Summerland audiobook

(A review from 2002 and the Washington Post, written before Coraline was published.)It is possible to look at the growth of the phenomenon of “crossover” fiction – essentially, Children’s or Young Adult fiction which is enjoyed and consumed in quantity by adults – in several different ways. You could view it as a sad symptom of the creeping infantilisation of the culture. You could see it as a triumph of marketing. Or, more optimistically, you could view it as a need by adults for Story, without which children will not read. Engines of story drive the books of Diana Wynne Jones, Philip Pullman, and the rest of the recent crop of crossover authors. Many of their books are, by any standard, good books, and perhaps adults simply needed to be told that it was socially acceptable to read them in order to be coaxed to pick them up.I wonder though if there isn’t another phenomenon at work here. Fiction only seems capable of existing in one ghetto at a time, so if your book is in what used, rudely, to be known as the kiddylit ghetto, then it is children’s fiction no matter what else it might be (fantasy, historical, horror, SF, humour, romance, and so on.). As a result of the enormous success of authors like J.K. Rowling and Pullman, adults in their millions have now read and enjoyed fantasy novels without ever having had to browse the fantasy shelves. For the most part, after all, the crossover books tell tales in which the joy of story is also the joy of the fantastic without apology, a freedom of children’s literature that can be lost at adulthood, where metaphor becomes literal, and genre restrictions apply.But whatever the reason, the former kiddylit ghetto has become fashionable, the cool people are moving in, and property prices are starting to climb.It’s hard to get cooler than Michael Chabon, whose last novel, the Pulitzer prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay displayed a love for and perception of popular culture and an understanding of the engines that drive the teenage mind. In Summerland he uses that understanding to tell a very different kind of story,.Ethan Feld is a terrible baseball player. His widower inventor father builds airships. Ethan plays baseball in Summerland, on the tip of Clam Island, Washington, where it never rains.When Feld Sr. is kidnapped by the evil Coyote, in order to bring about the end of everything, Ethan and his not-a-girlfriend Jennifer T. Rideout, accompanied by their odd friend Thor and Cinquefoil (an Indian “ferisher” -- not quite a fairy, inspired, one assumes, by the Native American tales of tribes of very small, magical people) have to follow him across the many worlds while putting together a baseball team. The first hundred pages of set-up are less assured, in tone and style, than the rest of the book. But as soon as the kids flee Summerland, and head off into a great beyond to put their team together and save the universe, the story finds its game. That they will succeed is never in any doubt. That there will be reverses and alarums, setbacks and treacheries and fine lessons to be learned is also a given from the off. Ethan must learn to save himself and, ultimately, the world. Coyote, whenever he appears, which is too seldom, steals scenes with ease and aplomb. He’s Coyote, sure, and he’s Loki and Prometheus and probably Bugs Bunny and the Squire of Gothos as well: a force unto himself, who is having too much fun trying to bring about Ragnarok – delightfully Hobson-Jobsonned by Chabon into “Ragged Rock”.Standout sequences include a magnificently gory chapter involving some unfortunate werewolves and the queen of the shaggurts – frost giants with “appetites vast and bloody” [p 410], and a storyline set within the Tall Tale tradition, where Ethan and his team meet the Big Liars of Old Cat Landing, the tall tale people, all “lies and legends made flesh...[who] hung around Old Cat landing, haunting its bars and brothels” [p 346], now sadly shrunken by time and disbelief: Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan and John Henry, Annie Christmas and the rest of them. It’s the place that Chabon comes closest to a genuine American mythopoeia and it is very fine indeed.As a reader I sometimes felt shortchanged. It’s a thick book, but it could comfortably have been thicker: I wanted the better setpieces to go on longer, and to get more of a sense of what made the other members of Ethan’s baseball team tick -- with the exception of Ethan, Jennifer and the tragic she-sasquatch, Taffy, they seemed sketched, not painted. I wanted to see the games they lost. I wanted more.But the engines that drive Summerland are real story engines, and they work hard to deliver: it’s a fantasy with a young protagonist, which fuses baseball, Native American tales, Norse myths and sundry shaggy god stories into a tasty, quest-driven stew. Whether this is enough, as the marketing material that accompanies the book trumpets, to make it “clearly and indisputably a classic” is much harder to judge, and one that time and popular taste will decide, not I. But it’s a rollicking and fine tale, well told and with moments of real magic, peril, adventure, terror and triumph in the mix, not to mention what is, I am certain, the most delightful sound of a window breaking in all of fiction. And that ought to be enough.

