American Past Time: A Novel

Just like Little Richard sang so many years ago, "I got that joy joy joy joy down in my heart," because I've only recently 'discovered' a new favorite author, and by God his name is Joy, Len Joy. A writer out of Evanston, Illinois (and a triathlete), he's only written a few books, but I've read two

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of them now, and they are both damn near perfect examples of good storytelling. I loved his 'middle' novel, BETTER DAYS, and now I've just read his first one, AMERICAN PAST TIME. Loved it too, and just did not want to see it end. The title is important, because there's a lot in here about baseball, America's so-called 'pastime,' but more importantly, Joy also serves up some generous helpings of of America's past, beginning in the 1950s, that idyllic post war era when things were looking up for America's middle class, and taking us on into the 1970s. Joy's hero (or anti-hero) is one Dancer Stonemason, an up-and-coming minor league pitcher with a St Louis farm team, the Rolla Rebels. It's 1953, and Dancer has just pitched a perfect game, but, sadly, things begin to go downhill from there. Saddled with a mortgage and other bills, not to mention a wife and two little kids, Dancer's arm begins to fail him & he never quite makes it to the Bigs. A short-lived factory job in his hometown of Maple Springs, Missouri, ensues, then a work-related crippling injury, a marriage in crisis, too much drinking, and well, things just go bad. The minor league element immediately brought to mind Pat Jordan's classic baseball memoir, A FALSE SPRING (and its sequel, A NICE TUESDAY). And, while it's true that Jordan's book is a memoir and Joy's is fiction, the baseball details and scruffiness of bush league conditions here ring true and seem spot on.

But AMERICAN PAST TIME is much more than just a baseball novel. It is indeed about America itself, and takes you through our country's troubled past, from Korea to Vietnam, racism, discrimination and protest marches, murders & assassinations, the space race and moon landing. All of these events are here, in news headlines, on the TV evening news, and even locally (Dancer is pressured by his factory boss to come to KKK meetings), as we follow the ups and downs of the Stonemason family through the sixties and into the seventies. Dancer's older son, Clayton, angrily denouncing his absent father's sport, becomes a high school basketball sensation (again, I thought of Updike's Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom), but isn't quite good enough for college level play. Drafted and sent to Vietnam, Clayton's real education begins as he becomes a part of the corruption that always accompanies war. Meanwhile, Clayton's brother, Jimmy, overweight & unathletic, becomes a business whiz at a young age, always striving to impress his parents and emerge from the shadow of his sports star brother. And Dede, their mother - Dancer's semi-estranged wife - emerges as a complex and strong character in her own right, finding work in a lawyer's office and doing her best to hold her family together.

But enough. I don't wish to drop any 'spoilers' here. It is indeed a joy, however, to discover a little-known writer like Len Joy. (While reading this book, I was constantly reminded of another book I first read over fifty years ago, and a few more times since - the late Edward Hannibal's novel of the sixties, CHOCOLATE DAYS, POPSICLE WEEKS.) And I am so pleased to know that there is a SEQUEL (Yes!). It's called EVERYONE DIES FAMOUS. So I have that to look forward to. But this book? It is just so GOOD! My very highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER

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