LOB Book Club - Part Trois
So I guess we were up to Chapter 7, yes? Where Billy attends a talk by Castro at the bar and is shot at on the way there.
I have to agree with Bob that it seems improbable that an American ballplayer in Havana would knowingly insert himself into a volatile political situation that is resulting in flying bullets. Is he doing it just to get close to Marlena? I can't believe that. Is he pathologically curious and naive? Doesn't seem to be that, either. But accepting that device and going forward, I'm still enjoying the book and am chomping at the bit to read more.
Discuss!
I have to agree with Bob that it seems improbable that an American ballplayer in Havana would knowingly insert himself into a volatile political situation that is resulting in flying bullets. Is he doing it just to get close to Marlena? I can't believe that. Is he pathologically curious and naive? Doesn't seem to be that, either. But accepting that device and going forward, I'm still enjoying the book and am chomping at the bit to read more.
Discuss!
posted by Bivalve88 @ 6:04 PM
4 Comments:
My hunch about that is that Billy is attempting to get into the good graces of his benefactor Papa Joe by mentoring Castro along. Although we haven't read much back-story about Billy's career, it strikes me that he may have already peaked and is perhaps worried about his future, much like the Kevin Costner character in "Bull Durham," who took on a similar mentoring role with the young hotshot pitcher played by Tim Robbins.
Malena has definitely caught his eye, but I think Billy is too wise to get involved with her after having lived in Havana for a while. That said, he has been curiously pulled into what seems like an increasingly dicey situation. Looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
I agree with Bob that Billy suspects that the club through their scout is intent on moving him out. I've met a few former minor league baseball players who got a late start in life because they were always thinking that a good run of form would finally mean a move to the major league. Even at the age of 26-27-28, even though colleges are producing guys 5 years younger and quicker, or the Caribbean is producing a hungrier, more desperate athlete.
But I disagree that he's too smart to fall for Malena. His character has already been written that he's a natural athlete who knows that he's not quite good enough to be a major league professional, but also a man who has never lacked for female company and the confidence to do well with women. Likewise, Malena's already been introduced as someone who possibly has more than a strictly revolutionary relationship with Fidel. I suspect that I see where this is going. On to the next 4 chapters?
You're absolutely right, Gooner. Upon reflection, I went back to Chapter 1 and noticed a sentence that I must have breezed over too quickly right at the end of the chapter that indicated that Billy did indeed end up romantically involved wityh Malena. She still seems stand-offish at the moment. I've just read a scene in which she's delivered the message in Chapter 9 that Fidel has declined Papa Joe's offer in favor of joining the anti-Trujillo movement. Malena seems very self-satisfied in being able to give the gringos this message.
Chapter 7 includes an interesting exchange between Fidel and Billy in the dive bar near the university campus. On page 75, Fidel describes his dream for the future:
"'I dream that things weren't so crazy,' Castro said. 'That we didn't have so many choices. I think that's where primitive cultures were healthier. They didn't kill themselves over what could have been, because they had no choice. You did as your father did before you. That's how things were. Now we strive for a better future, and in the process we simply drive ourselves insane.'"
At first, this struck me as fundamentally different to Castro's later philosophy, or perhaps reflecting a more naive or nascent form of his thinking. But as I thought about it a bit more, it seemed to fit with his pan-Caribbean nationalist ideology. Castro's main struggle as Cuba's leader has always been how to keep Cuba independent from the influence of the First and Second Worlds (the U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence) without plunging Cuba in a desperately underdeveloped Third World status. That struggle continues for developing countries. The Soviets are gone but have been replaced in some areas of the world by China. Can developing nations forswear the monetary and military support of the empires and go it alone while sacrificing the "progress" that that support represents? That's still an open question.
What do you two think?
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