The perfect love child of Shoeless Joe and American Gods, and one of the best tween-age novels I've ever read. This is the first of Michael Chabon's books that I've read, but it's obvious on every page that he isn't a "children's author," but simply a great writer who decided to write a children's book. Better than merely utilitarian, Chabon's language is a joy to read: accessible enough that my then-9 year old stepson enjoyed it, yet I was kept on my toes by the rich, sharp imagery and inventive uses of simile and metaphor. Considering this book is aimed at the same general age group as the Harry Potter series (which I enjoyed), the writing in Summerland makes those books come off as impossibly clunky by comparison.One of the fastest 500+ page reads I've encountered, and a fantastic ride. Special mention has to go to the wonderful end-of-the-world scene, which is vividly described, exhilarating, and as plausible as any I've read anywhere else.

Video reviewMy review might sound slightly tongue-in-cheek but, make no mistake, there are still a couple of sentences in here that completely tear me up and are well worth the elven baseball extravaganza.

I had some problems with the writing style of this book, and it had a convoluted plot, but I did sort of fall in love with this fantasy book. I love kids’ lit and I’m a baseball fan, so this was right up my alley. He really knows baseball and my favorite part in the book was the comment about the designated hitter; for me that alone was worth the read.

"Yet we know that no branch is utterly severed from the Tree of Life that sustains us all."—Peter Hewitt, as quoted in a Unitarian hymnal.Michael Chabon's Summerland offers a tale both staunchly traditional and boldly imaginative, weaving elements of Norse mythology together with Native American legends, tall tales, and just a dash of science fiction. And baseball... more than anything else, this book is about baseball. But don't let that put you off, even if you don't care for the game (and I must admit I'm nothing like a fan myself). After all, as it's written in Peavine's How to Catch Lightning and Smoke, "a baseball game is nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day." I've read this book through three times now—once for myself, once to my son, and once more to my daughter—and each time through I've found it more rewarding.Ethan Feld is the center of the book, an ordinary boy growing up in more-or-less ordinary circumstances out on Clam Island, a relatively remote locale in the Pacific Northwest which is only reachable by ferry, ever since the spectacular collapse of the Clam Island Narrows Bridge in 1943. The bridge has never been rebuilt; as the residents believe and Chabon explains, "Islands have always been strange and magical places; crossing the water to reach them ought to be, even in a small way, an adventure."Clam Island has a piece of that magic: Summerland, a park at the tip of the island containing Jock McDougal Field, where somehow it never seems to rain whenever there's a game to play.Not that Ethan's overjoyed by this. He plays catcher on the Clam Island Roosters, but it's mostly to please his recently-widowed father, Bruce Feld, the inventor of picofiber and the personal zeppelin—Ethan just can't seem to pay attention to the game, or hit a ball to save his life. In fact, he's just about ready to quit the team, although his best friend Jennifer T. Rideout, the pitcher for the Roosters, tells him that's "Not going to happen."But then... the magic comes, inescapably. Mr. Feld is kidnapped by Coyote the Trickster, and Ethan, Jennifer and Thor Wignutt, another Clam Island Rooster who sometimes goes by the android name TW03, are taken scampering by the werefox Cutbelly among the branches of the world-spanning Tree (Yggdrasil, in all but name), on a desperate quest to rescue Mr. Feld, and almost incidentally to avert Ragged Rock, the prophesied end of everything.The details of their quest are... well, they matter, of course, but in a way they're not even the point. Ethan learns how to play baseball from its inventors, the ferishers (don't call them faerie) and the whole book comes crashing to a very satisfying and cathartic crescendo. Happily ever after is, while not really a possibility, certainly hinted at.As a father, Chabon knows what will hit home. I was unable to read this antepenultimate paragraph to my daughter without breaking..."It was the kind of promise a father makes easily and sincerely, knowing at the same time that it will be impossible to keep. The truth of some promises is not as important as whether or not you can believe in them, with all your heart. A game of baseball can't really make a summer day last forever. A home run can't really heal all the broken places in our world, or in a single human heart. And there was no way that Mr. Feld could keep his promise never to leave Ethan again. All parents leave their children one day."—p.480While that may be true, it is devoutly to be hoped that you can hang around at least long enough to finish this book with them.

