Game Seven by Paul Volponi
2015; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 68; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.2015.0253
ISSN1558-6766
Autores Tópico(s)Digital Games and Media
ResumoReviewed by: Game Seven by Paul Volponi Elizabeth Bush Volponi, Paul Game Seven. Viking, 2015 [256p] ISBN 978-0-670-78518-6 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R Gr. 6-9 Sixteen-year-old Julio Ramirez, Jr. is in a delicate position in his Cuban homeland. As the most talented shortstop being scouted, he should be a shoo-in for a coveted position on the Junior Nacionales team, but as the son of a defector to the U.S., who’s now pitching for the Miami Marlins in the World Series, he’s likely to be shut out of his opportunity. Julio and his mother have heard nothing from Papi, nicknamed El Fuego, since he sought asylum in the U.S. six years ago, but now Papi’s brother, Uncle Ramon, breaks the news that Papi has set up a contact who can get Julio, cousin Luis, and himself to Florida and freedom, but they have to leave immediately. With his mother’s hasty blessing, Julio and his two relatives climb aboard an aging Buick converted into a boat and take their chances with the contact, Gabriel, whom they have just met. As they make their way through three days at sea, followed by processing in Miami and transfer to a comfortable apartment complex, they follow the tight World Series on the radio and television, but Julio hears nothing from Papi himself. Julio takes the initiative to finagle his way into the stadium for Game Seven, where he confronts his father and demands answers about Papi’s new life and three-year-old son, even as El Fuego attempts to give total focus to the game. The conclusion isn’t as conclusive as it might be, but the mixed emotions of a proud but quasi-abandoned son are well drawn, and the father’s and son’s common struggle to reconcile family duty and individual freedom is realistically complex. Julio is caught in a situation worth further exploration, so maybe this will be the exception to Volponi’s sequel-avoiding tendencies. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
Referência(s)