Samurai Shortstop, Alan Gratz
Samurai Shortstop, Alan Gratz
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Samurai Shortstop

Author: Alan Gratz

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Unabridged: 7 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/14/2006


Synopsis

Tokyo, 1890. High school can be brutal, even in turn-of-the-century Japan.

From his first day at boarding school, Toyo Shimada sees how upperclassmen make a sport out of terrorizing the first-years. Still, he’s taken aback when the seniors keep him from trying out for the baseball team–especially after he sees their current shortstop. Toyo isn’t afraid to prove himself; He’s more troubled by his uncle’s recent suicide. Although Uncle Koji’s defiant death was supposedly heroic, it has made Toyo question many things about his family’s samurai background. And worse, Toyo fears that his father may be next.

It all has something to do with –the way of the warrior–but Toyo doesn’t understand even after his father agrees to teach it to him. As the gulf between them grows wider, Toyo searches desperately for a way to prove there is a place for his family’s samurai values in modern Japan. Baseball might just be the answer, but will his father ever accept a “Western” game that stands for everything he despises?

About The Author

Alan Gratz writes, “I have long been interested in Japan, but wasn’t inspired to write until I stumbled across a curious photograph in a travel guide. In the picture, a Japanese man wearing a kimono and sandals throws out the ceremonial first pitch for the 1915 National High School Baseball Summer Championship Tournament. 1915! I knew of Japan’s love affair with baseball, but I had always assumed the sport was imported by American GIs during the Allied occupation at the end of World War II.” From there came the spark of an idea that grew into this remarkable first novel. Alan lives with his wife and daughter in Georgia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jamie on June 16, 2013

A surprisingly readable historical fiction sports book. Well-researched, about late 19th century Japan, where the samurai way has just ended and baseball really does exist. The relations between the boys seems timeless, as does the baseball action.......more

Goodreads review by SaraKat on July 27, 2024

I picked up this book because I love all the other Gratz books I've read. This book is different from the others in that it doesn't have alternating viewpoints and is told from one POV the whole time. I enjoyed learning more about a newly open Japan and how the changes weren't going over well for s......more

Goodreads review by Ari on May 24, 2010

The only thing that really bothered me about this novel were all the mentions of peeing. I mean really? I know it's a book about guys, but does it need to be mentioned in every other chapter (they "make rain"). The sexism in the novel bothered me, but it can be overlooked since the author was being......more