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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/685.The_Natural?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Natural" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1157173474m/685.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/685.The_Natural?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Natural</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/447.Bernard_Malamud">Bernard Malamud</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9853667?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>Richard Graf <br/>World Literature <br/>Mrs. Ebarvia <br/>11-28-07 <br/> <br/>Book Review <br/> <br/> 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 the cause of losing the biggest game of their lives and the reason for all the emotional and physical injuries. <br/> <br/> The problems with the novel are very hard to come by. The book is captivating, enjoyable to read, and diverse from all other stories that end with a happy ending. This book has a sad ending, the kind of ending that you would think about and realize that all the things that led up to it were a bad. It gives off the idea of doing well because the bad you do will affect you in the future, just like the violence, alcohol, gambling, and sex did to Roy. But amongst the good ideas and captivating plot, there is one thing that I wish the author had changed. I wish that the story could have been a little bit more about baseball. The reason for reading this book is because I am a big fan of sports. But with the book being more about scandals, I was given a bit of a shock and disappointment. <br/> <br/> The thing I found most interesting is how the story relates to a real event in baseball. My dad and I have discussed the issue of the Chicago Black Socks several times and I have also watched movies about it. The Chicago “Black” Socks were one of baseball’s great teams. But they are not known for all of their talent, instead they are known for their scandal in the 1919 World Series. Eight players on the team had been accused and banned from Professional Baseball for accepting money to throw the World Series. This is interesting to me because in The Natural, Roy Hobbs throws the World Series for money just like the eight players on the Chicago “Black” Socks. <br/> <br/> But this one weakness does not make this book a bad read. In my eyes it makes it one of the best books that I have ever read. But this book is not for someone who enjoys the happy ending that most books have. This book is for a person with a passion for sports and an imagination and mind that understands all the scandals and harsh realities in professional sports and life. <br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/649568?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>