minnesota man talk. It is the real deal (I live in MN). Tears and laughter. Doesn't get much better.

[John Hughes]

Humor and drama in great abundance.

Another excellent book from Nathan Jorgensen that brought genuine laughter and tears. Wonderful overall story about life in the upper Midwest.

[Cara]

I had read Waiting for White Horses a few years ago and loved it, as did my husband. So when I saw this was a prequel to that book, I immediately bought it. My husband read it first so I had to endure hearing him laugh out loud while reading it. As I read it, we'd often talk about the book and the parts we enjoyed.
I can't give it as many stars as Waiting for White Horses only because it didn't pull at my heart quite the same way. However, Jorgenson has a gift of writing male banter like no other author I've read. I've often hoped to find another author like him because he relates both to men and women.
This is a love story between a man and a woman but also a love story about two men/best friends.
I now picked up Waiting for White Horses to re-live the next step in Grant Thorson's journey.

[Denita]

Prequel to, "Waiting for White Horses", I think I would read this one first if I had to do it over again. Loved these books and love the author. Hope he writes more in the future. Love the references to Minnesota! A very worthwhile read!

[Angie]

I loved this book also....I enjoyed all 3 of his books and would recommend them! He is a wonderful author!

[Shelly Gustin]

A little slow at times, but i gave it 5 stars because it brought tears to my eyes and made me laugh out loud.

[Marie Talley]

I like the author and loved the characters and plot in Waiting for White Horses. I expected a more exciting book for a prequel to Waiting for White Horses. It never connected the characters to the symbolism of the whites horses on the lake. That was disappointing. It appears the author left room for another prelude book to Waiting for White Horses. I expected the ending to connect the books much better. Also, too much baseball in the book. It is a sport that bores me.

[David]

This is a pleasant enough read, and I enjoyed some of the memories it prompted by weaving events from my own youthful years into the narrative, such as the Twins fight song and mentions of their top players from my childhood years, like Killebrew and Oliva. The actual story was also engaging, but it just seemed flat somehow. So I'd say it was a reasonable story, but not one that I'd go out of my way to recommend to anyone.

[Hege Herfindahl]

If I could have given this book a minus star, I would have. It is tedious at best and horrifying at worst. The characters are mean to people who aren’t as cool as them and bully them. The humor is infantile, poop and fart humor….we are not toddlers here!
I read a lot and this is by far the worst book I have ever read. I read it because my book club had it in the recommendation from the library. Unbelievable!

[Milo Hoffman]

I loved the first 350 or so pages and would’ve given it a five star if it had ended then, but then it just went along too long that became very uninteresting. I especially didn’t like the baseball part because the character of Ray was exactly the kind of person that should never have anything to do with baseball, and then the ending was a little ridiculous and certainly not consistent with baseball tradition.

[Sandy]

A heartwarming read about family, love, friendship and baseball or home ball as the author refers to it. Set in Minneapolis and the vibes of small towns in Minnesota, the story and characters and setting took me back in time as a youth and teenager in Minnesota. I could walk in the shoes of the characters.

[Deb]

Second book by this author. I found it easy to read and fast to finish. Stayed up nights when I couldn't sleep and read chapters. This is the prequel to his other 2 books and it is a romantic story about the beginning of a dental student who goes to dental school and finds the love of his life.

[Jennifer Pluff]

The writing and the story are great in this book. My issue was that the baseball just went on and on. I was ready to be done with it long before it was over. I would still recommend it - especially to someone who loves the game.

[Nancy]

Honestly - I gave up on this one. I got more than halfway but simply couldn't finish it. For me, it got too bogged down in the minutiae of everyday life. You could definitely tell this book was written by a man - lots of references to farts and women's breasts.

[Jean Flattery]

A good different kind of humorous and serious life story based in Minnesota. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I didn’t have some baseball knowledge and interest. I enjoyed the lighthearted banter and relationships built throughout the lives of the characters.

[Rebecca Woitte]

The book was an interesting read at the beginning. It became too involved in baseball and lost my interest.

[Sara Allen]

Long and fairly boring,

[Ruth]

Too long !

[Linda]

I love this author. He writes from the heart of a Minnesotan. The places, the people, the events are so real nut the key is the values he shares. Thank you Nathan

[Paige Reiners]

A great read if you were a dental student at UMN or if you are into baseball! The ending was very slow and a bit difficult to finish, but I would recommend to any of my fellow Minnesota dentals grads out there.

[Sandy]

My only complaint is about 100 pages too long.

[Brenda]

A pleasant read. The story begins with Grant Thorson's first day of dental school in Minneapolis and meanders its way through much of his adult life. The drawback for me was that it just didn't seem to have any point. After I read it, I saw that it is a prequel to another book; so maybe the point of it was just to fill in Grant's back story.

[Jane]

This book returns to characters from Waiting for White Horses and story is centered on Grant and Kate as they meet, fall in love, finish dental school and start their practice in Walter, MN. A lot of the story also revolves around amateur town baseball.

[Lanae Thorstad]

Great story! Loved the baseball theme.

[Sandra]

Read this book before Waiting for White Horses...excellent books.

[Sally]

Slow in many parts but with some very funny moments.

[Smelvie]

Much too long and a but monotonous with baseball and daily life detail.