A review by hldavids
The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach

5.0

One late summer day Mike Schwartz and Henry Scrimshander face-off in a league baseball play-off. It is this meeting that ultimately leads to Scrimshander joining Schwartz at Westish College to play D-III baseball. Anyone who has ever been involved with D-III sports knows that it is the love of the sport, not the quest for glory, that sustains D-III players. The same is true at Westish. But with Dunne and Starblind added to the Westish team, the team does appear to be glory bound. But when tragedy strikes the team injuring the teams "Buddha" and putting their star-player off his game, their glory road veers off track. On top of that, scandal rocks the presidential office. Can Schwartz, the man who brought this dream-team together, prevail and bring his team to a division championship?

Forbidden love, baseball, an eating disorder, if I pull this novel out by its small parts and plotlines no one understands my praise. It sounds like a bad teen angst drama:( Yet it is the ultimate bildungsroman and so much more. I have been touting this novel to all who will listen as the next, great-American novel.