TimeBall: First Review

Review of TimeBall
By Harriet Hart

Time travel is a literary device that has been used by some of the great writers in the English language. Think of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: Scrooge visits the past and the future with ghosts as his guide and this reader (for one) never questioned for a moment how this was possible. I just enjoyed the journey. In 11/22/63 Stephen King takes his readers back to 1958 so his protagonist can prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from shooting JFK.

Now novelist R.M. Krakoff contributes to this literary tradition in his fifth novel TimeBall, in which protagonist wealthy entrepreneur Aaron Kinsley is bored with life in the year 2020 and time travels back to 1944 to fulfill a boyhood dream to play professional baseball.  He inhabits the physical body of Albert Hollingsworth, a pitcher for the St. Louis Browns. Aaron didn't count on finding himself in this particular athlete's body on this specific losing team. There's a lot more he didn't count on too, like Albert's involvement in a Nazi cult intent on world domination or becoming party to a plot to assassinate Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

 "This is not a novel about baseball," the author assured me, his way of assuring me that I could relish the read without being a ball fan. He was right. I enjoyed the book in spite of my ignorance of the sport, yet baseball permeates the novel. The protagonist is a pitcher, many of the characters are players (or fans), the setting is frequently a ball park and there are constant references to the history of the game.

Don't get me wrong, TimeBall will appeal to die hard baseball fans, plus anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to change places with a historical figure or to run the bases in someone else's cleats.   Time travel is a fascinating concept that appeals to our imaginations and allows the writer to indulge in historical research and social commentary, of the past, present and future, simultaneously.

Author Krakoff tells us that 1944 was a wonderful time to be alive: "People are more open, honest and direct…Life is simple. Your work, you play, and occasionally you pray…Everyone is employed; there are no street people. No beggars, no blue suede show men selling time shares…"  He compares this with the future in which "Medical science is helping wealthy people live longer, but the poor are many and continue to suffer…Computers rule the land, banks rule the world, and America is still a superpower…" Since he's describing 2020 and we're already in 2014, we can infer what he thinks of the present state of affairs.

There are many elements I liked about this novel. Once you accept the basic premise that we can travel back in time, the rest is believable. The protagonist is likeable as he struggles to act like another person, make friends and lovers, escape his enemies and face the moral dilemma central to the book. The "time traveler's moral code dictates that I cannot alter history" yet if he does not intervene, evil will occur and lives will be lost.

The supporting characters, especially Annie and Bonnie, are well drawn and charming. The plot is fast moving and keeps you reading – and, forgive the pun, features a fast curve ball at its conclusion.

If you like historical fiction, time travel, action and suspense, read this book. In addition to entertaining readers, it will make them ponder big questions like what does one do with one's life to give it meaning, and what would one do if you could live someone else's?