There’s plenty I could say about Up, Up, and Away: The Kid, the Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, le Grand Orange, Youppi!, the Crazy Business of Baseball, and the Ill-fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos. If this were a normal review, I’d largely focus on how many aspects of Up, Up, and Away were engaging. I’d detail how other aspects were pedestrian, and surprisingly, the author sided with ownership far too often in a book where he also wanted to take owners to task for some of their actions. I could do all of that, but I’ll be honest, I don’t feel like spending that much time on this book.
The reason for this is that the author of this book is Jonah Keri. So, instead of talking about Rock Raines or Andre Dawson, I feel it’s necessary to keep it simple and advise people to avoid this book because of who Keri is and what he has done. I’m not going to lay out all the facts of the case, but Keri has been convicted of domestic violence. He did the act and served his time. That’s why, for this review, I only want to tell you a couple of things.
I already owned this copy of Up, Up and Away; otherwise, I wouldn’t have read it. Don’t give your hard-earned money to Keri; don’t give him any reason to believe his writing matters or has value. Avoid this book and anything to do with this book. More importantly, if you or anyone you know is suffering from domestic abuse, visit the National Domestic Abuse Website and get the help that you need.
Lead photo courtesy of Random House Canada
