HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Throw Like A Woman by Susan Petrone
Loading...

Throw Like A Woman (edition 2015)

by Susan Petrone (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1521,378,811 (4.42)1
Forty years old, divorced, with two sons on the verge of adolescence and an ex-husband who considers visitation to be optional, Brenda Haversham isn't having a whole lot of fun. She's also no longer qualified for the work she loves, so she's working in a cubicle instead while trying to make ends meet. Brenda is short on money, short on connection with her kids, and short on any kind of social life. The only thing Brenda has in abundance is her anger. And that turns out to be her greatest asset. When she was a kid, Brenda's father taught her how to throw a good fastball. That wasn't of much use to a girl, but it is enough to astound onlookers at a "test your speed" pitching cage before a Cleveland Indians game. The more Brenda pictures her ex-husband's face on the other end, the harder she throws. And when someone tapes her performance and puts it up online, Brenda becomes an Internet sensation - and then more than that. Soon, the Indians come calling and Brenda finds her life taking a turn in a new direction. She finds herself standing on the mound as the first woman player in Major League history - and dealing with everything that comes with it. The money is great and the endorsement deals are even better. The fury of "traditionalists," not so much. And the conflicting emotions of her teammates are even harder to manage. Meanwhile, Brenda's home life is evolving faster than she can keep up, redefining her role as a mother, a friend, and even a lover. As the season winds down Brenda will find out if she has what it takes to be a winner - at both baseball and life. A funny, poignant, and endearing debut from a writer of rare warmth and humanity, THROW LIKE A WOMAN is a 95-mile-an-hour heater of a novel.… (more)
Member:LisCarey
Title:Throw Like A Woman
Authors:Susan Petrone (Author)
Info:Story Plant (2015), 336 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, To read, Favorites
Rating:*****
Tags:fiction

Work Information

Throw Like A Woman by Susan Petrone

None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 1 mention

Showing 2 of 2
Throw Like A Woman by Susan Petrone
Enjoy this read because it's about baseball. A mother with two boys, divorced and she's on the baseball team and was caught throwing 82mph pitch.
It's the internet sensation. She enjoys it and the time she spent with her father learning how to do the various throws.
She was a graphic designer but after the divorce and unsure if the child support would come to pay the bills she goes back to work, data entry at the insurance company.
Dan, the ex, doesn’t always take the boys on weekends, throwing her schedule off. She's got a mom that will come over after school to feed the boys and make sure they do their homework.
Petitions are signed and she's up to try out for the Cleveland Indians and does well, well enough to get a contract, contingent on a physical.
There are obstacles and she just recalls her father’s advice
Tradition and baseball and NO female players....is some of what she's up against and her kids as she's on the road now 8 months out of the year...
She just wants a better life for them...
Received this review copy from The Story Plant and this is my honest opinion. ( )
  jbarr5 | Oct 13, 2022 |
Brenda Haversham is a forty-year-old divorced mother of two boys who is struggling to make ends meet. She's working in an insurance company, having abandoned her art and her graphic design career when she married. She's never played baseball except with her sons and, long ago, with her late father.

But her father taught her to throw a mean fastball. And curveball. And sinker. And a few other pitches.

On a Little League outing with her sons to a Cleveland Indians game, she takes a turn in the pitcher's cage, and one of her pitches is clocked at 82 miles an hour. Her son's coach recruits her onto his own recreational league baseball team, and she unknowingly takes the first steps on a wild trip to becoming a female Jackie Robinson.

I love Brenda, and I love this book. Brenda is a flawed but fundamentally decent human being, a loving mother, and a tough ball player. She struggles with her personal demons in an utterly recognizable way. The other characters are also layered, human, and understandable. Thirteen-year-old Andy is as difficult as any kid trying to make that transition from child to adult, but I suspect most parents would give a lot to have a son or daughter maturing as Andy is.

It's a bumpy ride for Brenda and everyone around her, but an engrossing and ultimately very satisfying one.

Highly recommended. ( )
  LisCarey | Sep 19, 2018 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Forty years old, divorced, with two sons on the verge of adolescence and an ex-husband who considers visitation to be optional, Brenda Haversham isn't having a whole lot of fun. She's also no longer qualified for the work she loves, so she's working in a cubicle instead while trying to make ends meet. Brenda is short on money, short on connection with her kids, and short on any kind of social life. The only thing Brenda has in abundance is her anger. And that turns out to be her greatest asset. When she was a kid, Brenda's father taught her how to throw a good fastball. That wasn't of much use to a girl, but it is enough to astound onlookers at a "test your speed" pitching cage before a Cleveland Indians game. The more Brenda pictures her ex-husband's face on the other end, the harder she throws. And when someone tapes her performance and puts it up online, Brenda becomes an Internet sensation - and then more than that. Soon, the Indians come calling and Brenda finds her life taking a turn in a new direction. She finds herself standing on the mound as the first woman player in Major League history - and dealing with everything that comes with it. The money is great and the endorsement deals are even better. The fury of "traditionalists," not so much. And the conflicting emotions of her teammates are even harder to manage. Meanwhile, Brenda's home life is evolving faster than she can keep up, redefining her role as a mother, a friend, and even a lover. As the season winds down Brenda will find out if she has what it takes to be a winner - at both baseball and life. A funny, poignant, and endearing debut from a writer of rare warmth and humanity, THROW LIKE A WOMAN is a 95-mile-an-hour heater of a novel.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.42)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5 1
4 2
4.5
5 3

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 206,575,676 books! | Top bar: Always visible