The Natural
by Bernard Malamud
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Richard Graf
World Literature
Mrs. Ebarvia
11-28-07
Book Review
The Natural is a story written in 1952 and is by Bernard Malamud. It is arguably the greatest baseball novel ever written. It was Bernard Malamud’s most successful books but he also wrote The Fixer and The Assistant. The Natural is about Roy Hobbs, a middle aged man, trying to help his team win the pinnate. Unfortunately, his dream and his teammate’s dreams don’t come true. Violence, alcohol, sex, and gambling are th...more
World Literature
Mrs. Ebarvia
11-28-07
Book Review
The Natural is a story written in 1952 and is by Bernard Malamud. It is arguably the greatest baseball novel ever written. It was Bernard Malamud’s most successful books but he also wrote The Fixer and The Assistant. The Natural is about Roy Hobbs, a middle aged man, trying to help his team win the pinnate. Unfortunately, his dream and his teammate’s dreams don’t come true. Violence, alcohol, sex, and gambling are th...more
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Read in October, 2007
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The book that I read was The Natural by Bernard Malamud. A few other books Bernard Malamud has written are The Assistant, The Magic Barrel, and The Fixer which won a National Book Award in 1966 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A lot of his writings have to do with racial issues that he came into contact with while in New York. Other than writing he also taught at Oregon State University from 1949-1961. The Natural is a story about a man named Roy Hobbs. Roy is an older man who tries out for t...more
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Baseball book made famous by Robert Redford. Great read, Malamud is a talented writer. I suppose I should also add that I wrote a huge term paper on this novel comparing it to jousting and book Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It was a lot of fun to look at the comparisons between baseball and a medieval pastime. Also, both two books aren't really about baseball or jousting...
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
The Natural was adapted into a film starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in 1984. The movie is no...more
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
The Natural was adapted into a film starring Robert Redford as Roy Hobbs in 1984. The movie is no...more
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I never realized how different the book version is a compared to the popular motion picture version starring Robert Redford. As many of you know the protagonist, Roy Hobbs was a natural at baseball, but his career is sidetracked by a crazed woman that kills famous sports athletes with a silver bulleted gun right before his tryout with the Chicago Cubs. Roy never had a chance to play with a Major League Baseball club until he was in his mid-thirties and well past his prime and was signed to a min...more
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Read in October, 2007
I've seen the movie many times, finally got around to reading the book. I guess I was in the mood 'cause of the MLB post season.
What a great, fun read! It's sort of like the baseball version of "The Great Gatsby". And I don't think I'm saying that just 'cause Robert Redford played the lead in both movies.
Always amazing to me how much They change stories to make them into Hollywood movies. The main character, Roy Hobbs, is significantly less sympathetic in the book than in t...more
What a great, fun read! It's sort of like the baseball version of "The Great Gatsby". And I don't think I'm saying that just 'cause Robert Redford played the lead in both movies.
Always amazing to me how much They change stories to make them into Hollywood movies. The main character, Roy Hobbs, is significantly less sympathetic in the book than in t...more
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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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Read in January, 2006
I was extremely impressed by Malamud's easy and often surprising writing. It's not just a baseball book. It's a phantasmagoria of the humorously wicked and tragic, all set off against the background of the great game, which is about so much more than fairytale endings. Its hard to explain exactly what the tone is; right now I keep thinking of The Tempest.
I suppose I have to add that this book deserves much better than, "oh they made it into that wonderful Robert Redford movie&q
I suppose I have to add that this book deserves much better than, "oh they made it into that wonderful Robert Redford movie&q
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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!!
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Read in February, 2008
Nice book-much better than I expected. I had of course seen the film first, and as a baseball fan, enjoyed it. The tragic downfall of the hero/antihero in the novel, however, makes much more sense. The connections frequently drawn between Arthurian legend and the novel make it a much greater achievement than I expected. The irrationality of the film makes more sense when read in the scope of the fisher king myth hilighted int he novel. I look forward to reading The Fixer.
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Read in March, 2005
A darker novel than the film based upon it but despite some brilliant moments still a disappointment as a baseball novel or simply a novel, including its say it ain’t so, Joe/Mighty Casey strikes out ending. The blend of mythic epic and gritty realism never quite blends. And Hobbs, the hero, isn’t particularly likable. In the movie he hits the big homer and ends up with Iris; in the book, bubkus dissolving into tears. Both, however, have shallow invention in common.
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Read in April, 2008
After I finished the book, my wife asked me whether I liked the movie or the book better. I answered, "I'd love to see a movie about this book, and I'd love to read the book about the movie." The movie and the book are not the same. Sure, there is some dialogue and some scenes that are the same - but the main characters in the book are completely different from their movie characters. I loved both the movie and the book - but be warned - they are not the same.
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Easily the best baseball novel ever writen, and quite possibly the best sports novel--but don't let that discourage the non-sports fans among you: this book also rips apart the American Folktale and reconstructs it for the modern era, plays fast and loose with any notion of heroism, and has a wonderfully sad and cynical ending (quite unlike the movie they made from the book). A great read for the hours in between playoff games.
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Best book about baseball ever written (to my knowledge). This novel possesses literally every single literary device you learned in high school and accomplishes them masterfully. Perhaps that's why it's such a good text to teach. Nonetheless, The Natural captures the America that seems long gone: a country centered around baseball, fighting the communists, & getting laid and drinking lots of booze as social recreation.
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Read in January, 2003
One of the brilliant stories of it's generation. Bernard Malamud has a Pulitzer under his belt for another book, but I think this might be his best. Roy Hobbs is a compelling character. Yes, the Robert Redford film is great, but the plot is changed quite a bit, and the book is much better. I won't spoil the different ending for you, but it's not nearly so heartwarming.
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Read in January, 2007
Well, you know, I'd seen the movie, and in the book, it's true, he does strike out. It's a weird little novel, at least to my eyes, because it's got elements of hard-boiled detective fiction (the unlovable man, the troubled and racy girl), literary fiction (the inside-Roy-Hobbs'-head stuff), and straight baseball-driven drama. By the end, it felt a little empty.
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Read in January, 2001
Roy Hobbes is the quintessential baseball hero of literature, though the book is darker and sadder than the movie everybody loves. Malamud explores every facet of the game and how it reflects on American culture -- themes of innocence and corruption, redemption and renewal, fame and disgrace, all come together in a story that feels mythic in scope.
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Read in January, 2005
I was looking forward to reading this book, but was somewhat disappointed. The writing seems, I almost want to say sloppy and the supposed protagonist, Roy Hobbs, is not at all likable. Though, the reason for this is probably that Malamud based Roy Hobbs on the actual ballplayer, Ty Cobb, who was known to be very arrogant and abrasive.
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A very good old book, with a Steinbeckian style of prose and feel to it. The first part is nearly identical to the movie with striking differences towards the end. Less of a wistful, whimsical look at baseball and more about a troubled man and the rocky road to making his dreams come true. Hmm. No wonder I liked it!
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I'm not generally a fan of sports books, so my expectations were low. But I have to say that, beginning to end, this book was (not an exaggeration) stunning. The ending alone (much different from the Hollywoodized version) is one of the most powerful I have ever read. The movie is great, but the book is even better.
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Read in September, 2007
This book is really genuinely terrific. (I don't know why I'm surprised by that.) With just a touch of magical realism, it's almost like a baseball fairy tale/ morality play with a thoroughly unlikable main character. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm sure it didn't manage to keep the right tone.
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