The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

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.

Clearly, Chad Harbach was never a swimmer.

I would have absolutely loved this book if it was a little more focused, but it ended up pursing a lot of ultimately unsatisfying tangents, especially in the second act. Still glad I read it though.

Best book I've read this year. The book is very much like a baseball game. Graceful moments, followed by “what just happened” moments. At times a bit slow. At times a bit frenetic. It kept me reading, and finally satisfied when it ended.The story of Henry “Skrim” Skrimshander college shortstop for a Westish College. It follows him and friends through twists and turns. All the people you meet are important, though not always in a way that is apparent when first introduced. The book is all character development, with the baseball serving as the stage, the college as the backdrop. I think it would make a great play, if you could sit for 8 hours.Henry is a straight laced kid through the book and amazingly this works. Usually this makes the character seem too one dimensional. The problems with Henry are mostly his own doing. But you never get the “just get over yourself” feeling. You struggle with Henry and can feel the doubt along with him. It's also interesting to me that the Henry never has a love interest. I can't remember the last time I read a book or saw a movie that didn't have the obligatory love interest for the main character.Owen (Henry's gay roommate) is such an interesting character that his story eclipses Henry's and delivers the climax of the book. His sexuality is critical, but not overwhelming. (I read this right after trying to read [b:The Song of Achilles 11250317 The Song of Achilles Madeline Miller http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331154660s/11250317.jpg 16176791] and the homosexual aspects of that were so stilted I had to give up.)Mike is the broken down mentor even though he is slightly older than Henry. He has his own story about finding a place in the world is possibly the most normal and most unusual of the group.Pella is the daughter of the President of Westish and is probably the most damaged. She's young, married, and hurt. Yet, somehow she manages to be the most together part of the group.How these four and the many other characters circle, interact and close with each other make this book an amazing journey. Everyone has real issues and sometimes do the right thing, but often times are their own worst enemies. Amazingly this isn't cliche.