A review by queenali
The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
4.0
This is Henry Skrimshander's story.
In his third year of college, he is guaranteed a prime spot in the upcoming Major League drafts by every statistical account of his perfect season. Henry is a star. Everyone loves Henry. His team of Harpooners would lay down their lives for Henry. And yet, this is not Henry's story at all. This is a story of how the pieces of our lives are held so intricately together, often without our realizing, and the ricochet of even one misalignment can amplify destruction endlessly. Just as a spectator in baseball learns that the most interesting or important parts of the game are hardly in watching the baseball itself, readers of Harbach's expansive tale will learn to watch Henry as reflected in those around him.
Those who, unlike Henry, "never found anything in himself that was really good and pure, that wasn't double-edged, that couldn't just as easily become its opposite."
Those who, we find, are the ones we recognize as ourselves.
In his third year of college, he is guaranteed a prime spot in the upcoming Major League drafts by every statistical account of his perfect season. Henry is a star. Everyone loves Henry. His team of Harpooners would lay down their lives for Henry. And yet, this is not Henry's story at all. This is a story of how the pieces of our lives are held so intricately together, often without our realizing, and the ricochet of even one misalignment can amplify destruction endlessly. Just as a spectator in baseball learns that the most interesting or important parts of the game are hardly in watching the baseball itself, readers of Harbach's expansive tale will learn to watch Henry as reflected in those around him.
Those who, unlike Henry, "never found anything in himself that was really good and pure, that wasn't double-edged, that couldn't just as easily become its opposite."
Those who, we find, are the ones we recognize as ourselves.