Cooperstown

By Eugena Pilek

Book Overview

An exceptional debut novel lovingly probes the values of faith, family, community, and America's favorite pastime, baseball -- from a captivating new voice in contemporary fiction. Cooperstown, New York, in 1979 (the year Willie Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame), is a close-knit community where gossip is sovereign and baseball is the great American religion. Seen through the eyes of Dr. Kerwin Chylak, a psychiatrist who has recently moved to town with his family, the citizens of Cooperstown are a wildly eclectic team of players that includes an alcohol-befuddled mayor determined to be more than a footnote to history; the town busybody who pitches missiles of miscommunication; a disillusioned ex-ball player turned warrior; and a sports writer who detests baseball. Little do these ordinary people know that they are about to be thrust into an extraordinary situation as the construction of a baseball theme park threatens their quaint way of life. Teetering on the cusp of a decade in which commercialism could swallow them whole, they are spurred to action -- with unexpected, poignant, often hilarious results. Full of baseball legend and lore and featuring an unforgettable cast of unconventional characters, Cooperstown probes the hearts and minds of small-town America. It is a celebration of life in all its struggles, sorrows, and sudden slides into victory.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743266943
• ISBN13: 9780743266949
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Touchstone Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

an upstate NY "confederacy of dunces"

hilarious book, great characters and a solid evocation of Cooperstown's true character. (helps that i grew up there.) A worthwhile read

Great small town comedy

Pilek creates great characters and slapstick situations, like John Irving at his most absurd.