BOOK REVIEW: The Art of Fielding

My interest in baseball is minimal at best. Any knowledge that I have on the subject has been picked up through osmosis from a sports fanatic family. Therefor the fact that I enjoyed THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harback came as a surprise to me. Of course saying that THE ART OF FIELDING is about baseball would be like saying that The Old Man and the Sea is about fishing.

THE ART OF FIELDING revolves around Henry Skrimshander whose talent as a shortstop is almost supernatural. Thanks to Mike Schwartz, captain of the Westish College baseball team, Henry receives a full scholarship to the college. Mike and Henry devote all of their time and energies into perfecting their skills and that of their fellow players  and for the first time in the history of the college, there is a chance for a division championship.

In a crucial game, one of Henry’s routine throws goes wild with disastrous results causing Henry to lose his self confidence. Not only is Henry’s future likely to be ruined, but the ramifications go beyond the baseball field into the lives of other college residents.

Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay, mulatto roommate, becomes involved in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz as a senior discovers that he has nowhere to go. His last years of college have been devoted to getting Henry a spot as a first draft with a major league team.

Guert Affenlight, president of Westish College, a renown Melville scholar and lifelong bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly in love. The circumstances of which could threaten his career. Pella Affenlight, President Affenlight’s  daughter, escaping a bad marriage  has come to Westish to make amends with her father. Starting as the most needy of all of the characters in the book, she becomes the saving “glue” as others fall apart around her.

This is a book of fantastic characters. Each one has more layers than could be summed up in a paragraph or two. Usually there is one person to cheer for in a story; in this case, here were at least five.

 The author makes many references to Herman Melville’s  Moby Dick.  In THE ART OF FIELDING, we can see how each character has a fatal obsession much like Captain Ahab had with the white whale---Mike with Henry, Henry with playing shortstop, Guert with his new love, etc.

 I am so glad that this book was recommended to me. It was a good read and reminded me that there is a reason that sports stories are often an allegory/ metaphor about the big things in life. Although I have never played shortstop, there have been mistakes that have changed my life. This is an universal theme for good reason;  we can all relate