The Art of Fielding
by Chad Harbach
N+1 editor Chad Harbach’s 2011 campus novel follows a baseball savant at the fictional Westish College—on the shores of Lake Michigan, Wisconsin. Shortstop Henry Skrimshander is socially awkward but extremely gifted; student sports star Mike Schwartz secures Skrimshander a scholarship and offers him 1:1 coaching, revolutionising their college team’s fortunes—until Skrimshander suffers a psychological collapse. Though gently comic, the book is a love letter to the community found in small liberal arts colleges, and the transcendence that might be found in repetitive practice.
I think that’s a sign of a really great book; if it takes subject matter that you would not necessarily be drawn to, and reels you in. One of my favourite books of all time is a baseball novel—of all things—called The Art of Fielding. It’s a campus novel about baseball, sports psychology and, somehow, Moby Dick, and I adore it, despite my total disinterest in the sport. What skill!
Cal Flyn, Deputy editor
Five Books review