Conrad B. (Phunter) reviewed on 3/9/2012 + 35 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

Let's face it, the Dutch are known more for their stoicism than for a volatile personality more in keeping with their southern neighbors. It's not surprising then, that this story (written from the vantage of Hans van den Broek) is rather introspective in nature. In the tension and apprehension of a post 9/11 New York he finds himself in a marriage that is going steadily south and doesn't know how to deal with it as he and his wife become slowly estranged. Until he ultimately decides to move back to London to be with his wife and son, he fills his time with an unusual friendship which revolves around cricket and an interesting cast of dark skinned foreigners to whom cricket is a way of life.
O'Neill's writing is elegant and thoughtful prose - quite lovely. His descriptions of places New York, London, Holland, Trinidad, Arizona all paint an accurate portrait for anyone who has visited on lived in those places. While his intricate details of cricket may seem boring to some, I found it interesting to discover there was so much more to the game than I ever knew. As a schoolboy, I tried to stay out of the way of that red missile whenever it came my way.
This is a quiet, thoughtful story of a man who loses himself in the post-traumatic stress of New York City then finds healing and himself once more.

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