1970s 20th-century a-wild-sheep-chase absurdity addiction adventure adversity alternate-reality ambition america american american-dream american-history american-literature americas-pastime architecture atmospheric baseball bestseller betrayal biography boston building calico-joe career career-ending-injury character-driven childhood childhood-dreams childhood-hero childhood-heroes coming-of-age community compassion competition conflict construction contemporary contemporary-fiction contemporary-literature craftsmanship creativity dark-humor design detective detective-fiction detective-story determination disappointment domestic-life drama dream-like dreamlike dreams enigmatic existential existentialism failure fame family family-drama family-dynamics family-secrets fantasy fate father-son-relationship father-son-relationships fatherhood fiction forgiveness friendship haruki-murakami healing hero historic-preservation historical history home home-improvement homelessness hometown-hero hope house housing housing-crisis identity injury inspiration interior-design introspection introspective isolation japan japanese-literature journalism journey justice kidder legacy literary-fiction literature loneliness loss love love-for-the-game love-story loyalty magical-realism major-league major-league-baseball massachusetts memoir mental-health mental-illness mentorship metaphysical mind-bending mystery mythology narrative narrative-nonfiction new-england non-fiction nonfiction nostalgia novel obsession passion perseverance personal-growth personal-journey personal-narrative philosophical philosophy pitcher postmodern postmodernism poverty professional-athlete professional-athletes professional-baseball professional-sports psychological pulitzer-prize pulitzer-prize-winner pulitzer-prize-winning pulitzer-prize-winning-author quest real-estate reconciliation record-breaking recovery redemption regret relationship relationships renovation resilience restoration revenge rivalry romance rookie rural rural-life sacrifice scandal second-chances secrets self-discovery sheep small-town social-class social-commentary social-issues social-justice sports sports-fiction sportsmanship storytelling success supernatural surreal surrealism suspense symbolic symbolism talent teamwork tokyo tracy tragedy transformation triumph true-story unconventional underdog urban writing youth