Slouching Toward Fargo is not a great book, and it may not even be a good book, but it serves as a clear example of the type of book that I would only read while traveling. I read this primarily while on the way back from a work trip to Poland, when I was either on an airplane or in an airport for 16-18 hours, and I didn't really have any better options available to me. It passed the time, you know?
The book is structured as Karlen, a Twin Cities native and rock and roll journalist who's fallen out of the good graces of Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, spending time around the St. Paul Saints in order to write a hatchet job of the Saints' co-owner, Bill Murray. He wrestles with the ethics of writing such a piece, and then ends up spiking the story altogether when he ends up thinking that Murray is a pretty good guy after all. However, in the course of making that decision, he's fully charmed by the Saints and gloms onto them for the better part of two seasons. Hilarity ensues!
The events in this book take place primarily in 1997, when major league baseball was stuck firmly in the malaise that set in after the 1994 strike, and Karlen makes a *lot* of hay out of the idea that the fun-loving, offbeat Saints are a vital antidote to the stodginess of MLB. And maybe that's true! It's kind of hard to tell now, 20 years on, when the Saints have moved from their homely Midway Stadium digs into sparkling CHS field, and lots of other organizations ape their goofy between-innings activities. I usually describe Saints games to people as "baseball for people who don't like baseball," since there's so much else going on to distract you from the often subpar on-field product, but Karlen claims that he finds the Saints style of play preferable to the majors. I think he's wrong, but who the hell knows?
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