The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

Chronicles the life and career of Sidd Finch, a reclusive Harvard dropout, aspiring Buddhist monk, and 168-mph fastball pitcher who always wins and could change the game of baseball forever

YA Sports fans who liked reading about Plimpton's adventures as an am ateur participant in professional base ball, football, hockey, and boxing will enjoy his first venture into the world of fiction. Sidd(hartha) Finch pitches a baseball 50 mph faster than anyone really can. Like Plimpton, Sidd is not a professional athlete, but unlike his cre ator, he is a British-born Buddhist monk whose ability to throw the ball derives from his religious training in Ti bet. He is a quiet, contemplative fel low, and when he is recruited by the Mets, he does not even know the rules of the game. The reaction of the world of profesional baseball is hilarious, as incredulity and amazement give way to serious suggestions about radical alter ation in the rules of the game. Gentle Sidd couldn't care less about fame and fortune, but high adventure and even romance, in the person of the gorgeous Debbie Sue, seem to pursue him. This imaginative and humorous story will entertain all knowledgeable baseball fans. Rita G. Keeler, St. John's School, Houston
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The ubiquitous Plimpton strikes again, with a first novel; and it's tempting, and not really unfair, to say that he's almost as much out of his depth in full-length fiction as in those memorable moments in the ring or on the football field. He goes back to a jokey Sports Illustrated article he once did about the world's fastest pitcher, an English-born Buddhist monk called Sidd Finch, who learned his speed and accuracy hurling rocks at marauding snow leopards in the Himalayas. Plimpton fits him out with an eccentric British past, a gorgeous but kookie Southern girl friend and a tentative contract with the Mets. But despite a relaxedsometimes much too relaxednarrative style, and a lot of pleasant rambling about horn-playing, wrist musculature and the future of baseball, the book just doesn't go anywhere. It's as if Plimpton threw in everything he could think of to pad it out to novel length, and some of the paddingincluding a totally inept episode about a Mafia gamblershould have been cut early on. Baseball fans will enjoy parts of this, but even they will feel cheated that there's no real climax. The book, like Finch, just ambles off the field. Literary Guild Alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In his first novel Plimpton, noted for his "participatory journalism" ( Out of My league and Paper Lion ), fantasizes about a baseball pitcher who can throw a fastball at 168 miles per hour. The hero is a reclusive and spiritual young man who is studying to become a Buddhist monk. He signs with the New York Mets and, because no major leaguer can hit his pitch, is thrust into a limelight of media attention and hype. The book is warm and mildly amusing at times, but the story rambles and there are some fairly dull stretches before the rousing slapstick ending. Despite the appearance of real sports figures along with the fictional characters this is disappointing. Still, Plimpton's name should ensure a good deal of interest and public libraries will want to purchase. Literary Guild alternate. Samuel Simons, Memorial Hall Lib., Andover, Mass.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.