4th Quarter Outside Reading Book Review


Faithful, by Stephen King and Stewart O’ Nan. Scribner publishing. 2004.
Genre: Nonfiction

The book, Faithful, was written by two avid Red Sox fans, about the Red Sox 2004 World Series Championship winning season. It starts off during spring training, and goes all the way through the World Series clinching game. As it goes through the season, there are portions of dialogue between the two authors during games throughout the season.


Of all the books that will examine the Boston Red Sox's stunning come-from-behind 2004 ALCS win over the Yankees and subsequent World Series victory, none will have this book's warmth, personality or depth. Beginning with an e-mail exchange in the summer of 2003, novelists King and O'Nan started keeping diaries chronicling the Red Sox's season, from spring training to the Series' final game. Although they attended some games together, the two did most of their conversing in electronic missives about the team's players, the highs and lows of their performance on the field and the hated Yankees ("limousine longballers"). O'Nan acts as a play-by-play announcer, calling the details of every game (sometimes quite tediously), while King provides colorful commentary, making the games come alive by proffering his intense emotional reactions to them. When the Red Sox find themselves three games down during the ALCS, King reflects on the possibilities of a win in game four: "Yet still we are the faithful... we tell ourselves it's just one game at a time. We tell ourselves the impossible can start tonight." After the Sox win the Series, O'Nan delivers a fan's thanks: "You believed in yourselves even more than we did. That's why you're World Champions, and why we'll never forget you or this season. Wherever you go, any of you, you'll always have a home here, in the heart of the Nation." (At times, the authors' language borders on the maudlin.) But King and O'Nan are, admittedly, more eloquent than average baseball fans (or average sportswriters, for that matter), and their book will provide Red Sox readers an opportunity to relive every nail-biting moment of a memorable season.

Publisher’s Weekly


Unlike other books that Stephen King has written, this isn’t scary or about any monsters. This is about two avid fans following their team through a whole season and writing a book about it. The two friends wrote the story like they almost knew it was going to be a storybook ending. They wrote it like they knew that something was going to give and that the Red Sox would some how find a way to win the World Series.

This book affected me because I am a huge Red Sox fan and it made me remember how magical the 2004 season was. It made me think about the different places I watched a game or what happened in a game and how excited, angry, or happy I was with the outcome. I feel that this book is perfect for anyone who loves the Red Sox.