Fielding: The First Half: Chp 1-37

[Andrew, Wound Up]

***Open discussion of the first half below, no spoiler marks needed. Be sure you have read through the end of chapter 37 before reading! Note: if this is your first visit to this topic I recommend you read this post about discussion ideas, then skip down and post your initial response, then read and respond to other people's posts.***

At the very least check in here when you finish chapter 37 and tell us if you are enjoying the book. I'll post specific discussion ideas below, along with some general topics we'll see repeated throughout the book.

Chapter 1 - 37 discussions:

1) The obvious question: what is causing Henry's throwing problems?

2) What do you think Schwartz's career will end up being?


General Discussions:

1) Share your favorite quote(s) from this section.

2) Share your favorite word(s) used in this section.

3) Do you have a favorite or most intriguing character at this point in the novel?

Location reminder

If you are returning to this topic after having continued past Chapter 37, here is a plot reminder:

Pella has fought with both Schwartz and her father... then had an interesting offer made by the chef.

GO!

[Andrew, Wound Up]

I'm really enjoying this novel, especially the descriptions of baseball. Harbach's romanticism about the topic gives the sport and the team an innocent glow.

Throwing. Henry thinks that his subconscious made him intentionally throw the ball into Owen's face. Until that error Henry's throws were perfectly reliable and extremely accurate. Although everyone else recognized it as a fluke Henry can't help but wonder why his body took the action it did.

Is he struggling with homophobia? Will his subconscious start making other prejudices apparent? Subsequent throws could be subconsciously guided to spotlight an inner racism or sexism? Even if the guiding intent was less hate crime and more hate (i.e. anger about Owen's seeming disregard and lack of respect for the game itself) is that any better?

Henry hasn't taken the time to stop and figure out who he is in life. He's just being working to be a baseball playing machine. This error has made him start to evaluate his relationship with the world beyond baseball and Henry is coming up with few answers. He has literally taken a crash course in reality and, so far, is doing his best to try to forget it happened.

So my answer is that Henry is going through a coming of age crisis, later in life then most. This echoes Pella's circumstances.

Edited: deleted a section that showed I lack reading comprehension skills.

I am enjoying this book quite a lot but the part of me that has come up with this wild theory wonders if Harbach isn't intentionally toying with me, the reader, to make a convoluted statement about prejudice.

Schwartz. I have a bad premonition about Schwartz. I hope I'm totally wrong in having this gut feeling that he might (view spoiler)[die or commit suicide (hide spoiler)].

Quotes: Sleep deprivation, apparently, had caused her to hallucinate a naked lumberjack.

I did a poor job at marking quotes in this section. There was a raw sexuality in the scene with Affenlight and Owen that pushed a general limit of explicitness right to the edge.

I think the Art of Fielding quotes are great. The first one stands out in relation to the first discussion question: "The glove is not an object in the usual sense. For the infielder to divide it from himself, even in thought, is one of the roots of error." I can't put my finger on the symbolism of the glove in relation to this story yet.

Words: impecunious, rodentially, plangent, ineluctable, gauche.

Character: Schwartz - specifically because of the prescient feelings I discussed earlier. Harry has been too blank a slate for me to find much that I can relate with.

Overall: This novel has kept me on my toes. Even now that I'm guessing we've met most of the main characters I can't quite see where Harbach is aiming. Is this a coming of age story? An extended discussion of sexuality? Henry seems caught between Owen and Schwartz who each have started sexual relations on opposite ends of the gay-straight spectrum.

I am ready to keep reading and intrigued, but tentative.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

The timing of Henry's problem (i.e. approaching his idol Aparicio Rodriguez's record) is highly suspect. Plot-wise it just wouldn't do to have Henry break a record he has been admiring all of his life without a struggle. Sports records, especially long standing ones, are supposed to be a long-term goal, a lofty ideal, a seemingly insurmountable task.

Henry's problem in life seems to be about adapting and overcoming, fighting back from a loss and ultimately the story of growing up and becoming more independent. He has been extremely co-dependent on Schwartz since his college baseball career started.


Schwartz is destined to be a coach. Schwartz is already treated like an assistant coach. He is a motivator, a sports psychologist, a collegiate addict. Schwartz thrives in the team environment and I think his preoccupation with status, specifically law school, is getting in the way of his true calling in life. I REALLY want Schwartz to stay at Westish beyond graduation - I am such a sentimental sap.


My favorite quotes include: "Owen didn't want anything from Coach Cox - not a starting job, or a better spot in the batting order, or even any advice--and so Coach Cox could afford to treat him as an equal. Much the same way, perhaps, that a priest appreciates his lone agnostic parishioner, the one who doesn't want to be saved but keeps showing up for the stained glass and the singing."

"A good coach made you suffer in a way that suited you. A bad coach made everyone suffer in the same way, and so was more like a torturer."

"Sleep deprivation, apparently, had caused her to hallucinate a naked lumberjack."

"It restored some nameless element of his personality that threatened to slip away if he didn't stay vigilant."


Favorite words: risible, passade, dictum, extemporize, laconic, torpor, smidgen, mullioned, cloud-clotted, fuchsin.


My favorite character is Schwartz. I am most confused by President Affenlight. I would want to be friends with Owen. I am very interested in meeting Pella's recently-estranged husband David. I also can't wait to see more interactions between Pella and Chef Spirodocus.