Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive

Stefan Fatsis

Word Freak You could write a book about any sport-- or, for that matter, any regular gathering of human beings-- and call it Mixed Nuts. The fact is, we're all insane, simply by virtue of being human. I rush to add that that does not make reading about any other particular group of mixed nuts any less enjoyable. And Word Freak is nothing if not enjoyable.

Wall Street Journal reporter Fatsis (and who knew the WSJ even had sports reporters?) takes a year and attempts to achieve an expert rating in tournament Scrabble. Now, if that's all the book were about, it would most likely be boring to all but a few of us who like reading about word lists and superhuman feats of memory. But, as with any other pursuit, competitive Scrabble has a number of eccentric characters at its upper echelons, and Fatsis meets, interviews, and learns from all of them. One doesn't expect to see some of the more, for lack of a better term, rancid details presented here about people who are still alive. Yet from the looks of things (cf. Joel Sherman's Amazon review of the book, perennially spotlighted), it seems ot have been taken in stride.

This is a good thing, because the juicy details, I'm ashamed to say, make for great reading. It's as if Jayne Ann Krentz were covering the Final Four sometimes. But lest such a description lead you to believe the book's fluffy, far from it; Fatsis presents his compatriots with compassion and insight, and never lets the human side of things sidetrack the book's focus on the game and Fatsis' quest to play it at the highest levels.

But, for all this, perhaps the most enthusiastic recommendation I can give it is this; after years of not touching a Scrabble board, Word Freak made me want to pick one up again. Good stuff, this.