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The Natural
Introduction by Kevin Baker
The Natural, Bernard Malamud’s first novel, published in 1952, is also the first—and some would say still the best—novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material—the story of a superbly gifted “natural” at play in the fields of the old ...more
Paperback, 248 pages
Published
July 7th 2003
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1952)
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One of the most over-rated novels in all of American Literature. Malamud cannot write. Or he writes like a 13-year-old boy would write. It baffles me -- baffles me! -- why this book is considered a classic and why on earth we would teach it to high school students. It must be because it's about baseball. Big farkin' deal. Do yourself a favor -- skip the book and watch the movie. Redford is excellent in the film and gives the story more depth than the author ever could.
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Malamud's prose is elegant and evocative, and made this novel a pleasure to read. So different from the film! Roy Hobbs is larger than life, and not just in the way he swings the bat; his story is a charming, if occasionally repugnant, fable that doesn't turn a blind eye to human nature. The characters are well-drawn and familiar types, and the plot rushes you along like the ghostly train of Roy's nightmares. It was hard to put down. Thanks, Elizabeth!!
I can't believe how little Malamud apparently knew baseball. I tried to understand this book three different ways - first, as a remarkable story set in the real world. NFW. Second, as a surreal fairy-tale/morality play, a la Coelho's The Alchemist. No, Malamud simply seems to believe what he wrote too much. I mean, there are obviously surreal elements, but Malamud didn't make the full commitment. It's just not that. Third, as a kid's book. Almost, until you get to the end. He really thought he h...more
This book should be taught as a staple of contemporary fiction, as a sort of companion piece and counterpoint of (or would it be validation of?) The Great Gatsby. It is a truly impressive and imminently readable book, although it has all the trappings of a Literary Novel. What's nice about this book, just like Gatsby, is that the function of all those elements of modern storytelling, i.e., literary allusions and existential metaphors, doesn't actually supplant the action of the story. The pl...more
A great novel and perhaps the greatest baseball novel of all time, The Natural is not without its flaws. First and foremost is Roy Hobbs, our protagonist, and his lack of likable traits. Roy is stubborn, shallow, and selfish. Everyone and everything in his life seems to only serve the purpose of appeasing his voracious appetite. For what does he hunger? For greatness, on the surface. To be the best at what he does. To fulfill his potential. To have it all.
I struggled at times to ge...more
I struggled at times to ge...more
This book is in a... strange situation in literature. Don't get me wrong, I think the book is fantastic, but it's also shaded by a pretty fun baseball movie which is purportedly based on it but which really isn't. I mean, the main character of Roy Hobbs is in there as are most of the minor ones, but the movie - and hey, I am not telling you that you should not like it, but you have to respect the difference here - completely gutted the theme of the book in favor of a more general "ain't bas...more
“Without heroes,” Iris Lemon tells the “natural” Roy Hobbs, “we’re all plain people and don’t know how far we can go.” The iconic movie was an idolatrous meditation on Nordic superman Robert Redford. The original book, Malamud’s first novel (1952), is actually a reverse of most of the pulp baseball story clichés, as strange and morally ambiguous as the movie is black and white. The Natural is the story of Roy Hobbs, a 34 year old baseball rookie, once prodigy without luck, wisdom or manners. Unl...more
Gloomy and full of sadness, yet lacking any real lessons or even a real heart.
What's striking about THE NATURAL is that critics love the IDEA of the book -- a Jewish-American writer certifies his "American" identity by writing the Great American Baseball Novel. Yet almost nobody who reads this book ever remembers any of the ball games -- or any of the characters -- or any American scenes or situations or dialogue. It's full of shadowy sureallism and all seems to be set in s...more
What's striking about THE NATURAL is that critics love the IDEA of the book -- a Jewish-American writer certifies his "American" identity by writing the Great American Baseball Novel. Yet almost nobody who reads this book ever remembers any of the ball games -- or any of the characters -- or any American scenes or situations or dialogue. It's full of shadowy sureallism and all seems to be set in s...more
I mostly read this because I somehow had it in my mind that I was remiss in not having seen the movie starring Robert Redford, and since I like to read the book a movie is based on first, well. It had to be done. And it is done. Except now I don't want to watch the movie.
Roy Hobbs is, as the title suggests, a natural in baseball. He goes around talking pretty big about how bad-ass he is and how badder-asser he will be once he makes the big time... and then he goes and gets all in...more
Roy Hobbs is, as the title suggests, a natural in baseball. He goes around talking pretty big about how bad-ass he is and how badder-asser he will be once he makes the big time... and then he goes and gets all in...more
... a splurge of freedom ...
