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The Might Have Been: A Novel
Joseph M. Schuster’s absorbing debut novel resonates with the pull of lifelong dreams, the sting of regret, and the ways we define ourselves against uncertain twists of fate—perfect for fans of Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he’s still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him.
But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career.
Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities—a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family—Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players—one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable—who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected.
Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might Have Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
Praise for The Might Have Been
“The effort to sustain the tradition of the great American baseball novel receives an honorable boost with this meticulously peopled tale of opportunities lost.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Eventually, all of us have to grapple our might-have-beens. This is the moving story of a man whose chance for baseball stardom ended in a split-second accident, and it resonates far beyond the baseball field.”—Reader’s Digest
“A brilliant debut . . . a lovely, poignant, heartbreaker of a baseball novel, as good as last year’s hyped The Art of Fielding and more literary than Grisham’s Calico Joe.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A grand slam!”—San Antonio Express-News
“The Might Have Been is about the hold baseball can have on those who play it, but it’s also about acceptance, and patience, and the struggle to know when to fold ’em, and when to run.”—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“A terrific story that goes beyond the sport and deals with promise and aspirations, dreams and disappointments . . . Never mind whether you are a baseball fan. This is a damn fine read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
From the Hardcover edition.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he’s still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him.
But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career.
Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities—a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family—Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players—one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable—who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected.
Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might Have Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
Praise for The Might Have Been
“The effort to sustain the tradition of the great American baseball novel receives an honorable boost with this meticulously peopled tale of opportunities lost.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Eventually, all of us have to grapple our might-have-beens. This is the moving story of a man whose chance for baseball stardom ended in a split-second accident, and it resonates far beyond the baseball field.”—Reader’s Digest
“A brilliant debut . . . a lovely, poignant, heartbreaker of a baseball novel, as good as last year’s hyped The Art of Fielding and more literary than Grisham’s Calico Joe.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A grand slam!”—San Antonio Express-News
“The Might Have Been is about the hold baseball can have on those who play it, but it’s also about acceptance, and patience, and the struggle to know when to fold ’em, and when to run.”—Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
“A terrific story that goes beyond the sport and deals with promise and aspirations, dreams and disappointments . . . Never mind whether you are a baseball fan. This is a damn fine read.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
From the Hardcover edition.
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 20, 2012
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1031 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 105 reviews
May 17, 2013
Rating: 3.75* of five
The Publisher Says: For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he’s still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him.
But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career.
Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities—a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family—Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players—one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable—who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected.
Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might-Have-Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
My Review: Is it a function of aging that one becomes more and more interested in stories about the roads not taken, the chances unchanced, the opportunities unseized? Maybe it is. Maybe there is nothing more interesting ahead in life than the other paths left behind.
That is the most depressing, miserable, sad, and most of all untrue, sentence I've ever written. And this novel explains why.
I'm a disabled fifty*mumble* year old who lives mostly in cyberworld because it hurts too much to do things like sit in chairs and ride in cars. Gawd...doesn't that sound horrible? But you know something...it's not. It's a road I'm traveling, and it's got wonderful rewards...how many busy, active people bustling around their "real" lives have the time or the ability to make good friends on every continent of the planet, maintain and grow those friendships, come to care a lot for those friends?...so I don't feel deprived, or "less than," or pitiable.
This book is about a man with functioning body parts and no cognitive impairments who can't break free of the deeply narcotic dream of his youth, to excel at one and only one thing. It is unbearably sad. No amount of proof to the contrary can fill the hole in him that's labeled "FailureMan." No amount of life lived feels real enough to round the stabbing edges of The Moment It Changed.
How deeply, deeply sad and pathetic it is to know that there are millions if not billions like him, people for whom the present is a shadowplay and The Past is the only real thing. It's not a question of moving on from past pain, a phrase I detest for its implicit judgment of the hearer. It's a case of building something from the rocks and bricks and dirt around you, something you want to look at and live in, even though the rocks and bricks and dirt around you are the ruins of something you once had, or dreamed of having.
That's not "moving on." That's moving in to the home you've made from the mess the world makes of all of our dreams. It's what Schuster, by anti-model, shows us is so vitally necessary.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the baseball setting of the novel made me smile every page or two. The stakes, for my baseball-fan self, were so much sharper for being set in a world I love.
This book was a LibraryThing Early Reviewers win.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Publisher Says: For Edward Everett Yates, split seconds matter: the precise timing of hitting a low outside pitch, of stealing a base, of running down a fly ball. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he’s still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him.
But one more split second changes everything: In what should have been the game of his life, he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career.
Thirty years later, after sacrificing so many opportunities—a lucrative job, relationships with women who loved him, even the chance for a family—Edward Everett is barely hanging on as the manager of a minor league baseball team, still grappling with regret over the choices he made and the life he almost had. Then he encounters two players—one brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable—who show him that his greatest contribution may come in the last place he ever expected.
Full of passion, ambition, and possibility, The Might-Have-Been maps the profound and unpredictable moments that change our lives forever, and the irresistible power of a second chance.
My Review: Is it a function of aging that one becomes more and more interested in stories about the roads not taken, the chances unchanced, the opportunities unseized? Maybe it is. Maybe there is nothing more interesting ahead in life than the other paths left behind.
That is the most depressing, miserable, sad, and most of all untrue, sentence I've ever written. And this novel explains why.
I'm a disabled fifty*mumble* year old who lives mostly in cyberworld because it hurts too much to do things like sit in chairs and ride in cars. Gawd...doesn't that sound horrible? But you know something...it's not. It's a road I'm traveling, and it's got wonderful rewards...how many busy, active people bustling around their "real" lives have the time or the ability to make good friends on every continent of the planet, maintain and grow those friendships, come to care a lot for those friends?...so I don't feel deprived, or "less than," or pitiable.
This book is about a man with functioning body parts and no cognitive impairments who can't break free of the deeply narcotic dream of his youth, to excel at one and only one thing. It is unbearably sad. No amount of proof to the contrary can fill the hole in him that's labeled "FailureMan." No amount of life lived feels real enough to round the stabbing edges of The Moment It Changed.
How deeply, deeply sad and pathetic it is to know that there are millions if not billions like him, people for whom the present is a shadowplay and The Past is the only real thing. It's not a question of moving on from past pain, a phrase I detest for its implicit judgment of the hearer. It's a case of building something from the rocks and bricks and dirt around you, something you want to look at and live in, even though the rocks and bricks and dirt around you are the ruins of something you once had, or dreamed of having.
That's not "moving on." That's moving in to the home you've made from the mess the world makes of all of our dreams. It's what Schuster, by anti-model, shows us is so vitally necessary.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the baseball setting of the novel made me smile every page or two. The stakes, for my baseball-fan self, were so much sharper for being set in a world I love.
This book was a LibraryThing Early Reviewers win.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
March 30, 2012
I am not the kind of reader who typically reaches for a baseball-themed book. In fact, the last time I went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, I showed up with a novel in hand, which I read through most of the game (much to the chagrin of my husband).
So for me to like – really like! – a baseball book says a whole lot. It says that Joseph Schuster has a great voice and a wonderful story to tell. And baseball is only a backdrop; in many ways, this story is about life itself and how sometimes, our lifelong dreams keep us from really living.
Edward Everett Yates (“double E”) is a dreamer; some might call him a Peter Pan character. The sport has taken a hold of him and he hangs on to it for dear life, creating emotional havoc as he woos – and then jilts – two women of real substance. His lack of emotional regard should have been enough to turn him into a very unsympathetic character; however, Mr. Schuster redeems him by portraying him as a man caught in the grip of an addictive love of a game, despite his best intentions.
We view Edward Everett in the mid-70s, when he really has a chance to recognize his dream. But the title is, after all, The Might-Have-Been, so it’s no surprise that he is sidelined just as he’s poised to make it big. The next two-thirds of the book catch up with Edward Everett when he’s 60 years old and toiling away as the bit manager of a so-so team in one of the lower rungs of the minor league.
Like the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken, Edward Everett often finds himself on the crossroads, where one road can lead to love, money and opportunity, and the other to the fulfillment of a lifelong dream…a boy’s dream. As his friends and past girlfriends move on and “get a life”, EE realizes “they had seen the open door to the world outside the locker room as an invitation and not banishment; baseball was just an interesting visa stamp in the passport of their lives, while he had gotten stuck at the border, unable to cross.”
