** SPOILER ALERT **
I just finished an amazing sports novel called The Entitled by Frank Deford. This book keeps alive and interested throughout the book although the book jumps back and forth from to to issues previously mentioned. It takes place in the MLB, with Howie Traveler, who has struggled his way through the minors and up the manager scale and has become the manager of the Cleveland Indians after many years. Part of his job is to make sure the team's star player Jay Alcazar doesn't leave the team at the end of the season as he will be eligible for free agency. One night though he sees something at the team's hotel in Baltimore. It appears to be that Alcazar was about to rape a women as the door slammed shut after a women apparently tried to escape. The rest of the book goes back and forward in time switching the main character from Jay to Howie frequently.
At first it's confusing to follow the book as it's hard to know what's going on as it jumps back in forth, unlike being in chronological order. At first the book is confusing but it's easy to adjust by the end of the book. There are many issues that arise during the book. Such as marital adultery, rape of course, and illegal immigration. In the book, Howie cheats on his wife of the time before the book takes place and while sleeping with another women his son gets into a nasty car crash and eventually dies. (We briefly go back to this moment during the middle of the book) No one knows about this besides him as he has never confessed this to anyone.
Also as previously mentioned, Jay is accused of rape. According to the alleged victim she attempted to leave and then is pulled back (which Howie sees a glimpse of) into Jay's room and raped. Howie is originally convinced that Jay raped the women when she comes to him after she connected the dots that it was him in the hallway and tells him her side of the story. This part is well detailed as Deford seems to know what it's like to be raped. Howie is then counter-convinced that Alcazar is innocent by his daughter after she goes to him and tells her his side of the story after forcing him to tell her the story.
Lastly, Jay immigrated to America from Cuba at an infant age of 1 with his uncle and dad who gets busted and dies in jail. Again Deford seems to know the ups and outs of illegal immigration as he depicts the journey beautifully. After arriving in America, Jay is then raised by his Aunt and Uncle who he immigrated to America with. In the whole thing his mom is left behind in Cuba. Years later, Jay returns to Cuba at the end of the season to get his mom to America. His mom had another kid when he left and she declines to go to America. Eventually he convinces his half-sister to come and as hinted at the end of the book to Howie and his daughter that their mom has been convinced to come too.
All of these topics and the non-chronological order of the book make it very interesting. Frank Deford makes so that you can get an in-depth feel for all the major and minor characters in the book. The book has been considered by many as "One of the Greatest Sports Novels of All Time" and that is rightfully so, as it changes from personal life to baseball in the blink of an eye. This book is truly an amazing book and a amazing read for any avid sports fan and for anyone even if they've never heard of baseball before.
