“Genius is 1% talent and 99% percent
hard work”
This is a simple book, written straight
from the heart. It tells the story of a talented baseball player's
journey to success and the obstacles he faces along the way. It
manages to interest and inspire its readers, most of whom, specially
the baseball lovers, won't put it down without finishing it.
The author's love for baseball and his
firm belief in working hard is apparent while reading this book. His
protagonist, Acre, is superman in disguise (figuratively of course!).
Acre works hard, stays disciplined and relentlessly pursues his dream
of playing baseball. He keeps his promises, helps the poor, isn't
greedy etc etc. Not sure if such a person could actually exist, but
he is definitely the ideal we all unconsciously strive to achieve. His
hard work and determination bring him the success he deserves but they also make the other players jealous of him. They taunt Acre, ignore him. With
his professional career taking off, Acre is informed of the death
of his sweetheart, Sharon. The way he deals with these issues and
doesn't let them interfere with his career makes this book interesting and different from others in this genre. His father's penchant for tweaking and his creation
of an unique baseball cage (the description's given in the book) is
another interesting part of this story.
There are parts of this book that do
seem repetitive and at times the story seems too slow. The various
baseball statistics and plays simple went over my head* and I would have appreciated it if the author
had, either provided more graphic descriptions or gone easy with the
stats et al.Still the pros far outweigh the cons and I would suggest
this book as a leisure read, specially to baseball fans and
sports lovers around the world.
