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The Art of Fielding: A Novel
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The Art of Fielding: A Novel
Unavailable
The Art of Fielding: A Novel
Audiobook17 hours

The Art of Fielding: A Novel

Written by Chad Harbach

Narrated by Holter Graham

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

Editor's Note

A modern classic…

In this affecting debut, one errant throw from a shortstop phenomenon sends five lives spinning in new directions. With a grace rarely seen even in seasoned writers, Harbach teases out the true art and beauty of baseball.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 7, 2011
ISBN9781611135565
Unavailable
The Art of Fielding: A Novel
Author

Chad Harbach

Chad Harbach was raised in Racine, Wisconsin, and educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia. He is the author of the acclaimed novel The Art of Fielding, which has been translated into nineteen languages. He is also a founding editor of n+1.

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Reviews for The Art of Fielding

Rating: 3.9496331140760508 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,499 ratings164 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fantastic character names, but otherwise not particularly engaging characters or plot or setting.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book as I didn't know what to expect when it comes to a sports story. I opted for the audio book and I'm glad I did. I was transported to a small Wisconsin college called Westish, a DIII college. Henry is the main character. He lives and breathes baseball and can't imagine doing anything else. He always seems a little down throughout the entire story. The reader helps with this with Henry's "voice."

    Mike Schwartz is a year ahead of Henry and convinces the coach to recruit him. Then Schwartz takes Henry under his wing and coaches him throughout college, building his strength up and working to improve Henry's skills because he sees something in Henry and so do the scouts.

    Then there is Henry's gay black roommate who I adored. He made me smile as he sat in the dugout reading with his reading light strapped to his hat. There is also The president of this small college and his daughter Pella. All of them are affected by the one incident that totally derails Henry.