one of the many qualities that sets michael chabon's writing well beyond the realm of his contemporaries is his obvious love of craft. throughout his works it is apparent that he finds sheer joy in the art of storytelling. chabon's enthusiasm for literature is far-reaching, as is evidenced by his ability to write engagingly well in many a different genre. no two chabon books are ever all that similar, and as his career evolves, he seems set on authoring works entirely unlike their predecessors. literary fiction, speculative fiction (sci-fi?), swashbuckling adventure tales, short stories, autobiographical essays, and a young adult novel; it appears chabon's talent and imagination are nearly limitless.summerland is a fantastic and inventive tale which, while written for a young audience, would find favor with anyone who admires a well-told, creative work of fiction. much has been made of summerland and its comparisons to tolkien and cs lewis are more complimentary than anything. commingling many a different mythology (norse, greek, native american, and american folklore) with his own imaginative and interdependent worlds and chimerical characters, chabon has conjured an epic tale like no other. with baseball as the common thread that weaves the story together, summerland is an homage to youth, play, discovery, imagination, and belief in one's self. like many great works of fiction, chabon's mythical world opens us up to the spectacular possibilities inherent in our own."to grasp the fundamental truth: a baseball game is nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day."and in that moment he felt- for the first time that optimistic and cheerful boy allowed himself to feel- how badly made life was, how flawed. no matter how richly furnished you made it, with all the noise and variety of Something, Nothing always found a way in, seeped through the cracks and patches. mr. feld was right; life was like baseball, filled with loss and error, with bad hops and wild pitches, a game in which even champions lost almost as often as they won, and even the best hitters were put out seventy percent of the time.

"They traded in their hell-hammers for bats, and their iron slippers for lace-up leather spikes. That's how all the demon virtues-patience, deception, quick hands, craftiness, an eye for the mistakes of others-they all got dragged deep into the game."No, Mr. Chabon wasn't talking SPECIFICALLY about the New York Yankees...but we all get the reference, right? You know the feeling you get when you start reading something and internally you're going, "yeah, what he said, uhhuh, yup, oh yeah" and you realize that there's at least one other being on the planet who gets it (whatever "it" may be) and it's kinda like relief, giddy grinning happiness and contentment all at the same time? From page 1 until the cover closed my friends. Even if you don't like baseball, or giants or fairies or fantasy or folk tales...essential basic truths, the way it is what it is, ooze throughout the story. It was so good I took my time, laughed out loud in parts, fair near cried at others. "The truth of some promises is not as important as whether or not you can believe in them, with all your heart."

Summerland came out a couple of years ago, a young adult novel by prize winning writer Michael Chabon. I bought it because I like the author's other work, and I was intrigued by the baseball aspect of the structure. Basically, it is an end of the world story in which baseball plays a role in not only daily life but in the possibility of salvation. It sounds weird, and it is - which made it all the more interesting to me. A boy who can't hit or field becomes our best hope in a struggle with dark elements working to poison the tree of life at the end of the world. A ragtag bunch of kids, strange fairy folk and a flying car set out on a journey in which baseball is constantly being played against all sorts of odd teams on the way. If you don't like baseball or magic, this book isn't for you. I thought it was pretty clever and entertaining. You decide.

