Ring Lardner (1885–1933)

A lot of people probably first encounter Lardner when they're assigned to read "Haircut" or "Golden Honeymoon" in high school or a little earlier. Nothing wrong with that, of course, since he's entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. But what you don't really grasp in high school is how subtle Lardner is -- if there was ever a writer who wrote more brilliant unreliable narrator stories, I've yet to find him. (And yeah, I'm counting Nabokov.) I'm damned if I know how Lardner does it -- I show more couldn't explain well it if you paid me -- but his characters totally lack self-awareness while at the same time revealing themselves completely. (Check out "Old Folks Honeymoon" and "Liberty Hall" for the best examples.) And boy, does Lardner ever have an crackerjack ear for dialog. show less

It’s a good thing that Jack, a baseball player in the early days of the professional leagues, has developed his particular skill set because there probably is not much else he could do. In his letters to his friend Al, the pitcher comes off as a jerk; he brags about his wins but blames his teammates for his losses, he's always looking to save a buck at the expense of his friends, and he doesn't take his wife's needs into consideration at all. Much of the narrative’s humor is derived from show more Jack’s inability to figure out when he is being insulted. I think the reading audience is supposed to laugh at Jack’s poor spelling and grammar as well.

This novel, originally published in 1916, has not aged very well. In a way, it reminds me of the old Jackie Gleason sitcom The Honeymooners, another once-popular entertainment whose appeal escapes me. show less

The short story, mastered: compelling narrative, deeply ironic without being didactic, a tour-de-force about banal immorality, both of the actor Jim and of the profoundly obtuse narrator, the chuckling barber. What is proffered as amusing is actually a scary tale about depravity and complicity.

It is little wonder why this book was extraordinarily popular in the first half of the last century (it was first published in 1914). It is a very funny book about baseball; or it is a book about a blowhard baseball player who is too full of ego and too dim to see how outrageously inappropriate and silly his actions are.

Written as a series of letters to his lifelong friend, Al, the book covers two years of Jack Keefe's life as a new White Sox pitcher, who lacks social skills (and spelling show more skills!) but who seems to fall in love with every young chippie he meets. Hotheaded and opinionated, Jack routinely storms into Mr. Comiskey's office to demand more money, earning him (fairly early on) a bust back down to the bush leagues. But Jack, artless as he is, has talent, and is soon back under contract to Comiskey. Jack always comes out last, while boasting to Al how he's gotten the best of every deal, and this book lasts just long enough to be funny without being exasperating.

Recommend to fans of early 20th century fiction -- and/ or baseball. show less