    I work in sports and just ran the press box for the DIII Soccer championships for the men and women. It was interesting to watch and interesting to interact with the players and coaches as I was setting up interviews for the media. I think that, and my love for baseball made this book a little more special for me. But I don't think you have to know anything about baseball to like this book. This book is also about heart, character and love.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have no interest in Baseball, but this is really a character driven story. It takes place on a college campus, and involves a very eclectic group of characters. I could have enjoyed the book very well without a few of the main players, but over all it was very well written, not predictable, and kept my interest despite being about college BB!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This isn't a bad book -- simply mediocre. Because it was for a book club I forced myself into reading at least but then skipped to the end. Can't define what made this book not compelling -- perhaps the distance the author maintains from his own characters' motivations? Whole book seemed contrived. Cannot recommend with so many other Good books around.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very satisfying novel (the author's debut). It's reminiscent of John Irving in its focus on character and place: you get to know the main players inside and out and they can be infuriating and pleasing. While baseball provides the context for most of the work, this is not a sports book and even someone who detests the National Pastime will find much to enjoy. The novel is set on a small Midwestern liberal arts college campus, and, in a sense, the work almost resembles a play given its emphasis on dialogue. It does not duck large issues and is one of the few mainstream books I can think of in which homosexuality and heterosexuality coexist peacefully. There's also a feeling of jump cuts; often, the author will advance the narrative obliquely and the technique works beautifully. Truly, as one of the blurb puts it: you don't want the book to end because you have become so familiar with the core characters--and their triumphs and disasters.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book was a very slow read for me! There were parts of the book that I enjoyed but mostly I just wanted it to end. This novel was not only about baseball but also a coming of age novel 5hat took place in a small college town in Wisconsin.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A real joy to read. I really flew through this thing. It's true, you don't have to like baseball, but it's better if you do. Could be a great movie. A lot of great analogies between baseball and life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I remember when this book first came out. It got such great reviews & was about baseball (a subject near & dear to me), & yet apparently appealed to many non-baseball fans. I had to get my hands on it and I did, and then life happened and it sat on my TBR pile for quite a long time. Several years later, and I finally was able to dig in.It's a story about baseball, but lots of other dynamics are going on as well. There are five main characters, and each has his/her own issues. While portions of the plot were predictable, others were not. I enjoyed this book, but have to admit to not enjoying it as much as I'd hoped. I think what bothered me the most was that I didn't particularly like any of the characters, and with a story as long as this one, it seemed as though I should've felt invested in at least one of the characters, but it didn't happen. Bottom line: enjoyable enough, but didn't feel that it lived up to the hype.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Oh how I loved this book! I love books that have a theme, and one that might not be a hook for everyone but can pull anyone in. This book is about baseball, but I feel like if you didn't know a thing about baseball you would still love it. It's a beautiful story, very well written, and had me thinking for days. It taught me a lot, and I think was just a fantastic read all around.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Really enjoyed this, learned. A lot about baseball which I didn't think I would get being English but I did. Loved the characters and an all round great bit of drama.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I LOVED the first chapters that described the shortstop's amazing fielding capabilities. But once Owen was hit and the president of the college began his pursuit of Owen, I couldn't read any further.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Outstanding book about baseball, life, friendship, forgiveness, and reaching for your dreams, written with sensitivity and insight.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I LOVE baseball and I love academic settings, so this book already had two things going for it before I read one page. The fact that It was well written and a page turner was just icing on the cake!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Overhyped, overhyped, overhyped.Completely unbelievable characters.Enough said.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What an amazing book. Given all the praise and recognition this novel has received over the past year, I was hopeful of a great read. But...the book totally blew any expectations I had out of the water.Also - for those wondering - even if you aren't a fan of baseball, you should give this book a read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What I said about "Calico Joe" also holds true for this book: "Baseball is just the setting." What is different is that if you pick this up expecting a "baseball" story you will not be disappointed. It was satisfying in that each of the character in the story are so fully drawn that you can see them; not just the five main characters, but also the minor cast - the team members, Chef Spirodocus, the other university staff members. Everyone steps into the story as a visible person. An accomplishment not always found in any book, much less a first novel."The Art of Fielding" is also about the art of life. I enjoyed it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Chad Harbach's first novel is a wonderful reading experience from start to finish. His book creates more empathy for and more insight into his characters than readers normally have for actual friends and family members. From the presentation of a college fight song before chapter 1 to the final page, readers will care deeply about an ensemble of genuine people with interesting personality dimensions. This is in contrast to other contemporary authors who develop characters with quirky personalities loosely tied to sketchy people and symbolic events. Unlike Tom Wolfe (Charlotte Simmons) and Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City), Mr. Harbach uses sarcasm and irony as a subtle background `window' rather than a dominant theme in his novel. In this process, he is more like Jonathan Franzen (Freedom) and Arthur Phillips (The Song is You) in creating complex characters that readers are allowed to love. The structure window of the novel depends on a metaphor of college baseball. Mr. Harbach maintains his subtle approach in this window and does not let it overwhelm the motives of the characters. The reader is able to experience the lives of the people, in a way that is more than vicarious. It becones a uniquely direct, personal relationship. Paradoxically, if the reader does not like baseball, she will enjoy the novel because of its context. The main characters accept and violate social rules and limits with much more freedom than they have as ballplayers on a beautifully groomed ball field. But, in the game and in life it is internal art that allows the characters to go beyond the other and self-imposed fences. The style of the writing is not seamless, but rather stitched tightly like a baseball with red thread. The transition from descriptions by an omniscient narrator to observations and thoughts of the voices of individual characters and back again makes the reader forget she is reading. There is not a single chapter or page where the reader is caught short with an awkward connection. Very few sentences break ranks except statements about our environment that seem to come directly from the author. These sentences are truly few and far between, but they do break the artistic spell very briefly for the reader when they occur. The dominant theme of the novel is the unfolding from within the individual of awareness of the personal art of life. The key to this unfolding is for the person to give maximum effort to a treasured activity without the restrictions pressed upon her by society and self. Of course, the risks of loss of stability and persistent self-deflation are very frightening. Each of us must choose to knuckle under illusory limits or embark on a journey into internal "landlessness," the only place where honest self-assessment occurs. The story is like Pat Conroy's novel, South of Broad, in its elements of emotional attachment of the characters, the impulsiveness of youthful activities, the drama of sports, the coming of age of young adults, the life review of older characters, the sexual interactions that are secondary to the search for love, and dominance, submission, and freedom of will. It is a very exciting story that the reader will want to savor rather than rush through. It is easy to rush because the novel is so well-written that you forget you are reading. That is the same experience I had when I first read Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises when I was an adolescent. This is an excellent first novel by Chad Harbach and I am looking forward to reading his next novel. The Art of Fielding would be an excellent film
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Unputdownable. A seemingly simple story set in a university involving the usual characters, a lot of baseball yet so human with narrative so calm, spare and beautiful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wonderful, wonderful book. Harbach had me thinking about Owen Meany and Ethan Canin, but this book stands just fine on its own. Perfect storytelling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent story that is a compelling page turner. It is sometimes a little uneven in tone, sometimes we get deep insights into our character, sometimes we don't. But everyone feels like a real person, and you really want to figure out what is going to happen to them. Well worth the read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellent characters and story. Would recommend for teenagers to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love everything about all the characters in this book. All their virtures, all their flaws. It is a wonderful story told so you feel like you are there. Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3.5 stars. Extremely likable, readable realist campus novel. Will undoubtedly be an oscar-bait movie within a couple of years. Harbach clearly likes college, likes baseball, likes Melville, likes his own characters, so the book is winningly earnest, though its canvas is small and its plotting a little too neat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4 stars

    This is one of the rare ones where I race to the finish the first time, just to find out what happens, and then immediately go back and start sections again, just to savor the prose. Understand me: I wouldn't call this "literary fiction," exactly--it's too real-world and action-y for that label, I think. But the language SINGS in places, sailing a high, hard one past you at times or giving you a low, dirty slider at others. Beautiful, beautiful book. I can't believe it's a debut novel. (The 1 star off is because the midsection of the book drags just the teeniest bit, and some of the goings on are a little over-the-top.)

