It’s very rare that I decide not to finish a book. I try to always find something positive about the books I review. I’d read another book by Jane Leavy and had mixed feelings about it. Many of her other books had positive reviews, especially her biography of Sandy Koufax. Unfortunately, our library didn’t have that audiobook in the system. The Big Fella did pop up, though. I wasn’t intimidated by the nearly 24-hour playing time. I listened to The Fall of the Roman Empire, which was something like 130 hours. Surely I could listen to a day’s worth of audiobook about one of the top players of my favorite sport?

Maybe I could have. Maybe the Koufax biography is better. However, after deciding not to finish this one, I doubt I’ll try another Jane Leavy book. Her style is just not for me.

In the introduction, she states she won’t be detailing every game and every at-bat by Babe Ruth. There are plenty of other books for that, she says. Instead, she wants to immerse the reader in how he changed the world as we know it. If you think that because you’re not a fan of baseball, you haven’t felt Ruth’s impact, you would be wrong. At a time when moving pictures were still young, Ruth became one of the biggest celebrities in the country and set the stage for what being a celebrity meant in the United States.

The problems I had with The Big Fella were mainly twofold. One, Leavy jumps all over the place. The story she is trying to tell is not linear. One minute we’re in 1927, the next is about Ruth’s upbringing, then we’re to him making a movie, then we’re back to his first marriage. It’s just all over the place, and none of the stories really feel connected. The second is just too much information. I DNF’d the book after listening to an hour background about Ruth’s agent.

I was 20% through, and I just kept thinking, “Do I want to keep going with this?” The answer was a resounding NO.

I could see where Leavy wanted to go with the book, but she needed a heavier editor and more organization of the manuscript. There’s also too much personal information in between the Ruthian parts of the story. Leavy was a sportswriter for The Washington Post and covered baseball for many years. She has lots of stories and takes every opportunity to let you hear them. Most of them are tied to Ruth in some way, but there were a few where I questioned the reason for their inclusion, and that was only in the first 20% of the book.

If you’re looking for a book about baseball and Babe Ruth, this isn’t it. It’s not really a biography of him, although I did find her details of his life growing up very interesting. I’m sure there’s a lot of good information in this book, the problem is wading through everything else to find it.