Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)On the surface, Keeper is a soccer story. Goalie extraordinaire El Gato sits in a small hotel room recounting not only how he's just won the World Cup, but also how he came to be the keeper he is today.
What follows though is a story filled with mystery and magic - yes, magic. We learn that as a boy, El Gato discovered a ghostly presence in the jungle outside his small South American village, a ghost that taunt him with almost desperate authority how to be the best goalie (keeper) in the world. It's an odd premise, but the story unfolds in startling and endearing ways, eventually encompassing issues as big as deforestation and as small as leaving family and home for good.
For me, this is the ultimate kind of sports book. It escapes the cookie-cutter realm of "team is disorganized, team becomes organized, team overcomes odds to win big game." Even winning the World Cup isn't so important that we have to re-live every moment of the "big game." It's the consequences of the game, and the keeper's development as a person and a goalie, that are far more important in the long run.
By focusing on the boy and the greater issues he resolves through his keeping skills, this story transcends its own genre. It's a fantastic book to put in the hands of any boy who's ever played youth soccer, or just any boy who ever sought his place in the world on a playing field.
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