The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach; 2011; $25.99; 512 pages; Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY; 978-0-316-12669-4; Checked out from Multnomah County Library, St. Johns; 1/18-1/20

Why did I pick this up? A co-worker recommended this and the background story is a baseball story.

What is the story? I can think of about 5 stories that are told throughout this book.  The lead story is the story of Henry Skrimshander, a nobody high school shortsop, who is the most natural shortstop since Hall of Famer Aparicio Rodriquez.  As he goes through his college career he becomes afflicted with Steve Blass disease.  The story is of several journeys that characters take  throughout  the book,  journeys of the self.  They don’t  travel great distances physically but they travel millions of miles emotionally.

Did I like it? Yes and no, some parts of the story were very exciting and some of them were down right depressing.  Overall I like it.

Grade-B

What is with the title of the review? This book is supposedly about baseball, but that is only in the same way that Moby Dick is about Captain Ahab going on a fishing trip.