At times during the second half of this book, Mr. Schuster gets more detailed about the game itself; he was a journalist who covered sports. Those who are intrigued by the game will find those passages to resonate with authenticity; others, like me, who are not huge baseball fans may get a little bogged down. Despite that “flaw” (definitely in the eyes of the beholder), this is a stunning debut, which has much to say about hanging on to a quixotic dream and hanging into the game long after it’s even warranted. I should add that Mr. Schuster excels in writing crisp, believable dialogue and creating multi-dimensional characters. In other words: it’s a home-run!
So for me to like – really like! – a baseball book says a whole lot. It says that Joseph Schuster has a great voice and a wonderful story to tell. And baseball is only a backdrop; in many ways, this story is about life itself and how sometimes, our lifelong dreams keep us from really living.
Edward Everett Yates (“double E”) is a dreamer; some might call him a Peter Pan character. The sport has taken a hold of him and he hangs on to it for dear life, creating emotional havoc as he woos – and then jilts – two women of real substance. His lack of emotional regard should have been enough to turn him into a very unsympathetic character; however, Mr. Schuster redeems him by portraying him as a man caught in the grip of an addictive love of a game, despite his best intentions.
We view Edward Everett in the mid-70s, when he really has a chance to recognize his dream. But the title is, after all, The Might-Have-Been, so it’s no surprise that he is sidelined just as he’s poised to make it big. The next two-thirds of the book catch up with Edward Everett when he’s 60 years old and toiling away as the bit manager of a so-so team in one of the lower rungs of the minor league.
Like the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken, Edward Everett often finds himself on the crossroads, where one road can lead to love, money and opportunity, and the other to the fulfillment of a lifelong dream…a boy’s dream. As his friends and past girlfriends move on and “get a life”, EE realizes “they had seen the open door to the world outside the locker room as an invitation and not banishment; baseball was just an interesting visa stamp in the passport of their lives, while he had gotten stuck at the border, unable to cross.”
At times during the second half of this book, Mr. Schuster gets more detailed about the game itself; he was a journalist who covered sports. Those who are intrigued by the game will find those passages to resonate with authenticity; others, like me, who are not huge baseball fans may get a little bogged down. Despite that “flaw” (definitely in the eyes of the beholder), this is a stunning debut, which has much to say about hanging on to a quixotic dream and hanging into the game long after it’s even warranted. I should add that Mr. Schuster excels in writing crisp, believable dialogue and creating multi-dimensional characters. In other words: it’s a home-run!
February 15, 2012
It's early, but I know that this will be one of the top two or three novels I'll read this year. I give it four and a half stars. The writing is polished and precise. I didn't even know people still wrote novels like this. Naturalistic. Very much in the tradition of Dreiser. It's not really a "baseball novel" although the lead character is a baseball lifer.
Edward Everett Yates is a might-have-been, someone who only briefly made it into the major leagues, and he is a might-have-been in his relationships with his loved ones as well. We first see him as a young buck acting on impulse and then as an older man who has learned to live with disappointments and failures in ways his father could not. Ultimately, this novel is about growing up and becoming a true adult. I imagine it's the kind of novel that quite a few people will take to heart and find both sophisticated and profound. Yates is a very flawed, but ultimately sympathetic figure. Schuster is not afraid to show him warts and all, and The Might Have Been is very human and touching without being sentimental. This is a very impressive debut novel.
The Might Have Been harkens back to novels from the 1950s written by Bernard Malamud and Graham Greene. It will greatly please readers who prefer character driven over plot rich stories. I don't think this novel is for sports fans. Rather, I think it's for those who love great literary fiction. This book is going to stay in my head for many months, and maybe years. It's that good.
Edward Everett Yates is a might-have-been, someone who only briefly made it into the major leagues, and he is a might-have-been in his relationships with his loved ones as well. We first see him as a young buck acting on impulse and then as an older man who has learned to live with disappointments and failures in ways his father could not. Ultimately, this novel is about growing up and becoming a true adult. I imagine it's the kind of novel that quite a few people will take to heart and find both sophisticated and profound. Yates is a very flawed, but ultimately sympathetic figure. Schuster is not afraid to show him warts and all, and The Might Have Been is very human and touching without being sentimental. This is a very impressive debut novel.
The Might Have Been harkens back to novels from the 1950s written by Bernard Malamud and Graham Greene. It will greatly please readers who prefer character driven over plot rich stories. I don't think this novel is for sports fans. Rather, I think it's for those who love great literary fiction. This book is going to stay in my head for many months, and maybe years. It's that good.
March 1, 2025
The first step is to admit when you have a problem, and I love books. Which is only a problem in so much as I also love collecting books and my house is only so big. I'm surrounded by bookshelves full of books. Pulp paperbacks of beloved series from my youth. One shelf of writing books and another of Chicago history. An entire bookcase in the hallway contains John Updike, Philip Roth, and Jon Hassler first editions. A corner shelf in the basement corrals my motley assortment of Russian novels. My desk holds both my to-read books and my nearly complete collection of Percival Everett's first editions.
I have reached a zer0-sum situation: to buy a book, I must eliminate a book to make room.
Which brings us to The Might Have Been. I own many books that I haven't read, novels I bought used in bunches or new in bunches (I did admit I have a problem). Many are by authors I don't know well or at all but that caught my eye for one reason or another. In this case, I expect the hook was the Richard Russo blurb on the cover, "Surely destined to join the ranks of transcendent baseball novels." I bought this shortly after devouring The Art of Fielding, and I had wanted more baseball.
Unfortunately, Russo was wrong about this first novel by his former writing student. The Might Have Been is an enjoyable novel about a hard-luck minor leaguer, but it never transcends. The protagonist, Edward Everett Yates, is one of those characters who seems to stumble blindly through his own life; at one point, he doesn't even realize the tiny Iowa town he lives in has been flooded. At the expense of numerous marriages and relationships, he stays in professional baseball as a journeyman player and minor league manager.
There is a attempt at the end of the book for a transcendent theme — that the lost son and family who Edward Everett so desperately seeks are actually the young players he manages — but aside from a couple instances, the author rarely shows us those coach-player interactions. And the one that we do see in detail is a disaster.
So I must report that The Might Have Been is being traded for a book to be named later.
I have reached a zer0-sum situation: to buy a book, I must eliminate a book to make room.
Which brings us to The Might Have Been. I own many books that I haven't read, novels I bought used in bunches or new in bunches (I did admit I have a problem). Many are by authors I don't know well or at all but that caught my eye for one reason or another. In this case, I expect the hook was the Richard Russo blurb on the cover, "Surely destined to join the ranks of transcendent baseball novels." I bought this shortly after devouring The Art of Fielding, and I had wanted more baseball.
Unfortunately, Russo was wrong about this first novel by his former writing student. The Might Have Been is an enjoyable novel about a hard-luck minor leaguer, but it never transcends. The protagonist, Edward Everett Yates, is one of those characters who seems to stumble blindly through his own life; at one point, he doesn't even realize the tiny Iowa town he lives in has been flooded. At the expense of numerous marriages and relationships, he stays in professional baseball as a journeyman player and minor league manager.
There is a attempt at the end of the book for a transcendent theme — that the lost son and family who Edward Everett so desperately seeks are actually the young players he manages — but aside from a couple instances, the author rarely shows us those coach-player interactions. And the one that we do see in detail is a disaster.
So I must report that The Might Have Been is being traded for a book to be named later.
April 4, 2012
I'll admit I was a little wary of reading another baseball novel just a few months after reading Chad Harbach's fantastic The Art of Fielding, but I needn't have worried. Joe Schuster's debut novel, The Might Have Been, has baseball more at its core than Harbach's book, but it is captivating and affecting in its own quiet way.
When the book starts in the mid-1970s, Edward Everett Yates is a baseball player who has been in the minor leagues for 10 years, but still believes he will one day get called up to the majors. And one day he does, to play (at least temporarily) for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is determined to show the team all he can do—and in the midst of a spectacular game, he sustains a severe knee injury that affects him for the rest of his life. This moment haunts him and is the catalyst for a number of questionable opportunities he sacrifices throughout his life—relationships with women he loves, the chance for a family, a lucrative job, and security. The book then follows him 40 years later, as the manager of a failing minor league team in Perabo City, Iowa. Edward Everett struggles with players both destined for future success and those for whom success in baseball is not in the cards, and he wonders if a life in baseball was really worth all of his energy.
