The Last Jewish Shortstop in America is set in a Chicago North Shore suburb where David Epstein, a fortyish divorced father of two, behind on his alimony and child support, has built and promoted a gigantic Hall of Fame for Jewish sports heroes. It stands nine stories high, built of glass in the shape of the Star of David. The gigantic Star of David is suffused with a gently glowing Chagall blue light that glows at the edge of the expressway and is visible for miles. The Star is solar activated and turns slosly as it radiates its blue light into the suburban darkness. It's filled with a pantheon of Jewish sports heroes, like Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax and even a Jewish matador, Sidney Franklin, who was the first American matador. It's a grandly comic novel in the rich tradition of Nathaniel West and Philip oth. As The Village Voice has said of Komie, "His humor, instead of bringing relief, usually heightens the hysteria. The man can write..."
The story takes place in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Toronto, and Montreal, where The Shortsto plays his graceful game in the streets and the casinos and in the huge, empty, dark staduum. "So here he was in Canada. The Litvak batsman with the cabdriver waiting. Burchik's great-grandson, batting against Rivka's daughter. 'Did he believe in magic?' the little shamus had asked him. Of course he believed in magic. So first the Shanda lady and now Petra had been sent to him. Of course he believed in magic. He would hit the ball far up into the Canadian darkness. No silver geese flying up there. No geese honking. He'd hit it up into those dark, empty stands."
The story takes place in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Toronto, and Montreal, where The Shortsto plays his graceful game in the streets and the casinos and in the huge, empty, dark staduum. "So here he was in Canada. The Litvak batsman with the cabdriver waiting. Burchik's great-grandson, batting against Rivka's daughter. 'Did he believe in magic?' the little shamus had asked him. Of course he believed in magic. So first the Shanda lady and now Petra had been sent to him. Of course he believed in magic. He would hit the ball far up into the Canadian darkness. No silver geese flying up there. No geese honking. He'd hit it up into those dark, empty stands."
