Every once in awhile an audiobook comes along that is so perfect that reading it as a book alone seems woefully inadequate.
Such is the case with "The Art of Fielding" (Hachette Audio, 14 CDs, $26.98), a first novel by Chad Harbach that is movingly read by Holter Graham. When it comes to the audiobook experience, it doesn't get much better.
Harbach's story consistently takes unexpected turns. We begin with the tale of Henry Skrimshander, a South Dakota native who is a pure athlete in his chosen sport, baseball. Henry, a shortstop, would rival Roy Hobbs in "The Natural," played by Robert Redford in the movie version.
Henry is a devotee of a mythical baseball player, Aparacio Rodriguez, and his book "The Art of Fielding," and it's a pleasure to listen to how carefully Harbach sets up Henry's skill sets as a baseball player and his deficiencies as a human.
When he comes under the sway of burly Mike Schwartz, the catcher and team captain for the Westish Harpooners, a team from a private, liberal-arts college in Wisconsin, everything changes in Henry's life. Soon he is ensconced on the Westish campus, and the school's struggling baseball team soon begins to win big and consistently, inspired by their brilliant new shortstop.
There are five major characters: Henry; Schwartz, Henry's college roommate; Owen; and Westish's charismatic president, Guert Affenlight and his estranged daughter, Pella. In a subtle way of advancing story and character, Harbach has his cast interact in meaningful and unexpected ways, forming bonds that are tested in their personal and professional lives.
Eventually, Henry's growing problem with throwing the baseball takes on tragic dimensions, as does a subplot involving a love affair between Guert Affenlight and Owen, a complex and unusual character. Complications ensue on every level, but never in an unbelievable or manipulative way.
The story seems to come naturally out of the characters that Harbach delineates so richly, and I was eagerly reaching for the next disc. Graham's pitch-perfect narration also makes this the best audiobook I've listened to in the past year. By the end I, too, was a student at Westish rooting for Skrimshander and company to win the national championship.
The gimmick in "Why We Broke Up" is a long, continuous letter of regret from a high school girl to her no-good, basketball-player boyfriend. The letter is designed to accompany a box of mementoes from their relationship that she dumps on his front steps. Read in a way-too-perky voice by Khristine Hvam, the monologue by the story's narrator is one long whine and complaint, rendered in contemporary high school-ese that is neither interesting nor funny. Handler should stick to Lemony Snicket.
The book's lead character, 37-year-old Andi, with no explanation for her British accent, lives in San Francisco and has finally fulfilled her lifelong dream of being a mother by marrying into the ready-made family of Ethan and his two teenage daughters. Andi is, of course, hated and constantly disrespected by the older daughter, Emily, as the rival for her father's attention.
It escalates into full-on war, and though the dust finally settles in a happily-ever-after denouement, the sad commentary on marriage is that this is a more-than-common problem. More than 50 percent of marriages end in divorce. This means that every stepparent faces some inevitable showdown with resentful children and, if the new marriage is to work, the stepparent must overcome the urge to retaliate and must remain the adult. A tough job that is worth the work, as Green makes clear. I just wanted to hear this American story in an American voice.
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