Book Review

Over this summer I have read 3 books by the same author, Steve Kluger. The first 2 I read were fantastic, the 3rd--just okay. I think Kluger is an excellent writer; he's really good at bringing out emotions in his reader and having the reader really care about the characters in his books. He doesn't go for the straight narration style; and when there is narration, it's often 1st person. His lead characters are always likeable and very human. Often they are quite intelligent and baseball is always involved somehow. Kluger's got a great sense of comedy and the man knows his baseball!

The first book of his I read was Almost Like Being In Love (2004). Two boys in the last month of their final year of high school fall in love. The beginning of the novel develops their relationship and eventual love and what happens when they go off to different colleges and lose touch.

Twenty years later, one has become a history professor and the other a lawyer. The professor realizes the reason he is unhappy is because he is still in love with his first love and sets off to find him. The rest of the novel details his search and his adventures along the way.

The story is told from both boys' (and men's) point of view through letters, diary entries, e-mails, inter-office memos, and more.
Travis, the professor, is an incredibly intelligent guy and often uses baseball metaphors in the history exams he sets for his students (to which we are treated, along with the students' hilarious and serious answers).

The only spoiler I'll give is that the book does have a happy ending (which I was rooting for!). The ending comes in a more logical and timely manner than the unworkable one I was predicting.