    This is the story of:
    --Henry Skrimshander, a shortstop with infinite potential who's recruited by a small private Divison III college that has never won a championship
    --Mike Schwartz, team captain, informal scout, and leader of men, who thinks he's going to apply for law school
    --Guert Affenlight, president of the college, an academic who's struck by love late in life
    --Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, who's returned home after a failed marriage and is now a bit adrift
    --Owen Dunne (the Buddha), Henry's gay roommate, teammate, and partner in crime, who Has a Secret

    For the first third of the book, Henry is becoming the best shortstop who's ever played the game, tying his idol's record for error-free games and getting scouted by the big leagues. It all goes wrong with one throw, though, and the rest of the book covers the fallout as the team heads for the playoffs for the first time in the college's history.

    This book works on many levels: the classic everything-hangs-on-the-last-game sports story; the small-town isolated college pressure cooker; young adults learning about themselves in relationships; the stamina required in the drive to be the best; academic bullshit; and sports politics, among others. I'd heartily recommend this book for baseball junkies (male AND female), those who root for underdogs, fans of small towns (especially in the Midwest), and those nostalgic for their college days. This book hits all these bases, and more. Home run.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really liked this book... Most of it. So I'll start with what I disliked.

    I disliked the amount of adjectives and adverbs and unnessecary descriptives in this book. It's over 500 pages and every time I found something unnecessary ("he tossed it through the open window" - of course it's open! How could he toss it through a closed window?) I was a little irritated.

    I disliked a lot of the side stories. I liked Pella as a character, she was interesting, but her presence was mostly unnecessary, and it felt like she was thrown in there to make the bug less macho. This book could have been simplified and I think I would have liked it more - usually I love books with multiple characters and intersecting stories.

    But this is a book about baseball, and Harbach is an incredible baseball writer. Harbach is so good at writing about baseball that I couldn't put this book down when I was reading those sections. I was as absorbed as if I had been listening to a game on the radio. I hung into every word. I slumped back in my seat and cringed and rubbed my hands over my face when something bad happened. I gripped the book with white knuckles as I waited to find out if the high arc of the ball of the bat would be a home run or get caught and merely be an out. I could not have reacted much more strongly if I had been watching the game. (Slightly embarrassing, as I read some of this in a cafe.)

    And when he isn't describing games, he talks about the beauty of the game, and the nuances. He talks about young players for whom the game is so much more than a game, but he also portrays an older man who finds baseball boring and then slowly begins to see some of the beauty in it. The symbolism is present but not overdone, or over-important. You can take it or leave it, symbolism or no, it's also just a game.

    So mostly, I wish Harbach had left out a little of the growing pains and the heartache and heartbreak and complicated character web. I wish there had been a bit more balance (at times it seemed like the baseball wasn't necessary). I wanted this book to be more purely baseball.

    Maybe if I'm lucky, he'll write another book that will be.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a book that completely captured me. I loved the characters, the wry humor, the frankness, and the grace of baseball underlying it all. It is a rare book that I want to re-read as soon as I've finished it, but this was one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Memorable quote, " Deep down, he thought , we all believe we're God. We secretly believe that the outcome of the game depends on us, even when we're only watching... Each of us, deep down, believes that the whole world issues from his own precious body... And then, deeper down, each of us knows he's wrong."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Could benefit from tightening, it was about 100 pages too long. Baseball and mental breakdowns at a
    midwestern liberal arts college.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I loved parts of this book, and found other parts exasperating. I think the second half of the book really fell apart for me, but all in all, it wasn't a bad read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Somewhat spoiler alert:
    I started this book for the baseball aspect, but I continued to read it to try to experience the bitterness that Shwartz felt about Henry's success and his failure at it. I continued to read it for the growing relationship between Owen and Affenlight and to see how Affenlight grew into his feelings. I continued to read it for Pella and watching her grow from a woman on the run to a college student getting her life back.

    Book was slow at times but was a very good read. Recommended for everyone, baseball fans or not.