The Natural

A Novel

By: Bernard Malamud

Narrated by: Fred Berman

Introduction by Kevin Baker

The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first - and some would say still the best - novel ever written about baseball. In it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material - the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era - and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work.

Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which - now that he has done it! - looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology."

©1980 Bernard Malamud (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

OY! I LIKED THE MOVIE BETTER!

Wow, did this book surprise me! I have been a fan of Bernard Malamud since--well, since I was like eight years old and discovered my love affair with baseball! The elementary school I attended had a small school library, and there was a book of baseball short stories that included (at least) one of Malamud's. Years later, I saw "The Natural" with Robert Redford and Glenn Close, and loved the story! (This is one of the perhaps dozen movies that I have seen in my life that I will watch again no matter when it comes on, unless my wife is home and in possession of the remote!). So...I was pretty excited to read "The Natural," and with props to Mr. M., it's a great book and totally well-written; but...nothing like the movie story version (especially the end), and for that reason, I hated it. In the book, "Roy" ends up being an amoral shell of a man who seems only interested in his own narcissism related to the "heroic legacy" he'll leave to the game. I don't want to spoil the ending for anyone, but think 180-out of how the movie leaves him (and Iris) in the happy-ending version. Oy, so disappointed in Roy.

Depressing…

…. For any number of reasons primarily the movie. Anyone who has seen Robert Redford in the cinematic “the natural“ – and who hasn’t? – Will get a big dose of gloom out of the literary version. Like other reviewers have remarked… The movie is much better… That’s a rare occurrence. “TheGreatEscape“, “little big man“ are only a few examples that come to mind when the movie outstrips the book… Perhaps “the Godfather“ is another. But certainly anyone who’s ever been uplifted by Robert Redford‘s elegant performance… And feel good pathos will walk away from the authors version with a heavy heart. Naturally, one has to take his hat off to the original… but even that seems to borrow just a little too much from actual history. The narration was mediocre… It’s a short lesson, but spare yourself the disappointment.

loved the premise

while very different than the movie(which was fine) There are periods of this book that go off the rails of any semblance of reality. well read, but the story which had its of promise had me losing interest throughout.

Movie was better

Very different story than the movie. One of the few instances where the movie is better than the book. The Hobbs character isn’t even very likable in the book. Overall, the book was a good listen if for no other reason than to experience Malamud’s original version.

Sad and unreal

At times, a story containing components of the beauty of the love of the game, mixed with the life story of a tragic character, that sadly and somewhat unrealistically, time, and again, makes major errors in judgment, indicating his apparent in ability to learn from experience.

Liked the movie better

It's a good book, but if you've seen the movie you will be a little disappointed. I couldn't separate the way Redford played Hobbs and how Hobbs is in the book is really not the same character.

The Natural

Most people who read this book are drawn to it by seeing the movie first, right? Maybe. If you're like me, you're disappointed.

The character of Roy Hobbs is much more of a bumpkin, not the charismatic character portrayed in the movie. The death of his father, the love interest of his boyhood, the son? Nope, no part of this story. Roy does get shot, but years later falls for the fem-fatalé. The silver bullet that near ends Roy's life, let alone career, isn't even mentioned. He does wind up in the hospital, but for stress/exhaustion, something equally mundane. The rest of the story, Pop, Wonderboy, throwing a game, all adheres to the story arc of the movie, except for the ending. No spoilers, but *sniff*, it is nowhere near as thrilling. Not even close.

Yet, the actual field action of "baseball" - good stuff!

The movie is considerably more uplifting. Considerably.

disappointed

I can't believe I'm saying this, but if you love the movie, the natural, like I did, I would not read this book. The book does not have any real issues that it deals well with philosophically, it's baseball issues are old and hard to relate with, and worst of all, has characters that do not resound.
Call me old fashioned, but I think the reader deserves a happy ending to such a pedantic story.

A Dark, Dark Hero

This is a classic example of a book being so, so much better than the movie. There is some great baseball, on and off the field, but the story belongs to Hobbs, a dark, deeply disturbed disaster of a human being. A great story.

Best last hour of a baseball novel ever

The story of a hero and tragedy. So much of a deeper story than the movie. Absolutely terrific writing and Emotionally committed performance. Loved it.