The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach

Schwartz didn't notice the kid during the game. Or rather, he noticed only what everyone else did-that he was the smallest player on the field, a scrawny novelty of a shortstop, quick of foot but weak with the bat. Only after the game ended, when the kid returned to the sun-scorched diamond to take extra grounders, did Schwartz see the grace that shaped Henry's every move.


This was an okay book. Yes, it was about baseball, but it wasn't just about baseball. It was about more than that. It's set in Westish college, a small school near Lake Michigan. Henry Skrimshander is a star shortstop at the college, but when a routine throw goes off disastrously of course, the lives of five people are upended: Henry himself, the college president Guert Affenlight, Henry's roommate Own, the team captain Mike Schwartz and Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter. I liked the writing style in this book, as well as the descriptions of baseball and the various characters. The second half of the book was very disappointing, though; the book started out really strongly, and I thought it would be a 5 star, but it got progressively weaker, and the ending was just terrible in my opinion. The last 200 pages or so were really lame; it seemed like Harbach just didn't know where he wanted to go with the book.

However, if you like baseball, I think you'll really like certain parts of this book. It talked a lot about baseball, players, baseball techniques, mindsets, etc, which I enjoyed reading.

Read The Art of Fielding:

• if you are interested in baseball

However, if you have no interest in baseball, there's no point really in you reading it. I was so frustrated by this book! It could have been a really great novel. I mean, I thought it would be great, and the first 200 pages were, but then it fizzled...

512 pages.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!