This is a book in which nothing tremendously earth-shattering happens, but it is a beautifully written, affecting one all the same. Anyone whom has ever chased a dream, sacrificing everything that got in the way of that singular focus, can identify with Edward Everett and his struggles. While at times the decisions he makes are frustrating, you can understand why he does the things he does, and you find yourself hoping that perhaps this time, things will go his way. This is a book about baseball and a book about a life lived in its shadow, and it is a really good read.
When the book starts in the mid-1970s, Edward Everett Yates is a baseball player who has been in the minor leagues for 10 years, but still believes he will one day get called up to the majors. And one day he does, to play (at least temporarily) for the St. Louis Cardinals. He is determined to show the team all he can do—and in the midst of a spectacular game, he sustains a severe knee injury that affects him for the rest of his life. This moment haunts him and is the catalyst for a number of questionable opportunities he sacrifices throughout his life—relationships with women he loves, the chance for a family, a lucrative job, and security. The book then follows him 40 years later, as the manager of a failing minor league team in Perabo City, Iowa. Edward Everett struggles with players both destined for future success and those for whom success in baseball is not in the cards, and he wonders if a life in baseball was really worth all of his energy.
This is a book in which nothing tremendously earth-shattering happens, but it is a beautifully written, affecting one all the same. Anyone whom has ever chased a dream, sacrificing everything that got in the way of that singular focus, can identify with Edward Everett and his struggles. While at times the decisions he makes are frustrating, you can understand why he does the things he does, and you find yourself hoping that perhaps this time, things will go his way. This is a book about baseball and a book about a life lived in its shadow, and it is a really good read.
March 7, 2013
I'd say this was really a 1.5 for me.
The Might Have Been follows the lackluster baseball career of Edward Everett Yates, beginning in 1976, when, after knocking around in the minor leagues for a few years, Edward Everett's stars align, and he begins playing far beyond his past performance until, finally in 1977, he receives the call to the Major Leagues.
In the latter 2/3 of the book, Schuster turns to Edward Everett's later life, set in 2009, as the protagonist nears his 60th birthday and 20th year of managing in the minor leagues. Edward Everett reflects on his life, a criss-cross of hopeful aspirations and misguided mistakes, even as he attempts to manage a team of young men who share the same goals he once had.
I have to say that I did not enjoy The Might Have Been very much. I never felt particularly engaged with or sympathetic to the protagonist, a man who continues to repeat misjudgments, even though he acknowledges his mistakes as he makes them. Further, for me, the gap between Parts 1 and 2 (1976-77) and Part 3 (2009) was too far to bridge (though Schuster does, of course, fill in some of this time through flashback in Part 3). I was counting how many pages were left less than halfway through, and I thought about giving up on the story entirely. I was interested enough that I stuck through to the end, but I'd only recommend this book to folks who really like fiction about baseball.
The Might Have Been follows the lackluster baseball career of Edward Everett Yates, beginning in 1976, when, after knocking around in the minor leagues for a few years, Edward Everett's stars align, and he begins playing far beyond his past performance until, finally in 1977, he receives the call to the Major Leagues.
In the latter 2/3 of the book, Schuster turns to Edward Everett's later life, set in 2009, as the protagonist nears his 60th birthday and 20th year of managing in the minor leagues. Edward Everett reflects on his life, a criss-cross of hopeful aspirations and misguided mistakes, even as he attempts to manage a team of young men who share the same goals he once had.
I have to say that I did not enjoy The Might Have Been very much. I never felt particularly engaged with or sympathetic to the protagonist, a man who continues to repeat misjudgments, even though he acknowledges his mistakes as he makes them. Further, for me, the gap between Parts 1 and 2 (1976-77) and Part 3 (2009) was too far to bridge (though Schuster does, of course, fill in some of this time through flashback in Part 3). I was counting how many pages were left less than halfway through, and I thought about giving up on the story entirely. I was interested enough that I stuck through to the end, but I'd only recommend this book to folks who really like fiction about baseball.
January 29, 2014
This is not my typical kind of book, but I was trying to find something to be my first purchase as an e-book, so I totally stalked a friend on Goodreads and found the description of this book made me think it was likely to have more substance and relevance for me and to me than I imagined anything that revolved around baseball ever would or could. I needed to get out of the density I'd been in lately, and this was a solid well-written read that, while utterly depressing for the majority of the story, was a great diversion. A pretty straight-forward growing up / growing old story that resonated with me deeply on multiple levels, this was hardly about baseball at all but rather the things that fill up our lives, the choices we make (and, by extension, don't make), and how to appreciate, live with, and grow with those choices while seeing the doors that are potentially opening instead of focusing on the ones that have closed.
I couldn't help but seeing an incredible number of similarities between this and The Adolescent, which I had finished only a few days prior. From the tryst with a 15 year (exactly!) age difference to the "pockmarked" characters (I don't recall having ever read that word before) to Edward Everett’s "accidental family" ("One day, he realized he was part of a family. Poof; just like that, not anything he had set out to acquire but something he just found he had.") it was eerie how many details of this novel put me squarely back in the middle of St. Petersburg. This, naturally, informed both my opinion of Schuster's novel as well as what I was able to take away from it. I did try to focus on this story on its own as much as I could, but if my comparisons seem out of place, that is why they are here. Thankfully Schuster's poetic descriptions and engaging prose kept this story moving and made it easy to empathize (and sympathize) with the main character throughout the course of the tale.
I found the chronological structure of the chapters (both inter- and intra-) to be rather unique and engaging in an unexpected way. The narrative followed Edward Everett from his mid-20’s nearly through the end of his life. I was prepared, as I began reading, for a story that would remain set largely in the middle of the last century as a wizened old man reflected on a particular time in his life and pontificated on the lessons he should have learned then but was only able to see as he looked back - an, “if I only knew then what I know now” kind of story. What I got instead was a fairly linear episodic narrative that treated me to intimate glimpses into the most important times in the life of a man searching to understand his place in his own world. I felt like the author did a fantastic job in creating the atmosphere and setting for each of these episodes in a way that drew me into worlds I will never know, and I found myself wanting to know more about the characters we were leaving behind as the timeline jumped years into the future. I was always disappointed when one sub-narrative ended and another began, but the way in which the beginnings of each new chapter were structured quickly pulled me into this new setting, and I found myself again submersed in new time and different place. This could have easily been a jarring experience, but Schuster pulled this off with aplomb, and I was wholly involved in the story from beginning to end.
As for the substance of the book itself, I will again note how adverse I am to the idea of reading anything about baseball or, typically, a sports novel in general. I am not a particularly big sports fan, and I find baseball to be about as interesting as this chair that is currently fighting gravity to keep me off the floor. This was, however, really focused on Edward Everett’s relationship baseball, and the deftness with which Schuster described Edward’s thoughts on the game he loved displayed his understanding of what it means for a person to be so fully involved in something outside of themselves. It was rather disappointing that Edward’s thoughts on his relationships to anything other than baseball were nearly glossed over in comparison, but this really communicated Edward’s inability to connect with others and find value or comfort in interpersonal relationships. As Renee would later say of Edward, he “worked to avoid real life,” and this must have been one of the primary warnings that Schuster intended to impart to the reader.
So as I read it was the opposite idea that pervaded my thoughts… not only to stop avoiding “real life” but also the importance of finding and then knowing what “real life” actually is for each of us, individually. Edward Everett was spot on in his assertion that, “he would have his chance, and he would do something with it.” Sadly, however, he only ever seemed to apply this to his love for baseball thus losing himself and the important people around him in the process. One of the most heart-breaking moments in the book was, during one of Edward’s more introspective moments, he phones his mother whose advice to him boiled down to one sentence: “You can’t go back, honey.” Shortly thereafter as Edward is dealing with having to let a player go he finally seems to begin to grasp the importance of relationships, family… and maybe Love itself as he closes the door on the player being left behind by the team yet still in the arms of those who loved him and noted that this player, “certainly had far more than he [Edward] ever had.” The missed opportunities and solitude in which Edward Everett found himself eventually culminated in his going full on Rob Fleming/Gordon in the most High Fidelity of moments of trying to reconnect with past girlfriends hoping that, “certainly one would exclaim, ‘Oh I was just thinking of you.’” This, of course, is a fruitless endeavor, and all of his self-destructive tendencies lead him to ultimately live out one of my own personal nightmares as his self-imposed solitude becomes very real as he is faced with being so “pathetic” that he is “in a plane about to crash and [had] no one in his life he could call.” This was definitely intensified for me as I was reading this book on a plane and, really, wasn’t sure who I would call myself if the same situation arose. This served to amplify my connection with Edward’s story, and I think it is a great example of the author being able to pull a universal fear out from the pieces of ourselves we try to hide, give it life with words, and make us face our own fears.
