The Art of Fielding
Published on 1. September 2011
Book
Hardback
736 pages
978-0-316-20472-9 (ISBN)
Description
A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this widely acclaimed tale about love, life, and baseball.
“Wonderful ... a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting.” —The New York Times
“First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom.” —Jonathan Franzen, New York Times bestselling author of Crossroads
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.
Named one of 2012’s best books by The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, The Kansas City Star, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Time Out New York.
“Wonderful ... a novel that is every bit as entertaining as it is affecting.” —The New York Times
“First novels this complete and consuming come along very, very seldom.” —Jonathan Franzen, New York Times bestselling author of Crossroads
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.
Named one of 2012’s best books by The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Bloomberg, The Kansas City Star, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Time Out New York.
More details
Edition
Large Print ed.
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Edition type
Large type / large print edition
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 249 mm
Width: 167 mm
Thickness: 48 mm
Weight
1014 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-316-20472-9 (9780316204729)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Chad Harbach grew up in Wisconsin, and graduated from Harvard in 1997. He was a Henry Hoyns Fellow at the University of Virginia, where he received an MFA in Fiction in 2004. He is currently a co-editor of n+1, which he cofounded, and lives in Virginia.