Crazy Horse Electric Game In Oakland, California, Willie Weaver is a typical teenage boy with an amazing talent for baseball. Willie is a baseball hero and can pitch the best ball in the county. His controlled pitching and outstanding final catches take the championship away from the three-time winning team, Crazy Horse Electric. Willie is a superstar player for "Samson Floral," and is a town hero. However, Willie’s life changes in the blink of an eye. All of Willie’s hopes and dreams fade away as he takes part in a waterskiing accident, paralyzing the left side of Willie’s body. This accident leaves Willie with impaired speech and movement. Lost in a world he no longer knows, or in a body he can no longer control, Willie tries to ease his pain, frustration, and confusion by playing racquetball and managing the girls’ basketball team. He also includes his friend's his daily life as well. Willie is still devastated by his life and decides to enroll into another school. At this school, Willie meets some students and staff that have changed him and his negative thoughts. Willie realizes being disabled is a minor obstacle in his life, and it does not hold him back. In this novel, Willie Weaver is the main character. Willie is a sixteen year old high school athlete that has a strong passion for baseball. He has the perfect life. Willie is popular, he has the right friends, and he has a dream girlfriend. Willie’s feeling change throughout the book, especially after the accident. At first, Willie is a strong, independent, and confident young boy with hopes and dreams for baseball. Those feelings fade away after Willie’s tragic accident. I recommend this book young adults, with a love for sports. I believe if athletic people read this book, they will be able to relate with some of the feelings that take place. I also recommend this book to boys and girls. Even though this book has to do with sports, there is also some drama behind it. I rate this book a four because I enjoyed the plot of this book. This novel has a lot of exciting and disappointing moments which makes the reading interesting. There is always something happening in this book. There is no boredom or shame while reading this book.
As much as I hate to admit it, I am a judge the book by the cover kind of person. I didn't used to think so, but when I first looked at this book and the title, I thought no way am I going to want to read this, much less enjoy it. Well, once again the saying has proven true...WARNING: SpoilersThe way Chris Crutcher begins the book with the accident is brilliant. For people like me who need to be drawn in immediately or losses interest, this takes care of that. The book does begin a little slow, but it is done wiesly. The characters are introduced and you get to know them just as you would if you had moved to the small town of Coho Montana. Through the book I found myself feeling as though I knew each of them. I felt their joy, their pain, and I wished that I could do something for them. When Willie decides to leave town, I knew that something bad would happen and that he would have to triumph through it (it is a book after all). But the story took a turn I did not expect and I enjoyed the failings as much as the accomplishments. I have to admit I had a hard time as a parent putting the fact that his had no idea where he was or if he was okay. Even understanding his reasoning behind it I could feel their heartache swelling up in my own chest. Knowing now how it ends I might have to re-read the book to enjoy it more and understand the little things better.As Willie approaches graduation I felt both happiness for his achievements and sadness that he was not with his childhood friends to share it with them. I also begin to worry that there were only a few short pages left and I feared things would not wrap up the way they should before the end.I was pretty pleased with the ending, although it left a lot of frayed edges, it left hope. I also learned an important lesson myself, that not all endings have to end happily ever after to be good. I guess as a person still searching for the happy ending it's something I like to believe still exists. I still have hope.
Do You like book The Crazy Horse Electric Game (2003)?
This book is about a boy called Willie Weaver who was known to be an amazing pitcher in baseball. Willie suffers from an injury when water skiing which disables his ability to play. I do not really like this book because i do not know where the title "The Crazy Horse Electric Game" came from and i did not get interested in the book until near the end. I do not know who to recommend this book to because i do not find it that interesting myself. Readers who like to read about baseball won't find that much baseball content in this book.
—Henry
Another unmistakable Crutcher novel – there’s the sports theme, the funny moments, the tough family relationships, the US Northwest setting, the minority mentor (several of them this time), the teens battling through almost indescribable hardships. And even with all the thematic revisiting, this is another of Crutcher’s excellent reads for teen boys who like sports and fiction. One unique aspect – the big game is just the jumping off point. Willie Weaver is a high school hero – he knows it, his girlfriend knows it, and his dad demands it. But then he suffers a crippling accident that changes everything. There’s such a huge risk for maudlin sympathy or moralizing in a story like this. But as he does in Stotan, Ironman, Whale Talk, and other great novels, Crutcher avoids any feel-good or feel-bad extremes. Another plus, there’s almost no teen jock slang. This is one of Crutcher’s best.
—Stevecrandell
I just re-read this as a throwback to middle school and it's a pretty memorable book to even a person like me, who can be totally caught off-guard by major plot twists the millionth time they watch a movie. It's not a perfect book, reads like young adult fiction (well, it is), and has minor swearing. Unfortunately the content, in contrast, is not congruent with its general voice, and also plays into the dangerous trope of "fixing" disability. This book is definitely not for morals or modeling, at least in the 21st century, but an interesting book nonetheless.
—L R Sig