I feel like I’ve written some very positive things about this book… and I really did enjoy readying it… so why the 3 star review? That is certainly less commentary on the quality of the novel than it is a reflection of my own feelings on the resolution of the story. In the end, like The Adolescent, this is a story of hope. The two books, for me, share the idea that hope and belief in the unknown is necessary to give life even the possibility of being everything it could be. Edward’s future father-in-law says this best as he attempts to give Edward a Truth he will eventually embrace. “Life,” he says, “is about chance and accident.” The kicker and most important piece of this monologue is, however, that although life may be “chance and accident,” it is “that, and what you do with it” that matters most of all. We are all pawns in a much greater game we will never understand, but we cannot give in to fatalism. We have to do something with the chances and the accidents afforded to us. The ways in which we react to the situations in which we find ourselves are far more important than the situations themselves as every choice and every moment and potential moment will eventually solidify into our own individual “real world.” The other similarity in substance between the two books is the thought that we need to look forward for possibilities rather than remain stuck in our past. I have a difficult time completely letting go as I want to bring my past with me into the present and create an interconnected future. Eventually, in some situations, I can see how the past will never be my future no matter how much I want it to be, but it is still very very difficult to let that go. There was a more relevant quotation that I cannot currently find, but Edward’s thoughts regarding how his team could get over a disappointing loss cleverly put into words an axiom I’m sure we’ve all heard as he thinks, “they just needed to leave it confined to the box on the calendar corresponding to today, not let it bleed over to the next day.” There are just some things that I want to bleed over into every single day… and, really, shouldn’t we all get to have something that permeates are existence past, present, and future? Figuring out where to draw the line is so difficult and often so incredibly sad… but by the end of the story, we do see that Edward has finally figured out how to create a life for himself that stretches back to his past and, more importantly, into his future.
That was a rambling paragraph, but I’ve finally arrived at the reason why I didn’t give this book a higher rating. Whereas The Adolescent ends with the prospect of hope, this story eventually fully realizes it, and that is not what I wanted to see happen. The resolution, for me, took this from something somewhat philosophical and introspective and turned it into a nicely wrapped story intended to leave the reader with a since of closure and satisfaction. I wanted a sense of wonder and undefined hope at the end, and this kind of took that from me. I feel like that is often the case with much popular current literature, and I typically wish a book would have ended 3 chapters sooner. I don’t think this detracts from the quality of the story or the way in which it was told – it was just my own personal preference especially after having felt so connected to Edward Everett in his depression and his mistakes. Perhaps, if I currently had a similar resolution, I would have felt differently about the ending, but I am where I am and can make no apologies for that. Overall this was a story of hope and a warning to be wary of a blindness that creeps in around our eyes as “another future falls behind the one we had in mind.” (Thank you, Concrete Blonde) It did not have the weight of a more dense book like The Adolescent, but Schuster does a fine job of finding the emotional center of his characters (and, by extension, the reader) and crafts an intriguing story that is a pleasure to read, and I would not hesitate recommending this to anyone else who is on a journey of self-discovery or just looking for an engrossing story that looks through the window of a life not your own.
(Ugh. I really did want to give this 4-stars just for making me think and feel connected... if not for the resolution...)
I couldn't help but seeing an incredible number of similarities between this and The Adolescent, which I had finished only a few days prior. From the tryst with a 15 year (exactly!) age difference to the "pockmarked" characters (I don't recall having ever read that word before) to Edward Everett’s "accidental family" ("One day, he realized he was part of a family. Poof; just like that, not anything he had set out to acquire but something he just found he had.") it was eerie how many details of this novel put me squarely back in the middle of St. Petersburg. This, naturally, informed both my opinion of Schuster's novel as well as what I was able to take away from it. I did try to focus on this story on its own as much as I could, but if my comparisons seem out of place, that is why they are here. Thankfully Schuster's poetic descriptions and engaging prose kept this story moving and made it easy to empathize (and sympathize) with the main character throughout the course of the tale.
I found the chronological structure of the chapters (both inter- and intra-) to be rather unique and engaging in an unexpected way. The narrative followed Edward Everett from his mid-20’s nearly through the end of his life. I was prepared, as I began reading, for a story that would remain set largely in the middle of the last century as a wizened old man reflected on a particular time in his life and pontificated on the lessons he should have learned then but was only able to see as he looked back - an, “if I only knew then what I know now” kind of story. What I got instead was a fairly linear episodic narrative that treated me to intimate glimpses into the most important times in the life of a man searching to understand his place in his own world. I felt like the author did a fantastic job in creating the atmosphere and setting for each of these episodes in a way that drew me into worlds I will never know, and I found myself wanting to know more about the characters we were leaving behind as the timeline jumped years into the future. I was always disappointed when one sub-narrative ended and another began, but the way in which the beginnings of each new chapter were structured quickly pulled me into this new setting, and I found myself again submersed in new time and different place. This could have easily been a jarring experience, but Schuster pulled this off with aplomb, and I was wholly involved in the story from beginning to end.
As for the substance of the book itself, I will again note how adverse I am to the idea of reading anything about baseball or, typically, a sports novel in general. I am not a particularly big sports fan, and I find baseball to be about as interesting as this chair that is currently fighting gravity to keep me off the floor. This was, however, really focused on Edward Everett’s relationship baseball, and the deftness with which Schuster described Edward’s thoughts on the game he loved displayed his understanding of what it means for a person to be so fully involved in something outside of themselves. It was rather disappointing that Edward’s thoughts on his relationships to anything other than baseball were nearly glossed over in comparison, but this really communicated Edward’s inability to connect with others and find value or comfort in interpersonal relationships. As Renee would later say of Edward, he “worked to avoid real life,” and this must have been one of the primary warnings that Schuster intended to impart to the reader.
So as I read it was the opposite idea that pervaded my thoughts… not only to stop avoiding “real life” but also the importance of finding and then knowing what “real life” actually is for each of us, individually. Edward Everett was spot on in his assertion that, “he would have his chance, and he would do something with it.” Sadly, however, he only ever seemed to apply this to his love for baseball thus losing himself and the important people around him in the process. One of the most heart-breaking moments in the book was, during one of Edward’s more introspective moments, he phones his mother whose advice to him boiled down to one sentence: “You can’t go back, honey.” Shortly thereafter as Edward is dealing with having to let a player go he finally seems to begin to grasp the importance of relationships, family… and maybe Love itself as he closes the door on the player being left behind by the team yet still in the arms of those who loved him and noted that this player, “certainly had far more than he [Edward] ever had.” The missed opportunities and solitude in which Edward Everett found himself eventually culminated in his going full on Rob Fleming/Gordon in the most High Fidelity of moments of trying to reconnect with past girlfriends hoping that, “certainly one would exclaim, ‘Oh I was just thinking of you.’” This, of course, is a fruitless endeavor, and all of his self-destructive tendencies lead him to ultimately live out one of my own personal nightmares as his self-imposed solitude becomes very real as he is faced with being so “pathetic” that he is “in a plane about to crash and [had] no one in his life he could call.” This was definitely intensified for me as I was reading this book on a plane and, really, wasn’t sure who I would call myself if the same situation arose. This served to amplify my connection with Edward’s story, and I think it is a great example of the author being able to pull a universal fear out from the pieces of ourselves we try to hide, give it life with words, and make us face our own fears.
