Press
Praise for Cooperstown:
"[Pilek] has a real feel for the rhythms of smalltown life, even as it's in the throes of change, and a fine hand with her
characters and the game of baseball itself."
-Publishers Weekly
"The town that baseball built has some mean secrets that throw a wrench into a handful of lives in Us Weekly editor
Pilek's atmospheric and character-filled debut...a choice piece of baseballiana."
-Kirkus Reviews
"Pilek knows her terrain and understands its complexities, providing readers with a literary experience that blends themes of small-town fiction like Empire
Falls with the rowdy spirit of Lardner, Harris and other decorated baseball novelists. Viewed through the mythical prism of the national pastime, this daughter of Cooperstown
has crafted a vital study of a game she loves--and its bond with the human condition."
-USA Today Sports Weekly
"[A] Gripping first novel... Pilek's narration is reminiscent of early Steven King...The protagonist is town shrink Kerwin Chylak, and his soliloquies are fabulous
as he ponders the qualms of the other five characters, all patients."
-The Star-Ledger
"[Pilek] has a genuine feel for her characters."
-The Washington Post
"[One] of this summer's notable debuts."
-USA Today
"This book is an old-fashioned literary home run."
-Tucson Citizen
"A hilarious farce matching up oddball characters, national myths, local politics, historical forces, psychoanalysis, high school sports legends, gossipy neighbors,
explosive secrets, and damn good writing."
-Kevin Guilfoile, author of Cast of Shadows
"Cooperstown is a loopy tribute to both baseball and the small-town upstate novel."
-Stewart O'Nan, coauthor of Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season and author of
The Good Wife
