An interesting tale by a great writer. It's a first novel, much simpler than some of Malamud's other work, the dialogue a little awkward, but perhaps intentionally so. Do not read further if you don't like spoilers. It is hard to say anything about this novel without giving away pivotal events.****************************We first meet Roy Hobbs as a young prospect who is being taken by a down-on-his-luck scout to a tryout for a big league team. Fate intervenes, the scout dies, and Roy is very seriously wounded. His chances for a career in professional ball are completely derailed.We next see a much older Roy as he arrives in New York to join the Knights, a major league team that is down on its luck. Roy is a mysterious figure with a dark and passionate nature and almost unbelievable skill. There are intimations of magic, perhaps contained in the bat he uses (which Roy made himself as a young man), but nothing is explicit or amplified. Roy is a bundle of sensitivities and nerves and desires. There is nothing warm or sunny about him -- he is irritable and often antagonistic towards his teammates, the fans, and management. As he begins to contribute to the team, he resents his poor salary as he aspires to to court a woman with expensive tastes.Roy knows his age will limit the length of his career and his ability to cash in on his skill. He longs for the greatness he has always felt is in him, and wants to break every record so that he will be remembered as the greatest baseball player that ever lived. But in the end, hard living, age, and temptation catch up with Roy. His body broken, he realizes that the only way he can gain the riches he needs to win the woman of his dreams is to throw an important playoff game. Roy resolves to do so, but changes his mind as the game progresses. In his last at-bat, Roy tries to win the game, but fails. The end of the book beautifully evokes the Black Sox scandal and the great Shoeless Joe Jackson who was believed to have thrown (along with several of his teammates) the 1919 World Series. It's a strong finish to a book that occasionally meanders. Malamud seems to be suggesting that an athlete, being but a human being, can be simultaneously great and incredibly flawed. Cheating is eternal even while it takes different forms, whether it be athletes taking illegal substances to improve performance, or athletes intentionally underperforming.We are much more aware now of cheating as a part of the professional sports scene than when Malamud wrote this novel. Outstanding performance is now often greeted with suspicion as well as excitement. Roy brings to mind the many baseball greats that are currently under dark clouds, those formerly assumed "first ballot Hall-of-Famers" whose records are now tainted by substantial evidence concerning performance-enhancing drugs. Just as Roy did, those modern players tried to defy the ravages of age and biology to break records and achieve what others could not. Roy at least seems aware of what he has lost and his own responsibility in his tragedy, while many today's players seem not to have grappled with the meaning of their actions, whether it be their original transgressions or their vigourous denials after the fact.
I picked this up after hearing that the Library of America was printing a two volume Bernard Malamud compilation. I chose to read The Natural since I'd seen the film when I was young, and was enthralled. I was excited because I figured that this would follow that age-old law wherein the book is superior to the film. Of course sometimes this universal dictum is inverted. We see this in Peter Benchley's Jaws. Jaws as a book is awful. But as a film, it is beauty and brilliance, and I defy anyone to say different.The Natural is fairly straightforward. A young man named Roy Hobbs is setting out on a path to greatness. The kid is going to be the best in the game of baseball; the best there was and ever will be. Life's train jumps its tracks and Hobbs doesn't become a ballplayer until his 30s.I didn't like the book. But the ending is solid, almost great. While the ending may not fully justify my time spent reading, it does come close. Malamud wrote The Natural in 1952, long before the antihero was acceptable (or heard of). Hobbs is a jerk. He's arrogant and doesn't mind taking a bribe. He's not the apple-pie farm boy who just wants to do his golly-durn best. Shucks anyway Mr.! Hobbs as jerk = compelling.So for myself, the ending made it worthwhile. I thought Malamud's writing came off as pretty ordinary. I wasn't swept away by his use of language or ability to tightly tease a scene. I was frustrated with Malamud's tendency to lull the reader into following a single POV, only to then yank that rug and introduce several other POVs in quick succession. This forced numerous backtrackings (sighing all the way). It frustrated me because it wasn't necessary.If you're interested in reading early anti-hero lit, check this out. If not, just go watch the film, Redford delivers.I'm thinking I should try another Malamud. His other stuff must be better... right, Library of America?
What do You think about The Natural (2003)?
A true slice of that American pie...or rather a slice of the true American pie (with a dusting of nuts on top)...(I mean "crazy" nuts)...(jesus, this metaphor is falling apart like a...like a bad analogy!). For the better part of the last hundred years, baseball has meant America. The Natural is about baseball, thus The Natural is about America. The American dream of working hard and making something of yourself is encapsulated herein. The protagonist, Roy Hobbs is a young baseball prospect with the world ahead of him. Malamud uses a train metaphor to show Hobbs' "inevitable" path to glory. Well that train gets derailed, the promising athletic career is sidetracked until it's almost too late, leaving Hobbs with only a fast-closing window of opportunity. That is a more realistic version of the dream. Some make it big, most fade away. Obviously there is a good deal of baseball-talk, so I'm not sure I'd recommend this to everyone. In that respect, for me it was nearly perfect. I love following sports, and if you pair that with a ripping yarn, I'm yours. Malamud put together a pretty good story. I was tempted to give it 4 stars, but instead I'm going with a really strong 3. There were a couple strange, almost nutty scenes that had me shaking my head and thinking the Three Stooges had just barged into this otherwise perfectly good book.
—Jason Koivu
A reader who begins The Natural by Bernard Malamud after having enjoyed the wonderful 1984 film starring Robert Redford and Glenn Close will be disappointed. Like many books and films based upon the book, the two media are vastly different. This relationship reminds me of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 3 and Bladerunner, two similar stories but essentially different and made so by the necessary distinctions of the enabling forum. Both are fine works, just very different. First of all, Malamud’s vision is far darker than the Barry Levinson film and the book’s Roy Hobbs is not at all the same character as the one Redford portrays. Malamud’s Hobbs is the more human of the two, the cinematic version taking the noble, more palatable, almost fable like, but simpler and dimensionally pure but tragic hero. The Roy Hobbs from the book is more complex, as is the book itself. The reader should not look for easy and inspiring Hollywood cliché’s, but the book is excellent in its own way. The author has created a mood, a dramatic tension that reminds me of Jack London’s short story “A Piece of Steak.”
—Lyn
If you think this is the sweet story you saw in the movie with Robert Redford, complete with the overdramatic happy ending, you are in for a shock. In this dark tale, Roy Hobbs' baseball career is cut short by a crazed fan. Years later he has a second chance and easily shoots to the top of the majors with his skills. Along the way, Hobbs falls for the manager's niece, Memo, who is still in love with Hobbs' now deceased team rival, Bump Bailey; has a romantic fling with the past-her-prime fan Iris Lemon; and is enticed to throw the last game of the season by the owner of his team, the Judge, and the owner's friend, bookie Gus Sands. Hobbs has a huge chip on his shoulder, and the reader waits to see if he can overcome this to become the big hero of the story and redeem himself. Loaded with great characters and some events based in reality, the rich storytelling that showcases Hobbs thoughts makes this a great read. Not a long book in pages, just 248, there's much bubbling beneath the surface for the reader to mull over.
—MentorPublicLibrary