... sleepless still despite the lulling train ... 1
"What I mean," he insisted, "is I feel that I have got it in me - that I am due for something very big. I have to do it. ... 32
"I think I know what you mean," he said. "You mean the fun and satisfaction of you get out of playing the best way you know how?" 34
It was a confusing proposition to want a girl you'd already had and couldn't get beca...more
... sleepless still despite the lulling train ... 1
"What I mean," he insisted, "is I feel that I have got it in me - that I am due for something very big. I have to do it. ... 32
"I think I know what you mean," he said. "You mean the fun and satisfaction of you get out of playing the best way you know how?" 34
It was a confusing proposition to want a girl you'd already had and couldn't get beca...more
Those who have seen the movie but have not read the book will be surprised. Bernard Malamud paints a much darker picture of the odyssey of Roy Hobbs. The book takes the arc of one person's career--Roy Hobbs--and weds it to a couple grim episodes in baseball's history: Eddie Waitkus and the Black Sox.
The Hobbs of the novel is wonderfully talented--but very human. In the movie, there is a prolonged slump after Hobbs links up with Paris Memo. In the novel, he sometimes simply has a slu...more
The Hobbs of the novel is wonderfully talented--but very human. In the movie, there is a prolonged slump after Hobbs links up with Paris Memo. In the novel, he sometimes simply has a slu...more
"The Natural" was an exciting book to read. Right from the beginning the book really caught my attention. It tells the story of a boy around the age of nineteen, Roy Hobbs. He dreams about becoming a professional baseball player. When he tells a stranger he wants to be the best player in all of baseball, his life changes for the worst.
In "The Natural" the author, Bernard Malamud adds a lot of details. He makes it feel like you're in the story along with Roy ...more
In "The Natural" the author, Bernard Malamud adds a lot of details. He makes it feel like you're in the story along with Roy ...more
Malamud is a beautiful writer. This is the second Malamud book that I've read (the first being The Assistant) and I'm becoming a big fan. It's surprising that he doesn't get more credit as a great American writer. The Natural, while not quite an example of perfection, is very good. The book is the tragic story of Roy Hobbs, a man born with all the skills needed to be a great baseball player but who keeps getting derailed in one way or another. The movie with Robert Redford really doesn't do the ...more
Lukacs claims that the novel replaces the epic in the modern world, where irony becomes the dominant discursive mode. But to me The Natural reads like a genuine epic, with its sweeping panoramas of pre-WWII American life and its superhuman but tragically flawed hero. A gripping narrative from the first page, and I loved the echo of Peter's betrayal of Christ in the final lines, when Hobbs realizes that he has betrayed the game of baseball, the purest thing in his life.
I also derived ...more
I also derived ...more
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 I...more
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Halfway through April and the Royals are still above .500. Alex Gordon is playing like Roy Hobbs - minus the four-base dingers; I haven't enjoyed baseball this much since the first two weeks of April last year.
I like Malamud's style. Realistic fiction turns suddenly to imaginative fantasy, and hyperbole serves as some abstract symbol. Roy Hobbs stays as enigmatic to the reader as he does to the other characters in the novel, yet it's easy to identify with his flights from confident o...more
I like Malamud's style. Realistic fiction turns suddenly to imaginative fantasy, and hyperbole serves as some abstract symbol. Roy Hobbs stays as enigmatic to the reader as he does to the other characters in the novel, yet it's easy to identify with his flights from confident o...more
Daniel Urban-brown
added it
There are two Roy Hobbs in the world (sorry Shane Spencer): Robert Redford's Roy Hobbs and Bernard Malamud's Roy Hobbs. They are very different characters but it's virtually impossible not think of Redford's face when reading the novel. While Redford's Hobbs was a natural hero who used the sadness of his past as wisdom to ultimately triumph, Malamud's Hobbs is much more flawed and his quiet "triumph in defeat" at the end of the novel is questionable. When it comes down to it--Redford h...more
I have wanted to read "The Natural" ever since I saw the film adaptation as a kid, and I can wholeheartedly say two things: (1) the film is a very accurate rendition of the novel, and (2) the novel is really wonderful.
"The Natural" was Bernard Malamud's first novel, and the one he credits as being the "most autobiographical," which I find fascinating, only insomuch as Bernard and Roy are both "late bloomers" in their own respective ways. Bernar...more
"The Natural" was Bernard Malamud's first novel, and the one he credits as being the "most autobiographical," which I find fascinating, only insomuch as Bernard and Roy are both "late bloomers" in their own respective ways. Bernar...more
The long complex sentences with detailed descriptions of America's game (baseball) and the heartfelt rendering of a middle aged man's redemption, all make this one of the best books I've ever read that is, until coming to the climactic end.
The baseball slugger / heavy hitter / sultan of swing / etc. lives in the minds of every baseball lover kid and grown up alike. American's by and large love their heroes and more so those that play on the baseball diamond. Yet it's now quite visibl...more
The baseball slugger / heavy hitter / sultan of swing / etc. lives in the minds of every baseball lover kid and grown up alike. American's by and large love their heroes and more so those that play on the baseball diamond. Yet it's now quite visibl...more
Roy, the natural, is more "Captain Caveman" than "Prince Charming":
"He smiled, never so relaxed in sex.
