The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
December 20, 2011 at 7:44 PM | Posted in Baseball, Books | Leave a commentTags: Chad Harbach, Emerson, Melville, The Art of Fielding
The Art of Fielding is an English Major’s dream: baseball, Melville, Emerson, college campus, college presidents and professors, love, Top 10 NY Times Books of the Year, New Yorker Best Books. But is it good? Is it great? I think that, when Harbach writes about baseball, the novel is wonderfully great:
Whereas some hitters twitched and stomped while awaiting the pitch, chopping their bats into the strike zone, Owen exuded a listless calm. He might have been standing in the quad, pursuing a postlecture discussion, holding an umbrella against a light spring rain.
All in all, I do love the novel despite flaws (that I hope you discover yourself by reading) because of the characters who I am still locked into: Henry, the nonpareil shortstop with a block, Schwartz, the catcher and soul of the novel and Pella, the lovable daughter and girlfriend and Owen, the gay roommate, friend, coolest guy in town and a better than decent player and the book within a book, The Art of Fielding.
This is Harbach’s first novel, in essence his rookie season and what a rookie season it is. But for his sophomore year I have a request: a sequel, Please!
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