"[The Art of Fielding] is not only a wonderful baseball novel--it zooms immediately into the pantheon of classics, alongside The Natural by Bernard Malamud and The Southpaw
by Mark Harris--but it's also a magical, melancholy story about
friendship and the coming of age that marks the debut of an immensely
talented writer...Mr. Harbach has the rare abilities to write with
earnest, deeply felt emotion without ever veering into sentimentality,
and to create quirky, vulnerable and fully imagined characters who
instantly take up residence in our hearts and minds. He also manages to
re-work the well-worn, much-allegorized subject of baseball and make us
see it afresh, taking tired tropes about the game (as a metaphor for
life's dreams, disappointments and hopes of redemption) and interjecting
them with new energy. In doing so he has written a novel that is every
bit as entertaining as it is affecting....You don't need to be a
baseball fan to fall under this novel's spell, but THE ART OF FIELDING
possesses all the pleasures that an aficionado cherishes in a great,
classic game: odd and strangely satisfying symmetries, unforeseen
swerves of fortune, and intimations of the delicate balance between
individual will and destiny that play out on the field." (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times )
"A superbly rendered novel...Patchett's portrayal is as wonderful as it
is frightening and foreign. Patchett exhibits an extraordinary ability
to bring the horrors and the wonders of the Amazon jungle to life, and
her singular characters are wonderfully drawn...Powerful and
captivating."
— Library Journal (starred review)
What's on your to-read list?
4 comments:
I enjoyed State of Wonder and I'm biding my time waiting for T to finish Art of Fielding. Right now I'm reading Wolf Hall and loving it. I just finished The Newlyweds, which felt a bit too long to me. One plot twist too many. But the writing was quite good. I think it'll be a big hit in paperback.
We have both of these! I could have lent them to you. Not that it's not good to buy them. I loved State of Wonder. I am in the middle of reading White Like Me by Tim Wise which I have found very eye-opening.
Patchett is also on my about-to-read pile, but Hollinghurst's The Stranger's Child is coming with me on vacation.
Melissa, you have to let me know how you like Wolf Hall. Like I mentioned on your blog, I've been wanting to read it for ages, but just can't pick up something so hefty at the moment. I need light reading or at least a book I can get into and out of in less than two months. Gah! I'm reading so slow these days.
Andie, good to hear you liked State of Wonder! I'll check in with the Atwood library before making a purchase next time. :)
Lank, let me know how you like The Stranger's Child. It's still on my to-read pile...
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