The Natural by Bernard Malamud
Malamud, who is renowned for his accurate depictions of Jewish life after World War II, took on a radically different subject in it—the tale of a tremendously talented “natural” playing baseball in the days of daylight—and gave it the same kind of grizzled poetry that permeates all of his best writing.
The Natural by Bernard Malamud
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Malamud crafts a compelling narrative that examines the motivations and minds of athletes. The Natural by Malamud had more depth than its counterpart thanks to its gloom. Because of this, Roy Hobbs in the novel is a more complex, human character than he is in the movie. Depending on what you’re aiming for, this might be good or terrible. Malamud’s narrative technique keeps the action exciting both on and off the field. Although his use of baseball slang felt a little forced, I liked learning the concepts and how they fit into the historical context.
It concerns Roy Hobbs, a baseball player. He is a young prodigy who is stabbed by a woman on a train and leaves the sport for many years before returning at the end of his career and making it to the big league for one possible victory. In truth, it’s a rather gloomy book. Roy Hobbs is a remarkably flat character. He’s not a considerate person. He is extremely ambitious in a constrained, avaricious American sense. He is simply concerned with the game. It’s a really grim work on the one hand, yet it also has strong legendary undertones. He evidently believes that baseball is a mythical tradition in America.
And if you are familiar with the history of professional baseball, you will notice that he incorporates numerous baseball anecdotes from the turn of the century into the book. So, the book gives off the impression that baseball history is a source of American mythology.
