Hardcover, 512 pages
English language
Published Feb. 9, 2011 by Little, Brown and Co..
At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.
Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners’ team captain and Henry’s best friend, realizes he has guided Henry’s career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.
As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find …
At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.
Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners’ team captain and Henry’s best friend, realizes he has guided Henry’s career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.
As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment–to oneself and to others.
Really enjoyed this. More words on it coming soon.
I was on the fence about even starting this one. I don't like baseball - not the least bit interested. So I thought maybe this book would not be about it so much as provide the setting, and that was essentially the case. Granted, there's enough baseball action in here that someone with a greater appreciation than I for the game, may find it that much more rewarding. In my case however, it was easy to brush over the baseball-speak and focus on the characters and their circumstances. On the critical side, I think the book could have ended before the last few chapters. That actually brought it down for me slightly. Overall, it was not what I'd expected and worth a read for baseball fans and non-fans alike.
A great novel. The baseball team as whaling crew. Great characters, tight plot, constant tension. Received the coveted Mitchell second star - not awarded since Wolfhall last year.
Wish I could get a Westish Harpooners ball cap.
Harbach is brilliant at conveying the tension of the star shortstop's crisis of confidence and other elements of the game and its preparations. Within those constraints, there is also some wonderful character development and exposition on baseball-as-metaphor that touches me.
There are characters and situations outside the game depicted in the Art of Fielding, as well. And those are a little flatter. I love the touches of history Harbach creates for the college and its president. The structure of the novel is just right. But the romances and intertwined paths of the characters that are not playing the game fall a little into caricature. I want some more dimension to Pella and Owen, in particular.
I can't decide if this is a three-star effort deserving of extra credit for avoiding shortcuts (a rape-free star) or a four-star book that should be …
Wish I could get a Westish Harpooners ball cap.
Harbach is brilliant at conveying the tension of the star shortstop's crisis of confidence and other elements of the game and its preparations. Within those constraints, there is also some wonderful character development and exposition on baseball-as-metaphor that touches me.
There are characters and situations outside the game depicted in the Art of Fielding, as well. And those are a little flatter. I love the touches of history Harbach creates for the college and its president. The structure of the novel is just right. But the romances and intertwined paths of the characters that are not playing the game fall a little into caricature. I want some more dimension to Pella and Owen, in particular.
I can't decide if this is a three-star effort deserving of extra credit for avoiding shortcuts (a rape-free star) or a four-star book that should be pushed to the top. I'm having trouble hanging five stars on this one.
