The Throwback Special: A Novel Paperback – February 7, 2017

This was surprise interesting story about a real event. It examines the men who relive that event annually. Some of the men are weird, most just unsure about themselves and their lives. It was a joyous culmination of the event and it's future. A good read overall.

...a night I've never forgotten, provides the springboard for this very funny, insightful, strangely moving comic novel about fandom, friendship, family, manhood, marriage, ritual, and a lot more, both on the page and between the lines - all, to cite a Nobel Laureate, "life and life only."On that night, 18 November 1985, a NJ native in my sixth year living in Washington, I tuned in to Monday Night Football expecting to root the NY Giants to victory. Instead, I found myself leaping up and punching the sky after Redskin reserve-QB Jay Schroeder (who?) had thrown a late TD pass to tight end Clint Didier, thus sealing a come-from-behind victory. In between, in the second period, force-of-nature Lawrence Taylor ended the career of Jersey Joe Theismann with a sack that shattered JT's right fibula and tibia into bitsy pieces, the famous "comminuted fracture," earning for the sequence, with its famously grisly reverse "instant-replay," eternal glory as "The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget." From this Chris Bachelder builds a story of 22 men who have gathered annually on the anniversary for the ensuing 16 years (why 2001? Why not 2015, when Bachelder was writing the novel? Or 2005, on the 20th  anniversary? "Why anything?" We can only guess...) to literally reenact the moment in exacting detail. In spinning his yarn out from this ridiculous premise, Bachelder accomplishes a  formidable feat: he writes a short, easily accessible comic novel, populated by 22 principal characters and several entertaining ancillary ones, many of whom are memorable and each of whom seems to own a distinctive neurosis (can we casually refer to "neurosis" in 2016 without offending the neurotic? I really don't know), and at the same time fills the pages with a load of mostly unobtrusive literary bells and whistles that signify intent beyond simple amusement and toward something the brain might not fully apprehend but the heart cannot miss. Or, if you don't like metonymy, "...the cognitive circuitry may miss but the affective/emotional wires will hum with recognition."The novel is several things simultaneously: a deconstruction - and then a reconstruction, according to strict rules - of a famous play in NFL history (in the Redskins playbook, the "throwback special"; look for George the Librarian's breakdown of what we're really looking at), the many ways very disparate pieces of complex reality might shudder themselves into participation in a singular unity, a typology of relationships between and among men and men and women, more than a few thoughts on life, the end of life, the question put to Conan by his Monggol interlocutor, "What is best in life?" and Socrates observation on the examined life and what makes a life "worth living." For at least these layers, and for what struck me as Bachelder's apt direct and indirect observations on these  more-or-less existential questions, the novel crosses into "literary" territory.Bachelder has a close observer's eye but also the collateral gift - not possessed by every keen observer - of capturing an observation in novel ways that connect immediately with the reader. "The interior of the microwave, like the interiors of all public microwaves, resembled the scene of a double homicide."  "Disappointment was the freight of expectation." "All [marriage] is, he said, and he said he learned  this too late, but all it is, is watching someone and having someone watch you." (Otherwise, I should add, no one will necessarily know who you are or what you do with your days. Or care.)As other reviewers have noted, you don't have to know or  even like  football  to enjoy The Throwback Special. But it helps. Or it may assist you across a rough patch or two in which you're trying to sort out a few of the 22 backstories Batchelder weaves into the narrative, at his own expert pace, withholding, disclosing, withholding, disclosing, forcing the reader to overcome the almost biological desire for closure (another literary "tell"). Eventually, you'll get most of the pieces you need. But you won't get it all. Mysteries will remain, and to even discuss these represents something of  a spoiler. If you wish, you can look elsewhere, mostly among the one-  and two-star reviews, for unresolved questions.For me, I just  ripped through the book in an evening. I'm a slow but persistent reader, and I was reading a library copy (but have since purchased several copies for Xmas gifts) due the next day, but for me this was simply a joyful trip that, as it wound to an end, became, almost incredibly, strangely moving.I recognize it may not be for every taste, but it's a quick enough read to take a gamble on it without having to invest a tremendous amount of time and effort. A good novel often interrogates the reader, as this novel interrogated me on some very basic topics. I found the experience bracing and Chris Bachelder a superb guide through several sources of midlife existential angst.

A light hearted look at men, football, aging and ritual... if you remember Lawrence Taylor’s leg-breaking sack of Joe Theismann, you’ll likely enjoy this quick read.

The Throwback Special is a book that’s about far more than the title and summary suggest. It’s about life (marriage, parenting, insecurities, human behavior, etc) with a weird football tradition as the backdrop, not the other way around. The somewhat laughable “middle aged dudes gather to incredibly seriously reenact a famous football play” premise works because Bachelder’s social commentary and writing are pitch perfect…and the characters frequently drop socially inappropriate bombs about their personal lives and thoughts in the middle of mundane conversation. The book opens with each player arriving at their nondescript hotel and it reads like the opening scene of The Dinner…with social commentary so biting and spot-on that you don’t realize all the characters have done is arrive at a hotel (or, at a restaurant, in The Dinner‘s case)."The men had reached an age when they gained or lost significant things in relatively short periods of time, and it was not unusual for someone to show up in November having acquired or divested weight, God, alcohol, sideburns, blog, pontoon boat, jewelry, stepchildren, potency, fertility, cyst, tattoo, medical devices that clipped to the belt and beeped, or huge radio-controlled model airplanes."I suspect this book has a niche, rather than a broad appeal (but, it falls squarely in my niche!). If spot-on social commentary, male friendships/behavior (similar to Shotgun Lovesongs), sports (you don’t have to be interested in football to enjoy this book, but it is a bonus), and darkness simmering beneath the mundane (similar to Why They Run the Way They Do) push your buttons, grab this book! If you need more action, this one probably isn’t for you.Check out my blog, Sarah's Book Shelves, for more reviews.