The Natural by Bernard Malamud is a fiction-based book that talks about how Roy Hobbs goes throughout his life as a baseball player and the events that shape him into a different person. The main message of the book is ambition vs ego. This is shown mainly at the beginning of the book and the end of the book. This message is very clear when Harriet(the woman who shot Roy Hobbs) asks Roy if he thinks he is going to be the best baseball player when he is 19 and when hearing this statement Harriet shoots him and then ends her life. This shows his ambition thinking he will be the greatest athlete ever in baseball and working to do that. But the ego peaks its head when he says this out loud to Harriet when she asks him this question.

The character that is the most engaging in this novel is Bump in my opinion. I say this because Bump kind of shows what Roy could have been if he had not shot in Chicago when he was 19 ending his potentially best part of his career. Bump represents what Roy could have been, Bump was the guy at the New York Knights and this new guy named Roy comes in and starts to cause problems for Bump. I say this because Malamud writes in the story that Roy Hobbs and Bump are almost the same player, they look the same, and they play the sport the same. So I think Malamud was attempting to show us that Bump could have had this book written about his baseball journey. I just liked the connection between both players and the fierce rivalry that the players have which led to Bump's death, although depressing it is still a very engaging part of the book. I didn't enjoy how Bump was made to look like this bad guy and Roy as the good guy even though they are the same person in different parts of their life.

The plot is a very interesting way to do a book. I would recommend reading more books that have this plot because it keeps you engaged. I wish Malamud could have said that is a book that goes full circle on the back of the novel. I say this because I would have liked to know has reader that the entire book goes full circle so that way it could have held my interest a little bit longer. The plot goes from Roy being a huge prospect for the Chicago Cubs and potentially going to be the best ball player of all time, this is shown heavily when Malamud says that he struck out the best battle at the time nick named the Whammer. Then he gets shot at the end of that part of the novel which you would think ends the book. The rest of the book talks about how Roy Hobbs gets a terrible franchise to the game right before the pennant which is an enormous feat. Right after he loses the huge game he later is faced with the same situation that ended his career which was a female protagonist pointing a gun at him.

As baseball season heats up, I find myself gravitating toward baseball related books in order to enhance my love for the game when I am not listening to or watching a game. Today I read Bernard Malamud's The Natural, which I rate 3.6 stars.
I have seen the movie version of this book in which Robert Redford's character hits a game winning homer to clinch the pennant, shattering lights, creating his own fireworks, with memorable music in the background. The written version, unfortunately, is not as upbeat, and has a dark undertone to it. It begins the same as the movie as young Roy Hobbs is traveling to Chicago with his scout and mentor Sam Simpson to have a tryout with the Cubs. En route their train stops at a county fair and major league star The Whammer, resembling Babe Ruth, happens to be on the same train. A newspaperman challenges the two to a baseball duel, and Hobbs strikes out the Whammer on three pitches. A legend is born. Yet, in Chicago, a disturbed woman obsessed with striking down star athletes guns down Hobbs in her hotel room, and he disappears from organized baseball.
Fast forward fifteen years, and Hobbs resurfaces as a thirty five year rookie on the New York Knights, albeit with a mysterious past that he wishes to keep secret. The book follows the same trajectory as the movie in that Bump Bailey is killed running into a wall, and Hobbs takes his place in the middle of the lineup. Immediately he starts hitting, and two women take notice: Memo, niece of Knights long suffering manager Pop Fisher and Iris, a black haired young grandmother in Chicago. The rest of the book includes Hobbs' internal battle as to which life course to follow and which woman he would rather be with, as much as his quest to give Pop Fisher the pennant and allow both men to end their careers on a positive note.
Whereas the movie ended on the positive note and neatly tied up loose ends, the book's final scenes are dark and paint a picture of a flawed, fallen hero. We are left wondering if Roy chooses Iris or if he goes back to the shadows from whence he came never to play ball again. For those expecting the fireworks, they will be disappointed. I was left with a slightly bitter feel when I finished this classic. I rated it as high as I did because it does contain some fun baseball scenes as well as Malamud's prolific prose. I would still recommend this as a book that baseball fans should read in their lifetimes, yet it is one of those rare occasions where the movie is better than the book. A perfect read for baseball season, 3.6 stars.

Non sarà uno di quei romanzi che ti cambiano la vita (è una lettura troppo agile per far parte della categoria) ma è una bella storia di ripartenza - per lo meno tentativo di ripartenza - avvincente e alternativa rispetto il plot medio. Purtroppo il film ha provveduto a riportarla nei ranghi dello stereotipo.

