The Art of Fielding, Chad Harback

Why does baseball make such a great metaphor for life?  Is so unique among all sports - no time limit, each player is part of a team, but each play is based on an individual or a few individuals within the team.  It is a sport that records your errors on a big score board while you stand in front of the audience waiting for the next play.  It is the part we play in our jobs, our families, our nation.  The individual part of a bigger whole.

People say that you do not need to be a baseball fan to read this excellent novel, but it sure helps.  Set at a college in WI rather than the professionals the author is able to deal with more of the eccentricities of the individual and their life before college.  The insecurities, the lack of experience, the dream, and the coming together of so many different stories to begin anew.

A skinny shortstop who is destined for greatness until something in his mind prevents his throws from getting where they are supposed to go, a young man who focuses all his energies on the other players to push them and make them better because he knows he is as good as he will ever go.  The young gay male who attracts the sixty year old college president who has never had a gay moment before.  Those are the stars, or rather the elements that combine in this brew.  With other players adding spice at times and finally the one female character, the daughter of the college president who manages to have sex with both the primary characters and yet serves as the ultimate balance between them.

She brings a female honesty that the all male cast cannot serve themselves and it creates tensions and diversions.  Relations appear, connectors to a past that does not really matter within the confines of the college and each person must face their personal demons - alone while maintaining their college roles - like the player on the baseball team.

I could not put it down.  The conversations, the situation, and the resolutions seemed so right for the story and the individuals became real personas as I read and anxiously waited for the chance to read the next portion of the novel.