LitPick Review
Jerry, "Tags" Taglia is the leader of a group of young boys, all Red Sox fans, who were born in the years following the historic Red Sox World Series victory of 2004, a victory as yet unrepeated. These boys, however, are not content to sit back and hope for another Sox win-they intend to do something about it, and make a plan to disable the "Brain", the controller of hundreds of miniature sensors that record homers, strikes, and fouls within the Sox Stadium. Disabling the Brain will enable the boys to throw any upcoming games into electronic chaos, for the Brain will be unable to accurately record the information, and if they do the job properly, the Brain will decide in favor of the Red Sox. Over the summer directly prior to the World Series they practice and finally activate their plan, hoping to cheat the Red Sox to victory, mistakenly imagining themselves modern Robin Hoods. At the end of the book the Red Sox do win, but whether or not the boys' plan had anything to do with it is unclear.
Opinion:
An amusing account of one boy's desperate stand against the defeat of the Red Sox, "The Year They Won" has some of the charm of the typical coming-of-age story such as "Huckleberry Finn", but it falls short of actually achieving real excellence. Despite this, it is a good book for light reading, and the author shows promise, especially in his descriptions and characterization of the U.S. twenty years from now. His first-person prose is convincing, and the actions of his characters often hilarious. Though initially slow, "Year" gradually came to a fast-paced, amusing climax that was worth more on the enjoyment scale than the remainder of the book. "The Year They Won" is brief, to the point, and interesting, but not to be recommended for children under fifteen due to crudity, vulgarity, and language.
