Brittle Innings is a few months in the life of one Daniel Boles. His father a soldier support the war in Alaska, seventeen-year o ld Boles is living with his mother and enjoying backyard games of baseball when a recruiter shows up and pays his way to a minor league team in Georgia called the Hellbenders. The team a true motley crew of men, the new guy Boles has trouble fitting in with most, but not his roommate, the team's giant first baseman everyone calls Jumbo. Over the course of the next few months, Boles finds a place on the team and in the surrounding community. But something constantly burns beneath the surface, and when it catches fire, Boles and the whole team must bear the heat.
Before getting to theme or plot or character or anything else, it must be said Brittle Innings grabs the reader not only for story, but for voice. In terms of style, Bishop captures magic in a bottle. It's the American south without pretension or condescension. It's the American south with every bit of flavor that makes the region rich in linguistic heritage. And, if I had to guess, Bishop likewise infuses the dialogue with slang of the era, a fair portion of which is not used today. Diction-wise, Brittle Innings is a pure joy to read. But there is much more goodness to explore.
It's fair to say Frankenstein has a bad rap in popular culture. A dull-witted, corny, cartoony monster, most representations are a far sight from the origin, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Brittle Innings, on top of telling a story in line with Shelley's novel, also acts as a quasi-sequel, or at least a 'what happened after' story. Last seen wandering the Arctic at the end of Frankenstein, Bishop postulates what might have happened next. To be clear, Bishop did not intend his novel to be Frankenstein 2, rather a 'what if', an interesting space to speculate, something Bishop does with respect for Shelley's character while integrating him into Boles' life story.
It's difficult to comment on the following subject in 2023 without risking being disengenuous. But I think it's fair to recognize Bishop for the excellent job synthesizing America's racial problems into story without letting them takeover the story. Zero sugar coating, Bishop tries to represent race relations at the time, from the negro-only baseball leagues, to the discrimination blacks faced on a daily basis. Again, the reader is not overwhelmed with such content, only that Bishop does not shy away from the problems, making for a more realist narrative. This, combined with Bishop's strong authorial voice, as well as the drama that unfolds in Boles' life, makes for a powerful narrative that leaves a mark on the reader.
I should also make a note about baseball. The sport is an American and Central American thing, and having an understanding of how the game is played helps understand the novel Bishop does not spoon feed the reader, or take the time to explain to people unfamiliar with the game why something is important. To be more specific, most readers will understand scores and season records, which is where a fair amount of baseball talk is found. But there is also content around the details of gameplay—moves, situations, etc., which will be Greek to people who do not know baseball. In sum, a complete lack of baseball knowledge will limit the reader's enjoyment of the novel, but not eliminate it. And again, Bishop's superb voice carries the narrrative through these points.
If I had reservations about Brittle Innings, one would be the tension between the gravitas of Frankenstein's monster (once revealed) and the relative—relative—levity of Boles' story. Some of the drama which unfolds is operatic in nature, i.e. a dense collection of situations and transpirations that one almost never sees unfold so closely together in the real world. Constrast that with the existential concerns of the monster, as well as the lighter elements of Danny's coming of age, and it makes for a novel whose undercurrents are not always flowing in the same direction. Not that they should, only that in this case there is some swirl which doesn't benefit the novel.
In the end, Brittle Innings is an imminently readable story. Technically a bildungsroman, Bishop uses an amazing authorial voice to tell one teenager's dreams come true, to play professional baseball, and the dramatic and tragic events that unfold. Beneath the fine story, Bishop layers in race, WWII, and existence to offer a nuanced narrative. I'm not sure this is the best novel in Bishop's oeuvre, but there is certainly an argument to be made. If you've never read Bishop before, have a go. This is a novel that stands the test of time.
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