Il protagonista è una ottima creazione: dal punto di vista sportivo è un superman, ma questo super-potere viene stemperato dagli altri suoi tratti: un po' orso, un po' bifolco, non stupido, sempre sul chi vive per la consapevolezza della propria ignoranza, e infine caratterizzato da una debolezza del tutto terrena che sarà poi la cifra della sua vicenda. Il risultato di questo mix è che le sue risposte, nei dialoghi, sono sempre taglienti: taglienti perché precise e concise, e taglienti anche perché sottendono un certo humour.
Il carattere della voce narrante, pur essendo esterna e onnisciente, va a braccetto con il carattere del protagonista: ha un'ironia asciutta e contenuta, dai toni sempre pacati.

Personaggi femminili tratteggiati forse con un po' troppa leggerezza che in pratica diventa superficialità, però le storie d'amore sono impostate bene, come in un gioco a rimpiattino e senza nessuna melensaggine.

Il racconto sviluppa piuttosto bene il tema della superstizione, del malocchio, della jella cronica o passeggera, e questo tema giunge infine a porsi come elemento di un certo rilievo all'interno dell'altro grande tema, quello del raggiungimento dei propri obiettivi di vita. La trama sembra suggerire che chi è segnato, dal destino o dalla iattura o dir si voglia, nella vita è destinato a fare perennemente fiasco.
Ma non è tutto qui il discorso: sembra anche voler ribadire il detto che "chi troppo vuole nulla stringe", un appetito insaziabile porterà alla disfatta mentre la frugalità alla lunga porterà più lontano. Non mi è ben chiaro in che modo questa morale possa andare ad innestarsi nella mentalità tipica americana del volercela fare ad ogni costo, quella del "nessun sogno è irrealizzabile se lotti con tutte le tue forze"; dove starà la linea di confine tra la sana ambizione e l'appetito malsano e insaziabile? Probabilmente le due mentalità non si intersecano da nessuna parte, è semplicemente Malamud che la pensa diversamente dalla stragrande maggioranza dei suoi connazionali, probabilmente influenzato dalla sua esperienza personale: figlio di immigrati che durante la gioventù ha vissuto sulla propria pelle e visto con i propri occhi la Grande Depressione.

Ultima nota riguardo gli aspetti editoriali: la traduzione sembra suonare bene, nessunissimo refuso. Continuo a non condividere la scelta di piazzare le note bio-bibliografiche tra l'epigrafe e l'inizio vero e proprio del romanzo.

A very good book, wonderfully descriptive of baseball, but I had to dock it a star due to some Hollywood farce-level stupidity on the second-last page.

The worst book I’ve ever read.

Sometimes we’re just not ready for certain books. This may have been the case when I picked up Bernard Malamud’s The Natural years ago and just couldn’t get into it. This time I devoured one of the greatest baseball novels of all time. Roy Hobbs is The Natural, baseball’s greatest hitter ever. His life is mysterious but his talent is undeniable. After his early career is violently delayed, Hobbs uses his cherished bat Wonderboy to seek his rightful place as the one who can destroy almost every record in the books. HIs obstacles include jealous and incompetent teammates, gangsters, women who both lure and disappoint him, his own insecurities, and the game itself with its humbling tendencies. Malamud’s in-game descriptions are dramatically suspenseful even as they hover just on this side of baseball’s mythological veneer. Malamud’s lush sentences, early 1900s dialogue, and packed paragraphs make The Natural a delicious reading experience. I’m glad I was ready for it this time. For those familiar with the 1984 movie version, any thoughts on whether it holds up well?

"The Natural" by Bernard Malamud is a captivating novel that intertwines the world of baseball with themes of fate, ambition, and the human condition.

The story follows Roy Hobbs, a talented and enigmatic baseball player whose rise, fall, and redemption are at the heart of the narrative.

Malamud's writing is evocative, and he skillfully explores the darker aspects of human nature while celebrating the resilience of the human spirit.

The novel's rich character development and intricate plot make it a timeless classic, offering readers a thought-provoking and poignant exploration of the complexities of life and the pursuit of one's dreams.

no bc wtf was this book and why did school make us read this

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May thy Wonderboy chip and shatter

I probably didn't enjoy this book as much then as I would now as I wasn't much for ambiguous endings at the time but I was definitely moved by Bernard Malamud's prose and plotting. The story of a baseball star suffering an inexplicable tragedy and the overcoming it later in his life just hooked me and even if I didn't quite understand the motivations of the characters - the inner workings - I could understand dilemna of the main character, Roy Hobbs, at the end. I'd definitely love to revisit this book to see how I feel about it 40 years later so I have my evey out for a used copy!

Cherchez la femme