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Playing the Field
 | Playing the Field Bildner, Phil Date: 28 February, 2006 — $10.37 — Book Rating: |
Darcy Miller is a frustrated athlete. Instead of continuing to play on her disastrous high school softball team, she wants a chance to be on the championship baseball team. After fighting against resistance from her principal, she finally gets the happy news that he's letting her join the team. The reason? His baseball playing son, Brandon, told him that Darcy is a lesbian. Now, Darcy has to pretend she's gay in order to win her coveted spot on the team. She and Brandon are also instructed to join the school's Gay Straight Alliance, which is run by Darcy's former friend, Josh. In addition to that, her overbearing mother is dating her principal and she and Brandon are on their way to dating, too! Will Darcy ever get to live her dream of hearing her name announced in the lineup?
This book was very dissapointing. As a baseball fan, I was prepared to love it. I certainly liked the premise of a girl breaking a gender barrier on a baseball team. The scenes with Darcy on the diamond are the strongest, and her character is most well developed when she's on the pitching mound. The rest of the book falls flat. It is never clear why Darcy needs to pretend to be a lesbian in order to play baseball. With a couple of exceptions, her teammates all seem to accept her, and her coach even names her captain. I don't think any of this would have changed had they known Darcy was straight. Many of the characters, including Darcy, are one dimensional and unlikable. Most everything is left unresolved or unanswered. We're never entirely sure why Josh and Darcy had a falling out, only the result is Josh calling Darcy "BSB" for "Back Stabbing Bitch". We only know they make up, because Josh calls her "Darcy" towards the end of the book. Readers are also not told how long Darcy has to keep up the charade of being a lesbian.
If you're looking to recommend a sports book with a female protoganist to young readers, Getting in the Game by Dawn Fitzgerald is a better option. For older readers, recommend Far from Xanadu by Julie Peters.
I recently read this book as well and agreed with everything that you said.
The plot is rather ridiculous. What kind of message does this send- its
ok to play games and pretend to be something that you are not so that you
can get what you want? Darcy's actions had no consequences, she becomes
the captain of the team, gets the boy she wants, and there is no backlash
for her pretending to be a lesbian. There were several references to
drinking, sex, and drugs that did nothing to further the story. While the
book had some good lessons regarding tolerance and the daily life of a
homosexual teen, the book was very preachy about it. It was poorly
written, characters were pretty unrealistic (and somewhat stereotypical)
and difficult to relate to, and while the intended message is important, it
could have been presented in a more tactful manner.
Hey...
That's so true. Can I ask where you get your great info?