Bernard Malamud
Paperback | Pages: 231 pages Rating: 3.63 | 9788 Users | 799 Reviews
Details Based On Books The Natural
| Title | : | The Natural |
| Author | : | Bernard Malamud |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 231 pages |
| Published | : | July 7th 2003 by Farrar Straus Giroux (first published 1952) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Sports. Baseball. Classics. Literature. Novels |
Relation Toward Books The Natural
The classical novel (and basis for the acclaimed film) now in a new editionIntroduction by Kevin Baker
The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first—and some would say still the best—novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era—and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which—now that he has done it!—looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."
Mention Books As The Natural
| Original Title: | The Natural |
| ISBN: | 0374502005 (ISBN13: 9780374502003) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Based On Books The Natural
Ratings: 3.63 From 9788 Users | 799 ReviewsWeigh Up Based On Books The Natural
This book had its good points and its bad points, but in the end I felt underwhelmed. The movie left me feeling the same way, but at least that had Randy Newman's great score. The good:Malamud's writing can be humorous, at times even makes-you-chuckle-on-BART humorous. The introductory sequence with greenhorn Roy Hobbs on the train with the world-famous Whammer and pretty, mysterious Harriet Bird is unforgettable: evocative, inspiring and sad (those first 50 pages would have made a great shortBernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is one of the best baseball books I've ever read, despite Roy Hobbs' being an antihero. None of the characters are likeable, from the owner to many of the fans, but the story of a hardscrabble, gifted ballplayer is hard for a seamhead (baseball fanatic) to put down.
Although Bernard Malamud is one of the authors I collect as part of my rare-book dealership at eBay, I've never actually read him before; and since I was about to watch again the 1984 Robert Redford film adaptation of his most famous book, I thought I'd start with his 1952 debut novel, The Natural, then start slowly making my way forward from there over the next couple of years.The movie made a big impression on me in high school, back when it first came out, because of its Reagan-era
A true slice of that American pie...or rather a slice of the true American pie (with a dusting of nuts on top)...(I mean "crazy" nuts)...(jesus, this metaphor is falling apart like a...like a bad analogy!). For the better part of the last hundred years, baseball has meant America. The Natural is about baseball, thus The Natural is about America. The American dream of working hard and making something of yourself is encapsulated herein. The protagonist, Roy Hobbs is a young baseball prospect with
Hm. Apparently, I do not have a shelf for this book. What sort of shelf would that be? Baseball fiction? Books That Use Baseball as an Interminable Metaphor? Books that Express Disillusionment with the American Dream? Because it definitely belongs on those shelves. But I think the shelf this book fits best on is "I Liked the Movie Better."Because the movie was awesome.
This is one of my all-time favorite books. I have gotten to teach it twice now, and each time I read it, I'm more and more impressed with Malamud's spot-on perspective on American heroes, the dreams we create for ourselves and how they change and diminish as we age, and the inevitable failure that we all have lurking inside of us. Despite the fact that Roy Hobbs is an utterly frustrating character -- does he ever make the right choice? -- it's hard to be too down on him because it's easy to see
After reading Doris Kerns Goodwin, Wait Until Next Year which was absolutely fabulous, and watching the movie Field of Dreams for the tenth time and then reading the magnificent, lyrical novel, Shoeless Joe which the movie was based on, I decided to try my luck with Bernard Malamuds The Natural. In truth, I had never read anything by Mr. Malamud (a sad reflection on myself) and I didnt know what to expect. I had seen the movie many of years ago, and what I remember of it was that I was not
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