21st Century Literature discussion

So what are people's impressions of the first 5 chapters?

My thoughts are just that so far I'm enjoying it, and that the main character's narrative style reminds me a bit of the early parts of Frank Conroy's book Body and Soul in that we're viewing everything from the inexperienced and tentative perspective of our protagonist. However, I think the real challenge will be how to manage the passage of time and the growth of Henry. Already by chapter 5 he has sort of skipped a year.

I haven't read Body and Soul or anything by Conroy. Do you recommend him?

I'm liking this so far. I went with the audiobook version, because it maximizes my short reading time, and I really love the narration. (In case anyone was deliberation text v audio.)

This was recommended in various places, based on my love of Skippy Dies, and it's easy to see the connection. Murray and Harbach share an affection for their characters. They both seem to recall youth with a sweetness that isn't saccharine because both seem to recall well how painful it is to grow into yourself.

I recommend Body and Soul quite highly, and is one of my all-time fav books! The other Conroy works I never really got into, to be honest.

looks like there's 82 shortish chapters, so I've turned this topic into a 1-20thread, and creating others for 21-40, 41-60, 61-82.

I suppose my only real complaints up to this point (having finished Chapter 20 at least) is that chapter 5 skips ahead too much time. I feel like too much time spent in daily ruminance, where the same development could be spent in describing the next two years.

I think the Pella character will be hard to develop without relying too much on the crutches of stereotypes. Granted, you can make the argument that many young women fall into exactly such a stereotype, but that doesn't mean it's not a little thread-bare.

For that matter, the other characters tend to be a little one-sided as well, but with constant references to Melville, surely obsessiveness is a theme to be explored here.

I spent around a decade of my life trying to be a professional athlete of sorts (a divorce and injury were distractions I'm not convinced helped me achieve, rather than just 'trying') and the attention to the themes of that life, a myopic cycle of constant eating, sleeping, and sweating struck me as being very realistic in Henry's behavior. You feel out of touch with the world, like a fatted calf waiting for some future which might or might not occur.

Deborah wrote: "I haven't read Body and Soul or anything by Conroy. Do you recommend him?

I'm liking this so far. I went with the audiobook version, because it maximizes my short reading time, and I really love t..."

Thank you for sharing this. I just started Skippy Dies & was already struck by some similarities with Fielding.

Ellie wrote:Deborah wrote: "I haven't read Body and Soul or anything by Conroy. Do you recommend him?

I'm liking this so far. I went with the audiobook version, because it maximizes my short reading time, and I really love t..."

Thank you for sharing this. I just started Skippy Dies & was already struck by some similarities with Fielding. "


Skippy Dies is a much better book.
Don't get me wrong, The Art of Fielding is good. I could sit in one spot and finish it. I'm enjoying it. I have trouble turning it off.

My issues come when I do turn it off and think about it.

My issue so far is that even the character's flaws make them more perfectly the type the Harbach intends. They don't feel sufficiently chaotically random.

And I hated his introduction of Pella, the he handled the exposition of explaining how she got to that point seemed forced and the tone made me dislike her.

Though she is far more likable when in interaction with other characters.

I heard Murray's female characters criticized, but I think I liked Murray's women much better than Harbachs so far, even if only because Murray's are more authentically damaged.

I agree with what you said, but I'll be interested to see if that opinion changes after you finish the book, I know my opinions changed as the book went on. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you said up to almost chapter 30, but for me the book just improved right through to the end. A totally unfair comment for a thread covering only chapter 1-20, I know! I pretty much hated the introduction of every character other than Guert, who of course gets an entire section of his own to begin with, and for me, that section is where I started to fall in love with this book.

I pretty much hated the introduction of every character other than Guert, who of course gets an entire section of his own to begin with, and for me, that section is where I started to fall in love with this book. "

I'm sad you didn't love that first chapter as much as I did. I thought Harbach did an amazing job of getting me to the ball field. I liked Mike immediately.

Well, it's not that I didn't like the chapter, I did, and I LIKED the character of Mike, I just didn't think the way he introduces characters is especially interesting, tending to rely on cliche. But now, I tend to suspect that's deliberate, so he can play with our preconceptions of them over the length of the novel..just as when we meet someone in life, we tend to pigeonhole them before we learn the little quirks and histories that make them interesting. There were only a couple of chapters that I didn't flat out enjoy, if not love. Chapter 6 was the only one I really didn't like because of the time compression. But for the most part, I completely love this book.

I like your take on starting with a narrow view that widens.

I'm also enjoying this book a lot.

As we get further in I have less impulse to make comparisons to other books and let it stand on it's own.

So far good stuff.