A Perfect Throw

by Robert Joe Stout

The three poetic sections of A Perfect Throw web three separate confrontations with love, aspiration and destiny into a vivid examination of human struggles, achievements and compromise. For the members of a Mexican baseball team the game they play is the fiber that unifies their disparate and often conflictive personalities. The narrator of a marriage that has ended faces a new life carrying the responsibilities of the old and the feelings of love, conflict and alienation that they engender. And a pioneer mother in a nineteenth century Nevada mining camp re-achieves the faith she lost after her husband’s death through a new and unconventional relationship. Their emotions, and those that they invoke, are the heart and soul of A Perfect Pitch.

Genres: Poetry

89 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

ROBERT JOE STOUT is a journalist who has worked as a magazine editor, newspaper reporter, copy editor and contributing editor. The author of Hidden Dangers, Mexico on the Brink of Disaster; Why Immigrants Come to America; and The Blood of the Serpent: Mexican Lives plus the novels Where Gringos Don't Belong; Running Out the Hurt; and Miss Sally, he has published nonfiction widely in magazines, journals, and newspapers. His short fiction has appeared in literary and trade magazines and his poetry includes the books Monkey Screams and A Perfect Throw. He lives in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Blog at http://mexicoconamor.files.wordpress....

Reviews

[Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as part of Goodreads Giveaways and First Reads.

This book of poetry is divided into three sections- They Still Play Baseball The Old Way, In Gratitude for Shared Generations and Wife of the Jew.

They Still Play Baseball is about a Mexican baseball team. I really enjoyed the way the poems were set out. There's no rhyme to the poems, but there is a rhythm. The first half is prose, and about their character as a baseball player. The second half is about their life, from early childhood to adulthood.

In Gratitude was probably my least favourite of the three, but it's by no means bad. I suppose the tender topic of families breaking up just hits me the wrong way. But Stout wrote this set of poetry, about a husband and wife's life unraveling, starting with the death of the wife's mother, in an very, in-the-moment-and-yet-still-looking-back way.

Finally, Wife of the Jew was my favourite set of poetry in this book. Telling the story of a widow in a Nevada mining town, and her love for the town Jew, each poem brings them closer together.

I'm not a usual reader of poetry, so I can't speak of the skills used, but I did enjoy the poems in this book. I also recommend a cover picture be posted on here so people know what to look for in the stores!

[Initially NO · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know about there being much 'human comedy' in this book, as it says the book contains on the back cover. There was not a lot to laugh at. There are a number of poems that are poetic monologues though, in that the poems take on different people's point-of-views in first person. The poems hold together as a book and are well-crafted. Worth reading, especially if you prefer a traditionally masculine point of view and experience.

[Peta · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who tries to read different book of poetry I found this one surprisingly easy to follow/understand. While the first action was baseball themed, and I know nothing of baseball I still found it readable and enjoyable. I would reccomend this to people who like poetry.

[Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Goodreads giveaway. It is easy to read and has a flow to the stories but not my style. I found the baseball section the weakest after playing and being a fan for 65 years. The most interesting section to me was the historical "Wife of the Jew".