Harbach The Art of Fielding

Chad Harbach, The Art of Fielding

A campus novel that spends more time in the locker room than the library
Chad Harbach’s much anticipated, decade-in-the-making debut doesn’t disappoint. The Art of Fielding is a campus novel, but one that spends more time in the locker room than the library. Henry Skrimshander might look like a scrawny kid from South Dakota, but within months of his arrival at Westish College, he’s known as one of the best players on the varsity baseball team. Recruited for his improbably good arm and virtuosic sense of fielding, it’s soon clear that Henry is meant for the big leagues. But not all dreams come true, and on the field, anybody can choke. As what once appeared to be an inevitably bright future fades, Henry — like his mentor, Mike Schwartz — is forced to rethink his prospects and grapple with a life after college that suddenly looks a lot different than he’d envisioned.

Emusic