It is hard to explain the exact mixture of nostalgia, joy, and melancholy this book wrung out of me in its short but powerful pages. It is hard to explain the feeling of being an athlete in memory, in learned movements and redirected passion, in stories and instincts and past-tense, but Georgia Cloepfil put into words what bangs around in my heart when I think of soccer. A lyrical and poignant tribute to the beautiful game and the people it turns into players, into teams, into champions, and eventually back into people. Like the game, the ticking clock of turning pages was leading me to an ending I wasn’t sure I wanted to reach yet. Give me one more minute, one more chapter in the environment of the game, in the feeling. But the clock winds down.
The Striker and the Clock by Georgia Cloepfil, (List Price: $27, Riverhead Books, 9780593714881, July 2024)
Reviewed by Morgan Holub, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia