To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever (Book Review #2)

   When I first read this book as a sophomore in high school, I read it through the eyes of a sports fan.  I saw myself as a mini-Will Blythe, an obsessed fan with unfiltered hatred for his team's rivals.  I broke chairs, yelled at announcers who couldn't hear me, and forced my whole family out of the basement for whole days when my team didn't win.  I was nuts, and I wanted to read a book from a person like me.  Now, slightly more level-headed, I have read this book through the eyes of a writer.  And, while most would say it's unorthodox, I would say Blythe's writing style makes for an excellent sports book. 

   One of the things that really struck me a lot the second time reading this book was the constant battle between the beast and journalist inside Blythe.  The beast wanted to come out.  After all, Blythe was a die-hard North Carolina fan attempting to chronicle the rivalry that he enthusiastically participated in.  It ended up creating two personas for Blythe during the book.  There are many times that the beast and journalist argue or have some type of dialogue.  This symbolism of Blyhte's internal conflict is important because he could have left it out of the book altogether.  Instead, he 'fesses up that there are times when his hatred gets in the way of his writing.  I appreciate that admission. 

   In my second reading of the book, however, I did not like some of the almost sarcastic interviews Blythe did.  For example, his meeting with the Buddhist monk about how his hatred might affect his reincarnation was bordering on ridiculous.  His meeting with the pastor was equally as unnecessary.  Those sections just seemed like filler and made it seem more like a book of humor for those pages, rather than a book with an actual point to it. 

   All in all, I'm glad I chose to go back and read this book again.  It felt like I had never read the book before at all because I was looking at it from a different perspective.