The Natural, written by Bernard Malamud, is not the typical sports book. Although based around the sport of baseball, the book focuses more on the social elements of a player’s life. The main character Roy Hobbs is forced to make many life-changing decisions as a player for the New York Knights. He somehow managed to lift the whole city of New York up with him and bring them down with him as well.
The Natural opens with Roy Hobbs, a baseball hopeful on a train with his manager, Sam Simpson. They recognize two other big figures in the sports world in Max Mercy, a top reporter, and three time MVP, The Whammer. There also happens to be a girl that Hobbs develops a crush on by the name of Harriet Bird. The main scene that opens up the book is when the train stops at a carnival and Sam bets that Roy Hobbs can strike out the Whammer. Roy does in fact but he throws his pitch so hard he ends up hurting Sam, who eventually dies. After seeing this Harriet invites Roy to her room and he says how he is going to be the greatest in the game. The scene ends with Harriet shooting Roy and ultimately bringing his baseball career to a halt.
The book fast forwards 15 years in the future to Pop Fisher, the manager of the worst professional baseball team in the country, The New York Knights. Pop finds out he has a new rookie on the team in 34 year old Roy Hobbs who the owner Judge Banner has signed for only $3,000. Roy is benched for three straight weeks by Pop after refusing to take place in the team hypnotist sessions. Like on the train, Roy develops a crush for a girl but this time for Pop’s niece, Memo Paris. After waiting patiently, Roy finally gets a chance to pinch-hit and literally smashes the cover off the ball. The team starts to turn around and winning games and even the dried up field begins to start turning green and growing.
Bump Baily who used to be the Knights star player takes offense and tries so hard to outplay Roy he ends up cracking his skull accidentally and dying. After hitting a home run to break his slump he meets a woman he saw in the crowd named Iris Lemon. He and Iris make love but he still can’t get over Memo. Memo throws a banquet for the team and he ends up getting a massive stomachache and finds himself in the hospital. The Knights lose their next three games and tie the pirates for first place. The Judge offers Roy $35,000 to throw the next game, and Roy accepts.
During the game, Roy spots Iris Lemon in the crowd. He finds out she is pregnant and he needs to win the game for the both of them. He goes up to the plate and hits one but also cracks his famous bat, Wonderboy. In the next at bat, the pitcher facing Roy is so terrified he faints on the mound. They send a young pitcher out to face Roy, and the whole crowd is on their feet.
I am a huge sports fan and picked up The Natural thinking it was mainly about baseball. Although the book revolves around baseball, it mainly follows the choices Hobbs has to make with this new lifestyle. Even though I did realize this, I still could not find myself putting it down. This book would continue to spark my interest, and Malamud does a great job of this throughout the story.
One thing that I did really enjoy in The Natural is how complex the characters are. Malamud makes a handful of characters feel as if they could be the main character. He describes what should be secondary characters emotions and feelings. One thing that helps him to do this is the fact that he wrote in third person omniscient. For those that don’t know, this is when he writes from the view of someone looking over all the people. The narrator is not a character but rather tells the story of their lives.
What makes this book so special to me is the ending that comes along with it. People are so used to an ending where the hero comes out on top, and everyone is happy. When reading this novel, you can tell that Roy is no hero behind the scenes. All of his actions build up to the ending. He does do some good as saves one of the worst teams in baseball, The New York Knights. The last game does not go how he would’ve imagined because he chose money over winning. He accepted the bribe to throw the game and dug a hole for himself that was nearly too deep to get himself out of. Malamud shows how he was more interested in personal pleasure than creating a legacy for himself, which contradicts his 19 year old self who said, “I’m going to be the greatest in the game.”
Malamud is harsh on Roy and the book ends with him weeping, looking back on his decisions. The only problem I had with this novel is how abrupt the ending is. I would have loved to see more of what happened to Roy’s life after the final game. The book just stops and I really was not ready to stop reading.
Overall, The Natural is a classic and should be read by everyone, not just sports fans. You really do not need to know anything about baseball to get this plot. This book is something I definitely recommend to anyone who can read.