I feel like I’ve written some very positive things about this book… and I really did enjoy readying it… so why the 3 star review? That is certainly less commentary on the quality of the novel than it is a reflection of my own feelings on the resolution of the story. In the end, like The Adolescent, this is a story of hope. The two books, for me, share the idea that hope and belief in the unknown is necessary to give life even the possibility of being everything it could be. Edward’s future father-in-law says this best as he attempts to give Edward a Truth he will eventually embrace. “Life,” he says, “is about chance and accident.” The kicker and most important piece of this monologue is, however, that although life may be “chance and accident,” it is “that, and what you do with it” that matters most of all. We are all pawns in a much greater game we will never understand, but we cannot give in to fatalism. We have to do something with the chances and the accidents afforded to us. The ways in which we react to the situations in which we find ourselves are far more important than the situations themselves as every choice and every moment and potential moment will eventually solidify into our own individual “real world.” The other similarity in substance between the two books is the thought that we need to look forward for possibilities rather than remain stuck in our past. I have a difficult time completely letting go as I want to bring my past with me into the present and create an interconnected future. Eventually, in some situations, I can see how the past will never be my future no matter how much I want it to be, but it is still very very difficult to let that go. There was a more relevant quotation that I cannot currently find, but Edward’s thoughts regarding how his team could get over a disappointing loss cleverly put into words an axiom I’m sure we’ve all heard as he thinks, “they just needed to leave it confined to the box on the calendar corresponding to today, not let it bleed over to the next day.” There are just some things that I want to bleed over into every single day… and, really, shouldn’t we all get to have something that permeates are existence past, present, and future? Figuring out where to draw the line is so difficult and often so incredibly sad… but by the end of the story, we do see that Edward has finally figured out how to create a life for himself that stretches back to his past and, more importantly, into his future.
That was a rambling paragraph, but I’ve finally arrived at the reason why I didn’t give this book a higher rating. Whereas The Adolescent ends with the prospect of hope, this story eventually fully realizes it, and that is not what I wanted to see happen. The resolution, for me, took this from something somewhat philosophical and introspective and turned it into a nicely wrapped story intended to leave the reader with a since of closure and satisfaction. I wanted a sense of wonder and undefined hope at the end, and this kind of took that from me. I feel like that is often the case with much popular current literature, and I typically wish a book would have ended 3 chapters sooner. I don’t think this detracts from the quality of the story or the way in which it was told – it was just my own personal preference especially after having felt so connected to Edward Everett in his depression and his mistakes. Perhaps, if I currently had a similar resolution, I would have felt differently about the ending, but I am where I am and can make no apologies for that. Overall this was a story of hope and a warning to be wary of a blindness that creeps in around our eyes as “another future falls behind the one we had in mind.” (Thank you, Concrete Blonde) It did not have the weight of a more dense book like The Adolescent, but Schuster does a fine job of finding the emotional center of his characters (and, by extension, the reader) and crafts an intriguing story that is a pleasure to read, and I would not hesitate recommending this to anyone else who is on a journey of self-discovery or just looking for an engrossing story that looks through the window of a life not your own.
(Ugh. I really did want to give this 4-stars just for making me think and feel connected... if not for the resolution...)
March 13, 2012
Baseball is a drug many old ballplayers are too weak to resist, its allure perhaps strongest to those whose career didn't follow the course they had mapped out as kids. Edward Everett Yates never envisioned it would take him ten years to reach the St. Louis Cardinals. His long-imagined debut hadn't included being ordered to bunt in his first—and only official—plate appearance. He may have dreamed of hitting for the cycle, but nowhere in that vision was the game washed out of the record books as he hung by his cleats from the outfield fence in Montreal, rain pelting his face as pain pulsed in waves from his shredded knee up through his body until he finally blacked out.
To tab Edward Everett the hero of Joseph Schuster's The Might Have Been is to upsell his lot in the baseball landscape. There's little heroic about him, next to no glamour in his life once he returns to the bush leagues, never again to sniff major league air. As a young man his self-absorption sows the seeds of the loneliness that will plague him well into middle age when he moves into the coaching ranks.
His only constants are baseball and regret, and in many regards the former fuels the latter. What might have been for Edward Everett had he not leapt for that home-run ball in Montreal? His life, in his reflections, is a series of what-ifs, not all of which date back to that fateful game. When he, as manager, is burdened with informing his players that the organization no longer desires their services, he wants to tell them to find something else to do with their lives. Sell flour. Sell straw. Move on. "Be grateful for the life you have rather than regret over the one you don't."
Through Edward Everett, Schuster illuminates a side of the game utterly devoid of glamour and often even hope. For every young man who dreams of making a living under the lights, or every middle age office worker imagining how things might have turned out differently had he only been able to hit the curve ball, here's a reminder that the game doesn't always romance those who sacrifice their life and heart to it.
To tab Edward Everett the hero of Joseph Schuster's The Might Have Been is to upsell his lot in the baseball landscape. There's little heroic about him, next to no glamour in his life once he returns to the bush leagues, never again to sniff major league air. As a young man his self-absorption sows the seeds of the loneliness that will plague him well into middle age when he moves into the coaching ranks.
His only constants are baseball and regret, and in many regards the former fuels the latter. What might have been for Edward Everett had he not leapt for that home-run ball in Montreal? His life, in his reflections, is a series of what-ifs, not all of which date back to that fateful game. When he, as manager, is burdened with informing his players that the organization no longer desires their services, he wants to tell them to find something else to do with their lives. Sell flour. Sell straw. Move on. "Be grateful for the life you have rather than regret over the one you don't."
Through Edward Everett, Schuster illuminates a side of the game utterly devoid of glamour and often even hope. For every young man who dreams of making a living under the lights, or every middle age office worker imagining how things might have turned out differently had he only been able to hit the curve ball, here's a reminder that the game doesn't always romance those who sacrifice their life and heart to it.
June 16, 2012
Edward Everett is a might have been and this is his story. Edward is single minded in his desire to be a part of baseball. Baseball is all he thinks about and everything else pale's in comparison.
In this novel, Edward has been working in the minor leagues, enjoying time in the game and taking the opportunity to womanize at his leisure. He gets a chance to fill-in for an injured major league-r. Unfortunately, he is so focused on showing his talents as to not be sent back to the minors, he suffers an injury that takes him out of the game for good.
He eventually lands himself in a managing position on a minor league team. Prior to landing this position, he has opportunity's to commit to two different pleasant women, but he ends up slighting both. At times, I found myself shocked by Edwards lack of thoughtfulness for anything "not baseball", but I was always rooting for him to make some good choices.
Edward really has a hard time making good choices. When he should turn left, he turns right and vice versa. I was constantly rooting for Edward even though he just seemed to never get it right.
The Might Have Been is an engaging story of a man searching for his place in life and anyone who loves baseball is sure to enjoy this read, as it is filled with baseball stories the seasoned fan is sure to appreciate.
In this novel, Edward has been working in the minor leagues, enjoying time in the game and taking the opportunity to womanize at his leisure. He gets a chance to fill-in for an injured major league-r. Unfortunately, he is so focused on showing his talents as to not be sent back to the minors, he suffers an injury that takes him out of the game for good.
He eventually lands himself in a managing position on a minor league team. Prior to landing this position, he has opportunity's to commit to two different pleasant women, but he ends up slighting both. At times, I found myself shocked by Edwards lack of thoughtfulness for anything "not baseball", but I was always rooting for him to make some good choices.
Edward really has a hard time making good choices. When he should turn left, he turns right and vice versa. I was constantly rooting for Edward even though he just seemed to never get it right.
The Might Have Been is an engaging story of a man searching for his place in life and anyone who loves baseball is sure to enjoy this read, as it is filled with baseball stories the seasoned fan is sure to appreciate.
March 17, 2012
If this isn't my favorite book of the year, what surpasses it must be a doozy. I originally chose it because of the baseball background, but it is so rich in so many ways, so surprising and yet familiar, I found myself taking my time with it. This definitely is a book to savor.
We meet Edward Everett Yates in 1977, as he is called up to go to the Show, on the brink of realizing his dream. The liner notes and title already inform the reader of what is to come, that that dream will die before it is realized. What follows is Edward Everett's life, told through a number of set pieces that are at once illuminating and in parts, hilarious, Shuster's talent of description and ear for dialogue render these scenes with cinematic detail, but the writing is so polished and assured, it is amazing to realize this is a debut novel. This is the kind of book that got me to love reading in the first place, more internal that plot driven, but with characterizations so accurate, they are three dimensional. Need I say, highly recommended?
We meet Edward Everett Yates in 1977, as he is called up to go to the Show, on the brink of realizing his dream. The liner notes and title already inform the reader of what is to come, that that dream will die before it is realized. What follows is Edward Everett's life, told through a number of set pieces that are at once illuminating and in parts, hilarious, Shuster's talent of description and ear for dialogue render these scenes with cinematic detail, but the writing is so polished and assured, it is amazing to realize this is a debut novel. This is the kind of book that got me to love reading in the first place, more internal that plot driven, but with characterizations so accurate, they are three dimensional. Need I say, highly recommended?
