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The Natural (Perennial Classics)
 
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The Natural (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

by Bernard Malamud (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Perennial (HarperCollins); Reprint edition (Nov 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0060958294
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060958299
  • Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13.2 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 2,150,592 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #58 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > M > Malamud, Bernard

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Product Description

Product Description

This is a book about heroism, and it is a strange one. What makes Roy Hobbs potentially a hero is his immense natural gift for playing baseball. When he is quite young he already knows that he may become one of the great ones of the game, a player unmatched in his time. It is a long while before he finds a place on a major league team. His first attempt ends violently, at the hands of a crazy girl, and it is years before another chance comes. By that time he is not far off the age at which most first-class players retire. In a few short seasons, or never, he must make the towering reputation that he feels is his right. His brief career is both comic and tragic, and ends before he has proved what his stature might have been. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.


About the Author

Malamud wrote seven novels. His many awards include two National Book Awards, the Pulitzer Prize and the Gold Medal of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He served as president of the PEN American Center from 1979 to 1981, and taught for many years at Bennington College. He died in 1986. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A Flawed Classic, 2 Feb 2004
By "scribeoflight" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Natural (Paperback)
'The Natural' is the story of a man striving to become the greatest baseball player who ever lived. It's an astutely observed novel, which readily (often unexpectedly) deploys humour and melodrama to unbalance and confound the reader. Early on, after an exhilaratingly impromptu confrontation between the Whammer (a batter approaching retirement) and Roy (the "natural" of the title), two shock blows are delivered in quick succession. These events form a loose prologue and shape the rest of the tale; they also define Malamud's antagonistic relationship with the reader: brutal scenes bump unpredictably against farcical episodes in a narrative that is confusingly inchoate. Problematically, the novel's turbulent voice - sometimes laid-back, sometimes flippant - dislocates us from Roy: we see his pain, but don't, in the final stretch, feel for him strongly enough. But, problems aside, the passages about baseball, and the evocation of sporting ambitions, make it a memorable read.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A Flawed Classic, 2 Feb 2004
By "scribeoflight" - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Natural (Vintage classics) (Paperback)
'The Natural' is the story of a man striving to become the greatest baseball player who ever lived. It's an astutely observed novel, which readily (often unexpectedly) deploys humour and melodrama to unbalance and confound the reader. Early on, after an exhilaratingly impromptu confrontation between the Whammer (a batter approaching retirement) and Roy (the "natural" of the title), two shock blows are delivered in quick succession. These events form a loose prologue and shape the rest of the tale; they also define Malamud's antagonistic relationship with the reader: brutal scenes bump unpredictably against farcical episodes in a narrative that is confusingly inchoate. Problematically, the novel's turbulent voice - sometimes laid-back, sometimes flippant - dislocates us from Roy: we see his pain, but don't, in the final stretch, feel for him strongly enough. But, problems aside, the passages about baseball, and the evocation of sporting ambitions, make it a memorable read.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 13 Aug 2008
By William K. James "will_wiggle" (Cambridge) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Natural (Vintage classics) (Paperback)
Most people will come to this book through the Redford film and will be surprised and intrigued by the view that the movie takes of the text. In the film the key event of the protagonist's life, Roy Hobbs, is seen as a random event of chance which changes an otherwise good man's chance of fame and greatness and through his love of baseball he is redeemed; the book's view is that Roy, while a genius, has flaws that mean he will never be redeemed and will always struggle with his inner demons. If we look at our real life sporting heroes we will see that this is the true picture of sporting genius and what makes many sportsmen great (confidence, self-belief and skill) will, often be the very thing that causes their destruction, in one telling line that defines Roy's character and fate, the team mamanger expresses concern that Roy can "never leave a bad ball alone".

This is the reason for Roy's fall, not a random event of fate but a man struggling with his talent and with the dark side of his talent.

The book has an epic feel to it, Roy is a hero in the mould of Odysseus or Jason, he is tempted, fails and is constantly antagonising the gods that gave him his talent; as a result those gods beset him with trials and tests, many of which he fails. It is therefore not a story more of an extended fable. The mythic quality that the film draws upon is much darker and forboding in the book and, most tellingly there is no happy ending.

This is an evocative book, the smell and feel of baseball is captured with startling clarity and the nature of skill and luck in any game is brought vividly to life. It is not a comfortable book to read and there are some stark contrasts with key moments in the film which are also key moments in the book but from an entirely different perspective.



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