But while he was in the middle of loving her she spoke: 'I forgot to tell you I am a grandmother.' He stopped. Holy Jesus.
Then she remembered something else and tried, in fright, to raise herself.
'Roy, are you-'
But he shoved her back and went on from where he had left off."
"She was lying naked in bed, chewing on a turkey dru...more
"He smiled, never so relaxed in sex.
But while he was in the middle of loving her she spoke: 'I forgot to tell you I am a grandmother.' He stopped. Holy Jesus.
Then she remembered something else and tried, in fright, to raise herself.
'Roy, are you-'
But he shoved her back and went on from where he had left off."
"She was lying naked in bed, chewing on a turkey dru...more
The Natural
by Bernard Malamud
231 pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-10: 0374502005
ISBN-13: 978-0374502003
Malamud's The Natural discusses a baseball player, Roy Hobbs, who has a second chance at the Major Leagues. In his late 30's, an ancient age for baseball, Hobbs has actually progressed as hitter, and pitcher. With his lucky 'Thunder Boy', homemade wooden bat, Hobbs becomes the team's main attraction. At first however, his manager doubts his skills, be...more
by Bernard Malamud
231 pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-10: 0374502005
ISBN-13: 978-0374502003
Malamud's The Natural discusses a baseball player, Roy Hobbs, who has a second chance at the Major Leagues. In his late 30's, an ancient age for baseball, Hobbs has actually progressed as hitter, and pitcher. With his lucky 'Thunder Boy', homemade wooden bat, Hobbs becomes the team's main attraction. At first however, his manager doubts his skills, be...more
there are some movies that are adapted from books that simply can not compare to the written word (The Road comes to mind). there are also movie adaptions that are so different from the book that you wonder what was the same - other than the title (My Sister's Keeper comes to mind). then there are the rare few... those movie adaptations that are far better than the book ever was. The Natural is one of those few.
i'll admit, while reading Bernard Malamud's written text found within...more
i'll admit, while reading Bernard Malamud's written text found within...more
Three things I learned from reading The Natural:
1. Adults are obsessed with sex.
2. Adults are obsessed with money and fame.
3. Adults have FRICKEN PROBLEMS.
Will people hate me for despising this book? Probably not. I'm not really sure why it's so widely- renowned.... it's terrible. Well, from a teen's point of view, yeah, this book WAS terrible.
I'm just glad I didn't optionally read this.
I'm horrified that our school approved thi...more
This was an easy, enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone. You do not need to be a passionate baseball fan, as the story is about a lot more than just baseball. Having just a rudimentary understanding of the game is sufficient, as most of the book is told away from the baseball diamond, not on it.
The book itself is the twisting tale of Roy Hobbs, a player with as much natural talent for the game of baseball as anyone in history. He frequently finds himself, as star players so o...more
The book itself is the twisting tale of Roy Hobbs, a player with as much natural talent for the game of baseball as anyone in history. He frequently finds himself, as star players so o...more
Spiros
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of portentious and overwrought narratives
I don't know: parts of the novel were worthwhile, the basic premise is interesting enough, but the whole thing is so freighted with Meaning. I can't help thinking of the episode of "Northern Exposure" in which Chris Stevens deconstructs "Casey at the Bat", only to conclude that the real meaning of the doggrel is that somebody had three fastballs blown by him. Baseball doesn't really need added Meaning; each season is a novel unto itself, which is why Laurence Sterne would hav...more
My english teacher made me read this my senior year. It was one of the books that I hated the most. It was so boring I wanted to cry, well it was just my own opinion. Maybe it's because i'm not really into baseball. I found Roy Hobbs to be a dislike-able character. (view spoiler) There were parts of the book that were enjoyable, particularly the ending. I like how the book ended. (view spoiler)...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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Cj Saunders
added it
This is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. The story of Rot Hobbs was outstanding. This book shows how money and greed can come in very easily to a young professionals' life. Young players seem to want get the money as fast as they can, but thats not the case, never cheat or anything like that due to the fact that you might lose all of your money and not be able to play the game that you have superior talent in. Some players in American sports history have lost everything do to scan...more
I was introduced to Malamud by way of a short story of his I read. That lead me read three of his novels. I read The Natural first. What struck me was Malamud's dark side; of the antagonists in his stories, of the evil man/woman does to other men/women, his brooding writing style and the everyday place and time and subject - normal people doing everyday things. Obviously, Roy Hobbs isn't an everyday character as a baseball player. But as a man, he has the same foibles as any man does. Malamud co...more
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“We have two lives... the life we learn with and the life we live after that. Suffering is what brings us towards happiness.”
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