February 11, 2012
With a title like "The Might Have Been," it's no spoiler to say that Edward Everett Yates's life in baseball didn't pan out the way he'd hoped. Bumping around for years in the minors, he finally gets his chance to shine for one brief moment. It's a train wreck of a moment that determines the rest of Edward Everett's career.
If this book had been narrated by one of the many women Edward Everett jilts in his lifetime, I might not have had any sympathy for him at all. But because the author draws him so completely, with all his doubts and faults and fears, I found him to be a tremendously sympathetic character.
Mr. Schuster's book engaged me to the very end. As I turned the last page, I wished Edward Everett well. I think I just might peek into the dugout of our local AA team on opening day and look to see if he's there.
If this book had been narrated by one of the many women Edward Everett jilts in his lifetime, I might not have had any sympathy for him at all. But because the author draws him so completely, with all his doubts and faults and fears, I found him to be a tremendously sympathetic character.
Mr. Schuster's book engaged me to the very end. As I turned the last page, I wished Edward Everett well. I think I just might peek into the dugout of our local AA team on opening day and look to see if he's there.
August 28, 2017
This book had no plot to speak of, although some of the storylines were interesting. It just never built up to a climax and resolution the way most novels are written. Basically, it's the life story of a baseball player who struggles in the minor leagues for about 10 years, finally gets to the Major Leagues, has a devastating knee injury, and never makes it back. He makes a series of poor decisions, and his life continues to get worse as a result. In that sense, the book is very true to real-life, but when you're reading a book, that's not particularly the kind of story you are looking for. I would not recommend this book. Even the "last season" of the minor league team the character was associated with... *SPOILER ALERT*... results in a loss and missing the playoffs. A real fizzler of a book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 24, 2014
I decided to read this book because I'm trying to find a good baseball book to get my dad for his birthday this year. While this book is about a baseball player/coach, it isn't really about baseball. It's really just about being happy with the life you have instead of the life you wish you had. A pretty universal theme that we've all heard before. But very well written, with engaging characters and a pleasant pace. I enjoyed reading it very much. In a way, it kind of reminded me of Robb Forman Dew's books in pace and style, but ultimately, it didn't pack quite the same punch, hence only 4 stars. Definitely worth a read and I would certainly pick up another of this author's books.
June 2, 2012
An accomplished, well-written novel, but don't believe all the blurbs that say "It's not really about baseball, it's about [America] [modern life] [men][the life of modern American men]. Because there's a BUTTLOAD of baseball, which I had to skim past because baseball is fun in person and deadly on the page.
June 9, 2017
This is so close to being a good book but Schuster didn't quite pull it off. Aside from the protagonist, the characters are not particularly well developed and the plot has just a few more outlandish events than I could take. That said, Schuster nails one thing: his depiction of the longing for success against long, long odds and crummy conditions that low-level was powerful.
May 9, 2012
Well written, but depressing. The main character, Edward Yates, makes a series of bad decisions and has some terrible luck. It makes it difficult to finish, but Schuster's talent as an author makes the journey worth it. Deserves to be amongst the pantheon of great baseball novels.
October 31, 2013
yawn...I was waiting for the story to get exciting and it never did. Too bad because the idea behind the story sounds interesting.
January 26, 2016
Unsatisfying.
August 10, 2016
The beginning was interesting, but once it skipped ahead 20 years it lost me.
February 11, 2020
Did I read the same book as these other people?
It isn't Field of Dreams in any way. It isn't The Natural, but there are some irrelevant similarities. It isn't For the Love of the Game, but there are perhaps more similarities. But any similarities to these movies are not really about baseball. This guy is definitely not Costner or Redford.
There's baseball, but the game sequences didn't interest me. By then I was just trying to get through it. (I'm not sure why I wanted to.)
Pure and simple, I don't like books about the difficulties of real life. Beyond having setbacks, this guy was a jerk in his twenties, more than a jerk. If I was Julie or Connie's brother or father, I would have wanted him to end up in a ditch.
He doesn't improve much later in life, at least as far as his relationships. But by then, his mistress wasn't another woman, but the game.
In some ways he just plods through life with his head down. But he also hopes.
The book provides a comparison/contrast between him and one of his players. He has unrealistic hopes, as does Nelson. His are more about the lost women. Nelson's are about succeeding in the game. Both pursue lost causes past the point of being simply annoying.
He has some good qualities. One is a combination of charity and financial generosity. Another is that he tries to help others, especially his players, and he is at least somewhat successful in the later.
Besides having a lead character I didn't like, and being depressing, the book is too much about mundane life. I kept waiting for something to happen, but except for a whirlwind right near the end, really nothing much happened. It met women and treated them badly and they left. He coached.
What might have been. That's certainly accurate because nothing was. It was all might have been. I guess the phrase I would use to summarize the book would be: The champion of lost causes.
Something happens at the end which I thought contrary to the rest of the book misleading if you will. Big spoiler:
Mature themes: Not really. There are several instances of "off screen" sex. We know it happened but nothing is described. There are a couple of acts of violence, but likewise they aren't really described in detail. There is an occasional use of very fowl language.
It isn't Field of Dreams in any way. It isn't The Natural, but there are some irrelevant similarities. It isn't For the Love of the Game, but there are perhaps more similarities. But any similarities to these movies are not really about baseball. This guy is definitely not Costner or Redford.
There's baseball, but the game sequences didn't interest me. By then I was just trying to get through it. (I'm not sure why I wanted to.)
Pure and simple, I don't like books about the difficulties of real life. Beyond having setbacks, this guy was a jerk in his twenties, more than a jerk. If I was Julie or Connie's brother or father, I would have wanted him to end up in a ditch.
He doesn't improve much later in life, at least as far as his relationships. But by then, his mistress wasn't another woman, but the game.
In some ways he just plods through life with his head down. But he also hopes.
The book provides a comparison/contrast between him and one of his players. He has unrealistic hopes, as does Nelson. His are more about the lost women. Nelson's are about succeeding in the game. Both pursue lost causes past the point of being simply annoying.
He has some good qualities. One is a combination of charity and financial generosity. Another is that he tries to help others, especially his players, and he is at least somewhat successful in the later.
Besides having a lead character I didn't like, and being depressing, the book is too much about mundane life. I kept waiting for something to happen, but except for a whirlwind right near the end, really nothing much happened. It met women and treated them badly and they left. He coached.
What might have been. That's certainly accurate because nothing was. It was all might have been. I guess the phrase I would use to summarize the book would be: The champion of lost causes.
Something happens at the end which I thought contrary to the rest of the book misleading if you will. Big spoiler:
Mature themes: Not really. There are several instances of "off screen" sex. We know it happened but nothing is described. There are a couple of acts of violence, but likewise they aren't really described in detail. There is an occasional use of very fowl language.
November 1, 2018
The Might Have Been
I enjoyed the story line of The Might Have Been as well as some of the themes that it incorporated. The novel was very understandable in terms of how much it related to real life. I thought that the author did a good job of putting the reader into the character’s shoes as the character went on about living his life. The book shows important and significant developments in theme, character, and mood as the novel progresses.
As the main character Edward Everett goes through life, he is faced with events and problems that almost any reader of the novel would face sometime in their life. The theme of regret is recurrent as Edward makes life changing decisions regarding relationships and career choices. Edward Everett constantly finds himself wishing he had made different decisions in some of the circumstances that he was confronted with. Such like when “he would remember that opportunity on her front porch as an invitation to one kind of life he might have had, but instead became the moment in which a lie began weaving itself into his life” (117). Instead of making a right moral decision, he decides to lie to his fiance, which he later regrets. This theme along with a few others stretch out over the course of the book, keeping the reader constantly engaged.
As a reader, I also saw instances where Edward’s inner character developed, only to drop back down to the sadening level that it began, but nonetheless, show signs of change. Edward Everett’s inner morals are constantly swaying in the novel. Between valuing a relationship, or returning to baseball, baseball always wins, causing him to ditch any chances he has of having a family, and an established life.
The mood throughout the story also develops. It develops into a more depressing one, but shows change as the plot advances. The mood seems to take a dive to a less uplifting one as Ed abandons possible paths for his life. Edward Everett loves baseball, but in the book it is viewed to only have negative effects on his life. Because Ed is so intrigued by this sport, and it only gives him negative kickback, the mood is created to be very realistic.
