House of Cards

House of Cards is a novel written by Gary Yeagle and is a fiction story about a young boy’s journey to becoming a major league baseball player. The story puts real life scenarios into a fictional novel and creates a story. The book has many positive aspects it does well, but there are also a couple of aspects which would benefit from some reworking. Two positive aspects of House of Cards are consistency and imagery, and two negative aspects are lack of detail and drama.

The book begins with Harley Sims as a young boy and his love for baseball and the Cardinals. Harley is at a Cardinals game when he is young and breaks his arm after falling over the railing to catch a ball. Harley eventually heals from this injury and starts training for Little League tryouts. Before tryouts, he meets Drew, and Harley transforms him from a child who fears the ball into his new teammate for little league. The two boys move on to high school baseball, and this is where Harley meets his future fiancé Mira. Harley now has two loves as he moves into college baseball at the University of Missouri with Drew. Harley and Drew play two years at the University of Missouri before they are both drafted by major league teams. Harley is drafted by the Cleveland Indians as a pitcher, and Drew is drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies as a catcher. Harley starts his first professional season at Double-A, and Drew starts at Single-A. By the end of their first seasons, Drew moves up to the major league team for the Phillies as they move into the playoffs, and Harley ends a strong first year for the minor league club. The Indians and Phillies both make it to the World Series, but a plan crash kills almost all the Indian players on the team. They are forced to put together a team of minor league players, and Harley is put on the team. The Indians are not given a chance, but they win the second game of the series behind Harley’s complete game. The Indians lose the World Series in game five when Drew hits a homerun off Harley in the ninth inning to give the Phillies the win. The book ends with Harley thinking about the rest of his life after he proposes to Mira. He talks about signing with the Cardinals after he is a free agent to play for the team he grew up with and loved all his life.

The consistency throughout the novel make the story very easy to follow and easy to read. Each chapter is between ten to twelve pages, and each chapter builds off the next. The ending of one chapter jumps right into the beginning of the next. The timeline is followed throughout the entire novel, so the reader is never left to wonder where they are at in the timeline of the story. For example, chapter thirty-two is about Mira and Harley talking about Harley entering the draft without Drew, and chapter thirty-three is about Harley meeting with his agent to discuss the process of the draft and what he should expect from it. This consistency allows the ready to continue to picture the story as it continues.

As the story continues in the novel, the reader can see exactly what is happening and picture it in real life. Everyone knows someone who is young and dreams of becoming a big-league player. Many little kids dream of this from the moment they first touch a baseball. This allows the reader to create an image of the little kid they know and see them on their journey towards the big leagues. The moments Harley has in his life are very relatable to moments a lot of people have in their lives, so the reader can picture what he is going through in each situation he is in. For example, there is a moment in the story where Harley’s dog dies, and it really messes him up for a while. People can relate to how pets truly become a part of the family and how hard it is to see one pass away. Another example is when Harley first starts to develop true feelings for Mira. The reader can relate to having someone very special come into their life and make them feel very special. They can relate to the changing of priorities and the developing of another love like Harley has when he meets Mira. Even though the book has no pictures, the reader has an image they carry from the moment the book starts until the ending.

The lack of detail and drama in the story leaves the reader wondering about a few aspects of the story and makes the reader have a little trouble relating during some parts of story. For example, Aaron Buckman starts out as a bully and eventually turns into a friend of both Drew and Harley. They play on the same high school team before he moves. The hear he is signed by a big-league club and is in the minors, and this is the last detail about him. The reader wants to know what happens to him in the major leagues. Another example is throughout the story, Drew and Harley never seem to hit any walls or obstacles in their development. They always play great and have success. Anyone with baseball knowledge knows there are way more obstacles than successes in the game, which makes it one of the hardest games to play. Details to eliminate this would make the story even more relatable.

House of Cards is a very well done novel relating America’s pastime to the dream of many young kids around the word. The book can be read and enjoyed by many people of many different ages. This book would be a great read for both sports and non-sports fan. It is an excellent piece, and little changes to the minor flaws it has would make it an even better read for all people.