It's been too long since I've read Michael Chabon. He is just fantastic. I can't understand his talent, it is so immense, so varied, so focused. It should be impossible for the same author who wrote Mysteries of Pittsburgh and The Yiddish Policeman's Union and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay to ALSO be the one who wrote Summerland. Then again, when you read those books, it does seem like only one person could have written them. Chabon is truly unique in his gift. Summerland is a story of baseball and heroism and friendship. It takes place in a universe not unlike the one presented in The Magician's Nephew (in so far as -- there are multiple worlds with a common meeting place, wherein those who know how to can travel to and from the multiple worlds). Throughout the story, Chabon takes great care with parent-child relationships. It would be easy to say that this is a story about loving baseball, but it's not. The heart of this story is what it means to care for, to lose, and to forgive a parent or child.Read this book. Pass it on to a parent or to a kid or to anyone looking for a grand adventure written by one of the greatest living talents in the literary world.

This is a lovely book, deep and rich and satisfying. It's lyrically poetic but also a compellingly readable story. If you loved Watership Down or The Wind in the Willows you understand that calling a book a "children's book," doesn't mean it's trivial or poorly crafted or not worth your attention. Because this one is definitely worth your attention.

An excellent read. Michael Chabon is a good narrator as well.

Ambitious young adult novel that no one but Chabon could pull off. It's at once a rollicking adventure story, a paean to baseball, and a hyper-literate mishmash of Norse legend, Native American legend, American tall tales, fables, and cryptids. I had to look up some of the references out of curiosity, but it's by no means required that you do so.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author take a stab at writing for young adults. A very clever fantasy incorporating our ‘real’ world with a parallel one that most mere humans don’t know about, this is adventure and fantasy in brilliant colorful language and solid, interesting characters, mostly young or not human. Ethan Field, the protagonist young fellow, is wonderful as he embarks on the challenge of rescuing his father from evil Coyote, and ends up working to save the world while he’s at it. The fantasy world characters, were-foxes, fairies, giants, sasquatches, a swell underwater monster, and more fill out the world with Ethan’s comrades, particularly that young lady of strength, wisdom, and support, Jennifer T. She also happens to become Ethan’s batterymate, the pitcher to Ethan’s catcher in baseball activities that take on earthshaking status. Baseball, it seems, is a universal constant, one played in our world and throughout the parallel one. Simply said – “Summerland” is terrific. That said, however, it is very long and knowing about baseball definitely helps in enjoying it. You don’t have to ‘speak’ baseball to join Ethan in his adventures, but it helps. A strong reader who is unfazed by a fat volume will enjoy this immensely. One to whom I sent this book did so enjoy it.

While I had trouble falling into the story, the writing, as would be expected with venerable Mr. Chabon, was superb. I read this book on the recommendation of my daughter and my wife as they both really loved the book. As a kids book goes, this thing is packed with everything that make children's literature memorable and stuffed with so much more that I hope children everywhere get the opportunity to read this book. Using baseball as The Creation Story, Michael Chabon delightfully spins every complicated thing that is usually explained by one religious parable or another is explained via the 9-inning game combined with supernatural nature. As usual, Chabon serves his metaphor in such a beautiful vessel that, like a good special effect in a movie, you don’t even realize you’re experiencing it until the through has been established in your brain.As I said, for some reason, I had a hard time getting into the story but with Chabon’s ever-present bewildering imaginative prose, I was more than entertained to the heroic conclusion.

It's been a few days, and I'm still not quite sure what I think of this book. It's long, and I finished it, so I suppose that's a good sign. It made me want to love baseball (like I had just finished watching "Field of Dreams").UPDATE: From a few months on, I can say that I enjoyed it and have fond memories of it.I do have one [minor] gripe, though: Edwin Schrödinger's point with his famous cat example is that a thing *cannot* be both alive and dead at the same time -- the cat is either alive or dead, but not both (and, therefore, the model of "both concurrently" must be flawed). The dad should absolutely have known that.