Overall I would recommend this book because it is focused on life choices. It is by no means a lecture on how each choice will affect someone's life, but rather a story in which wrong choices may pile up to work against you. This idea of the significance of life choices is cleverly worked into the plot, and is very entertaining.
I enjoyed the story line of The Might Have Been as well as some of the themes that it incorporated. The novel was very understandable in terms of how much it related to real life. I thought that the author did a good job of putting the reader into the character’s shoes as the character went on about living his life. The book shows important and significant developments in theme, character, and mood as the novel progresses.
As the main character Edward Everett goes through life, he is faced with events and problems that almost any reader of the novel would face sometime in their life. The theme of regret is recurrent as Edward makes life changing decisions regarding relationships and career choices. Edward Everett constantly finds himself wishing he had made different decisions in some of the circumstances that he was confronted with. Such like when “he would remember that opportunity on her front porch as an invitation to one kind of life he might have had, but instead became the moment in which a lie began weaving itself into his life” (117). Instead of making a right moral decision, he decides to lie to his fiance, which he later regrets. This theme along with a few others stretch out over the course of the book, keeping the reader constantly engaged.
As a reader, I also saw instances where Edward’s inner character developed, only to drop back down to the sadening level that it began, but nonetheless, show signs of change. Edward Everett’s inner morals are constantly swaying in the novel. Between valuing a relationship, or returning to baseball, baseball always wins, causing him to ditch any chances he has of having a family, and an established life.
The mood throughout the story also develops. It develops into a more depressing one, but shows change as the plot advances. The mood seems to take a dive to a less uplifting one as Ed abandons possible paths for his life. Edward Everett loves baseball, but in the book it is viewed to only have negative effects on his life. Because Ed is so intrigued by this sport, and it only gives him negative kickback, the mood is created to be very realistic.
Overall I would recommend this book because it is focused on life choices. It is by no means a lecture on how each choice will affect someone's life, but rather a story in which wrong choices may pile up to work against you. This idea of the significance of life choices is cleverly worked into the plot, and is very entertaining.
October 31, 2018
The book the Might have been is about a man named Edward Everett Yates. The book tells about his life as a professional baseball player and then his post baseball player life as a manager for a baseball team. He faced many hardships in his career as a player such as, having an injury and being cut from a team. He not only faced hardships in the game of baseball but also in his social and more personal life. He has multiple wives throughout his life and many other little events that make his life anything but normal.
The story allows you to really connect to the book to your life. It shows themes of regret and acceptance. Throughout the book, Edward reflects back on his life and realizes all the things he should have done differently and make choices that he should have made different. For example, in one point in the book he chooses not to follow his girlfriend and he lets her get away He loses out on a chance to make his life a lot better than it was. He reflects on all the things he missed out on because of the choices he makes. He imagines the way his life would have changed if he did certain things or didn’t do. In one point of the book, it says "I have let things in my life pass me up, and now its time for me to accept my decisions and move on." This book shows many elements of themes of acceptance and regret.
I thought the book was very good. I’m a big fan of baseball so I related to the book pretty well and enjoyed the plot. The book had many twists and turns throughout. It made the story interesting and always kept me on my toes. Sometimes I would have to go back and read parts because the book changes direction so quickly. At times that made the book hard to read for me. I would lose focus at some parts and I would often have to go back to make sure I understood what was going on. Also, the book has big jumps in time. I didn’t really like that because I would always wonder what happened in that break in time in the book. While the book tells parts of what happened it doesn’t give the full story of what happened in the break-in time. All and all The might have been was a good read and I would recommend it to someone. Consider all these factors as you decide of you next book to read.
The story allows you to really connect to the book to your life. It shows themes of regret and acceptance. Throughout the book, Edward reflects back on his life and realizes all the things he should have done differently and make choices that he should have made different. For example, in one point in the book he chooses not to follow his girlfriend and he lets her get away He loses out on a chance to make his life a lot better than it was. He reflects on all the things he missed out on because of the choices he makes. He imagines the way his life would have changed if he did certain things or didn’t do. In one point of the book, it says "I have let things in my life pass me up, and now its time for me to accept my decisions and move on." This book shows many elements of themes of acceptance and regret.
I thought the book was very good. I’m a big fan of baseball so I related to the book pretty well and enjoyed the plot. The book had many twists and turns throughout. It made the story interesting and always kept me on my toes. Sometimes I would have to go back and read parts because the book changes direction so quickly. At times that made the book hard to read for me. I would lose focus at some parts and I would often have to go back to make sure I understood what was going on. Also, the book has big jumps in time. I didn’t really like that because I would always wonder what happened in that break in time in the book. While the book tells parts of what happened it doesn’t give the full story of what happened in the break-in time. All and all The might have been was a good read and I would recommend it to someone. Consider all these factors as you decide of you next book to read.
November 1, 2018
“The Might Have Been” is an honest story about a life in the game of minor league baseball. Edward Everett Yates, like so many others, got his shot playing in the pros. But also like so many others, his shot didn’t last long, as an accident “would shape his life in ways [he] wouldn't feel for decades.” After his playing days, he was unable to settle down into a normal life, and reverted back to what he knew best. He gave up opportunities outside of the game left and right, and never found a home. His purpose came later in life, when faced with many players who were just like him, and some with talent he could have only dreamed of. He had to help the ones with potential get to the pros, and help the ones that didn't do what he could never get himself to do.
This novel is an excellent read for any baseball fan, or a fan of an honest story. Joe Schuster doesn't sugar-coat anything, and gives you a real insight to minor league baseball. The pros who you see on television with their ten million dollar contracts are nothing like those playing in single-a, many of whom need winter jobs just to keep afloat. The themes of regret and acceptance are themes that represent much of life as a human. Learning from mistakes, and helping others not make the same ones, as this novel can connect to anyone’s life, in any situation.
As a die-hard baseball fan, I truly enjoyed the novel. I gained so much respect for the men that have spent their entire lives taking long 8-9 hour bus trips for 140 games, just because they love the game so much. I also loved the way Schuster incorporated the loss and suffering one might go through, and the people they may leave behind to travel through the hills of the north, and the fields of the midwest, just to play a game.
I am giving this book a 5 star rating partially due to my love for baseball, and my appreciation for the minor leagues, but the storyline itself is still wonderful. Schuster holds nothing back, and I really did appreciate this while reading. Even a non-sports fan could appreciate the story of Edward Everett Yates, and his not so perfect, perfect life. Success and failure experiences we all deal with in life, and E.E could certainly attest to that.
This novel is an excellent read for any baseball fan, or a fan of an honest story. Joe Schuster doesn't sugar-coat anything, and gives you a real insight to minor league baseball. The pros who you see on television with their ten million dollar contracts are nothing like those playing in single-a, many of whom need winter jobs just to keep afloat. The themes of regret and acceptance are themes that represent much of life as a human. Learning from mistakes, and helping others not make the same ones, as this novel can connect to anyone’s life, in any situation.
As a die-hard baseball fan, I truly enjoyed the novel. I gained so much respect for the men that have spent their entire lives taking long 8-9 hour bus trips for 140 games, just because they love the game so much. I also loved the way Schuster incorporated the loss and suffering one might go through, and the people they may leave behind to travel through the hills of the north, and the fields of the midwest, just to play a game.
I am giving this book a 5 star rating partially due to my love for baseball, and my appreciation for the minor leagues, but the storyline itself is still wonderful. Schuster holds nothing back, and I really did appreciate this while reading. Even a non-sports fan could appreciate the story of Edward Everett Yates, and his not so perfect, perfect life. Success and failure experiences we all deal with in life, and E.E could certainly attest to that.
November 4, 2018
In the book, The Might Have Been, the main character is Edward Everett. He is a baseball player and is also a manager of a minor league team called Perabo City. Edward Everett was faced with a lot of problems in his lifetime. Ed’s most highlighted problems throughout the book is: playing baseball, his baseball team, and even women.
In addition, Edward Everett played baseball for the St Louis Cardinals, an MLB team. Until, he suffered a bad injury that ended his professional career. Thirty years later after sacrificing many opportunities. Some of which were a successful job, relationships with women, and even to start a family. All while just hanging onto his minor league baseball team. Throughout the book, Ed is always seen showing regret about his past experiences in life. A quote from Ed was “I always tend to blow my chances, especially with Renee.” This quote shows how Ed is always regretting about the choices he made, that could’ve changed his life into something better. Then while coaching his minor league team, he meets two players. One is brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable, who show Edward Everett’s greatest contribution may come into the last place he would expect.
