I just finished an amazing sports novel called The Entitled by Frank Deford. This is an amazing book. It takes place in MLB with Howie Traveler who has struggled his way through the minors and up the manager scale and becomes the manager of the Cleveland Indians. Part of his job is to make sure the team's star player Jay Alacazar 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 that he is about to rape a women. 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. 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 at the time and while sleeping with another women his son gets into a nasty car crash and eventually dies. No one knows about this besides him. Also as previously mentioned, Jay is accused of rape.
According to the allged victim she attempted to leave and then was pulled back (which Howie saw glimspes of) into Jay's room and raped. Lastly, Jay emmigrated to America from Cuba at an infant age of 1 with his dad and uncle who gets busted and dies in jail. Jay is raised by his Aunt and Uncle who he emmigrated 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 the mom is about to be convinced to come.
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 truely an amazing book and a amazing read for any avid sports fan and for anyone even if they've never heard of baseball before.
According to the allged victim she attempted to leave and then was pulled back (which Howie saw glimspes of) into Jay's room and raped. Lastly, Jay emmigrated to America from Cuba at an infant age of 1 with his dad and uncle who gets busted and dies in jail. Jay is raised by his Aunt and Uncle who he emmigrated 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 the mom is about to be convinced to come.
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 truely an amazing book and a amazing read for any avid sports fan and for anyone even if they've never heard of baseball before.
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