Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
A truly fantastic book. What at first appears to be a man recollecting about his baseball cards and offering anecdotes about them soon turns into a story about what happens when the pillars of life erode around you, when certainty wavers and eventually when the pillars you build for yourself i.e. the love of Baseball Cards, The Cardboard Gods themselves erode. It's a story of growth and growing up and the eventual re-discovery and rebuilding of that man made pillar. And most of all it's beautifully written. This is a coming of age story, framed with baseball cards. But it's a weird coming of age story. Usually, such stories will involve a kid growing up with strict straight-laced parents, struggling with the bounds of control, eventually growing free of the parents while retaining some important lessons.This isn't like that.This guy grew up with hippy parents where the mom's boyfriend lived with them, then the mom and boyfriend moved the kids to Vermont to try and live off the land while the dad toiled in New York city.The kid grows up directionless, save for his love of baseball cards.It's an interesting read throughout. It's funny in places; sad in others. I had a lot of sympathy for him, while, at the same time, wishing he would just pull his head out of his ass and grow up. There's not much in the way of resolution at the end, although there's some semblance of hope.The use of baseball cards as a framework is surprisingly effective. This isn't really a book about baseball cards. They play a starring role, but they're not the subject.
What do You think about Cardboard Gods: An All-American Tale Told Through Baseball Cards (2010)?
Great book for sports lovers! I didn't think I would like it but I was pleasently surprised.
—Sapaush
Read this in one day...that doesn't happen often for me. Excellent book.
—frootloopsforever
Interesting memoir but not compelling.
—LeonaDeLEo