I believe that The Might Have Been is a good, interesting book to read. One downfall that I don’t like about it is how throughout the book it gives off a depressing mood. This is because of Ed constantly regretting his past choices in life. Although, I do like the plot of the book overall because of the baseball within, and the relationships with women. This all makes it interesting because you never know what Ed is gonna do as his next move with his baseball career or relationships. In the end, Ed has these two men on his baseball team, which one is god and the other is not so good but has the drive to play. Overall these two players for Ed mark the story line much more intriguing, and makes the reader feel bad for Nelson who is the other player that doesn’t have the talent. To find out more about these two players to see who stays and who goes, read The Might Have Been.
In addition, Edward Everett played baseball for the St Louis Cardinals, an MLB team. Until, he suffered a bad injury that ended his professional career. Thirty years later after sacrificing many opportunities. Some of which were a successful job, relationships with women, and even to start a family. All while just hanging onto his minor league baseball team. Throughout the book, Ed is always seen showing regret about his past experiences in life. A quote from Ed was “I always tend to blow my chances, especially with Renee.” This quote shows how Ed is always regretting about the choices he made, that could’ve changed his life into something better. Then while coaching his minor league team, he meets two players. One is brilliant but undisciplined, the other eager but unremarkable, who show Edward Everett’s greatest contribution may come into the last place he would expect.
I believe that The Might Have Been is a good, interesting book to read. One downfall that I don’t like about it is how throughout the book it gives off a depressing mood. This is because of Ed constantly regretting his past choices in life. Although, I do like the plot of the book overall because of the baseball within, and the relationships with women. This all makes it interesting because you never know what Ed is gonna do as his next move with his baseball career or relationships. In the end, Ed has these two men on his baseball team, which one is god and the other is not so good but has the drive to play. Overall these two players for Ed mark the story line much more intriguing, and makes the reader feel bad for Nelson who is the other player that doesn’t have the talent. To find out more about these two players to see who stays and who goes, read The Might Have Been.
October 18, 2020
14 years in the UK. I haven't followed Major League Baseball in a decade. But then I found out the team I used to follow was good again. Really good. I started looking up scores in the morning, watching highlights. I even managed to watch a game — a key game with their division rivals — live. And then I watched the first two playoff series, until they were eliminated.
I had caught the baseball bug. Most of the best sports books I have read — perhaps all but one — have been baseball books. I used to make a point of reading a baseball book every summer, but that went by the wayside when I stopped trying to follow the league from halfway around the world. Now I was feeling nostalgic for a good baseball book. I have a few in my collection, but The Might Have Been was the easiest to reach.
It slaked my thirst for a baseball story, with sufficient action and atmosphere, but otherwise it felt a bit contrived. The protagonist, first as a late 20s minor league ballplayer flirting with the big leagues and later as a sexagenerian managing a single-A ballclub, seemed to teeter between the extremes of good and bad fortune. Hence the title, as he often wonders what might have been if —. Perhaps they were necessary to the central drama of the story, but I think the novel would have been more engaging had the zeniths and nadirs been less exaggerated. (I cannot provide concrete examples without being spoiler-ish.)
The Might Have Been is not a bad book. It just is what it is, a book about baseball that tries to be something more profound or universal. It succeeds at the former, falls short at the latter: it is peanuts and crackerjacks, something fun to snack on in a particular moment but ultimately not very satisfying.
I had caught the baseball bug. Most of the best sports books I have read — perhaps all but one — have been baseball books. I used to make a point of reading a baseball book every summer, but that went by the wayside when I stopped trying to follow the league from halfway around the world. Now I was feeling nostalgic for a good baseball book. I have a few in my collection, but The Might Have Been was the easiest to reach.
It slaked my thirst for a baseball story, with sufficient action and atmosphere, but otherwise it felt a bit contrived. The protagonist, first as a late 20s minor league ballplayer flirting with the big leagues and later as a sexagenerian managing a single-A ballclub, seemed to teeter between the extremes of good and bad fortune. Hence the title, as he often wonders what might have been if —. Perhaps they were necessary to the central drama of the story, but I think the novel would have been more engaging had the zeniths and nadirs been less exaggerated. (I cannot provide concrete examples without being spoiler-ish.)
The Might Have Been is not a bad book. It just is what it is, a book about baseball that tries to be something more profound or universal. It succeeds at the former, falls short at the latter: it is peanuts and crackerjacks, something fun to snack on in a particular moment but ultimately not very satisfying.
October 29, 2018
People always say, “only if.” In this book an a man's entire fate lies on only if.
If you like the the game of baseball and the story of a man's life as he makes his way through the world. This book is for you.
Edward Everett is exactly what the title of the novel suggests, The Might Have Been. Edward has a die hard passion for baseball. He has left all other possible professions behind to pursue his lifelong dream of being a pro ball player. However, the “big guys on the field” don’t see it that way. Edward is twenty-seven years old and is playing for the St. Louis Cardinals minor league team. He doesn't get paid much, is playing against kids a decade younger than him, and doesn't have much of a future of baseball ahead of him. That is of course until he gets ironically gets pulled up to the Big Leagues and something happens that will change his career and life forever.
The Might Have Been is a great read. The amount of detail that is puts into this novel is mesmerizing. Joseph M. Schuster's absorbing debut novel explodes with lifelong dreams, the sting of regret, and the ways we define ourselves against uncertain twists of fate. Not only was this book named one of the best books of the year by the St. Louis Post, but also strikes the reader with the pull to keep reading. This book is exciting, relatable, and at some points exhausting but overall leaves us with the long question of “how will I make my mark?”
If you like the the game of baseball and the story of a man's life as he makes his way through the world. This book is for you.
Edward Everett is exactly what the title of the novel suggests, The Might Have Been. Edward has a die hard passion for baseball. He has left all other possible professions behind to pursue his lifelong dream of being a pro ball player. However, the “big guys on the field” don’t see it that way. Edward is twenty-seven years old and is playing for the St. Louis Cardinals minor league team. He doesn't get paid much, is playing against kids a decade younger than him, and doesn't have much of a future of baseball ahead of him. That is of course until he gets ironically gets pulled up to the Big Leagues and something happens that will change his career and life forever.
The Might Have Been is a great read. The amount of detail that is puts into this novel is mesmerizing. Joseph M. Schuster's absorbing debut novel explodes with lifelong dreams, the sting of regret, and the ways we define ourselves against uncertain twists of fate. Not only was this book named one of the best books of the year by the St. Louis Post, but also strikes the reader with the pull to keep reading. This book is exciting, relatable, and at some points exhausting but overall leaves us with the long question of “how will I make my mark?”
August 29, 2023
I'm giving this one something close to the mid-two's but I'll round.
For starters, it felt to me about a hundred pages too long.
The story itself was not super engaging. I think the emotional themes that Schuster explores (regret, choosing (or not choosing) to move on, the minor and major choices of life, the way our choices impact others) are here but they aren't contained in an entertaining or compelling storyline. The ending left me feeling the sadness or weight of some of those emotional themes but I don't feel as if I had read a good story to get there.
Overall, low-to-mid twos.
For starters, it felt to me about a hundred pages too long.
The story itself was not super engaging. I think the emotional themes that Schuster explores (regret, choosing (or not choosing) to move on, the minor and major choices of life, the way our choices impact others) are here but they aren't contained in an entertaining or compelling storyline. The ending left me feeling the sadness or weight of some of those emotional themes but I don't feel as if I had read a good story to get there.
Overall, low-to-mid twos.
February 20, 2021
Sports books are weird because I know the author knows about sports stuff but sometimes when they're writing about it it seems like they don't, otherwise this book is a solid read. I couldn't imagine reading it if you don't like sports but hey maybe give it a shot who am I to tell you how to live your life
June 19, 2017
I love baseball ... but I found this depressing. One bad event after another - tragedy with the sport, tragedy with relationships, tragedy with child ... I really enjoyed the character and the development - but was glad to see this book end.
January 26, 2019
Very readable as I went along, but there was no major conflict driving the story forward. It is a nice look at regret and living with the decisions we make (or rather, let be made for us), but without the overarching major conflict, the book just ... ends.
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