Changes

|title=The Art of Fielding

|sort=Art of Fielding

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-0007374441

|pages=450

|publisher=Fourth Estate

|date=January 2012

|summary=US college campus-based story of friendship and ambition with a baseball centre. You certainly don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this, but a little appreciation of the sport will undoubtedly help.

}}

''The Art of Fielding'' is basically a US-style campus novel featuring baseball. There are similarities in style between this and many of John Irving's works, with baseball substituting for Irving's wrestling focus. This, to the UK-reader, raises the first potential barrier as we are, as a rule, largely ignorant of the US fixation with the intricacies of baseball. Certainly you don't need an in depth knowledge to appreciate this story - it is really a story of friendship, ambition and the sporting dreams of youth - but despite a loose understanding of the sport I felt that I would have benefitted from more knowledge particularly towards the end when there is a climactic baseball match. You kind of get the point, but I certainly felt that I was missing out on a little of the tension, in much the same way I'd expect a US reader to be perplexed if the story had been based on say, cricket. It's a minor flaw though and it would be a shame if potential readers dismissed it for this reason.

Although not one of his earlier college kid-based novels, if you enjoyed this style of writing then I have no doubt you'd enjoy [[Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving]].

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