Rating: 
Summary: Would read it again
Review: The Natural by book was very intersting by how much Roy Hobbs loved baseball. Compared to the movie of the book, the movie seemed that sure he likes baseball but is more interested in lady's. In the beginning the book it sounds like it takes a while to get the girl, for example he kept on sending things to Memo Paris and it took awhile for the two to hook up but in the movie Roy gets her right away. The movie should of showed how he tried hard to get Memo
Rating: 
Summary: I thought that it was a fantastic book
Review: Roy Hobbs comes onto the last place New York Nights at an age when most players are contemplating retirement, and brings the last place team into playoff contention but first having to overcome his slump,the boss, the jinx, and Memo.
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly dark and depressing, but a fascinating read.
Review: I wish that I would have read the book before I had watched the movie. I went into The Natural expecting to experience an uplifting story of a country boy who makes good, wins over his childhood sweetheart, and lives happily ever after. That, suffice to say, is not the way the book plays out. As a warning, other readers who enter the book with those same sort of narrow expectations will doubtlessly be disappointed somewhere along the way. However, I would be remiss to say that, in spite of the aforementioned let-downs (and perhaps even partly because of them), I found this work to be a facinating read. Malamud details a commentary on life, interspersed with wonderful Arturian allusions, through a saga of the game of baseball. Hobbs' character illustrates that, contrary to the movie's claim, that talent alone is not enough to succeed in life, and the way in which the story unfolds, while admittedly somewhat simple, is entertaining all the same. Once I got into it, I couldn't put the book down. The best advice I could give to readers would be to be open minded of the storyline, and not to limit yourself to preconceived expectations (this assuming you have watched the movie first). In doing so, I expect one will find Malamud's style to be fluid and his tale to be valuable.
Rating: 
Summary: The screen play was better
Review: I, like others, was also disappointed with this book. Having seen the movie before reading the book, I am amazed at the contrast. I was unable to care about the book Roy Hobbs because of his apparent incurable stupidity, inabiltiy to learn from his mistakes, and ultimatly his failure. His unfailing self-centeredness is annoying, and the use of dream imagery is boring and distracting. I was looking for something inspiring, and instead, got something dark and unfulfilling.
Rating:
Summary: A sad and depressing tale of a coarse fool's downfall.
Review: Having first viewed the film of the same name, I found this book to be disappointment. It lacked the mythic and Arturian aspects of the film. Roy Hobbs is a coarse, unpleasant and not too bright character whose downfall is painful to follow. After finishing the book I felt the urge to take a shower, there was a feeling of being defiled, and certainly saddened by this account of a unfulfilled and wasted life. For once, a film adaption was better than the book.
Rating:
Summary: The book was descriptive and easy to follow.
Review: Great book. Don't take my word for it. Just read it.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad a book
Review: The beginning chapter of Malamud's The Natural was pracitcally word-for-word with the movie's opening scenes, however, later throughout the plot, things are completely different from the story's Hollywood counterpart. The book was a letdown for me, as I had grown up seeing the movie on HBO every summer, and decided recently to read the book, to compare it. The story of the book is less about Roy's baseball prowess, than it is about his many love interests and desires. I was a bit shocked at this...and it seemed that his baseball talent took backseat to his love urges. The ending was incredibly disappointing-a sad last page slightly reminiscent of Shoeless Joe's fall from grace. I wouldn't recommend it to a baseball fan, only a fan of mournful love stories
Rating:
Summary: Rare case where the movie is better than the book
Review: I read this book on the strength of the Robert Redford movie and not only because I was looking for a happy ending, either. It's usually the case where the movie adaptation of a book strips down the characters and pursues fewer plot lines than the book. But in this sad, bump-along novel, it's just the opposite.The "Natural" doesn't stand the test of time. Maybe way back in the day you could have invented a Roy Hobbs and the anti-hero story would be received as edgy and avant garde. But it's hokey now and too simplistic: the would-be hero who can't prevail because he chases what's bad for him and ensures his own destruction in spite of tremendous "natural" talent. We're not surprised by the ending at all. We expect it. We get it. We saw it play out in the last presidential administration. We're sick of it. It's one thing for a novel to be dark, it's another for that darkness to get in the way of the narrative, character development, and so on. Which is exactly what I loved so much about the movie. Remember those great scenes with Wilfred Brimley and the assistant coach? Remember when they were whistling to each other, playing "name that tune?" Those two characters have absolutely no depth at all in this book. The manager's reduced to a grouchy head of steam full of resentment and doubt for everyone. The assistant coach is just a box of fortune cookies come alive, kicking out hayseed credos and cutting the tension here and there. People we thought we KNEW by the end of the movie barely have any narrative power ripple over them in this book. Some of the pitiful contrivances are out-of-this world corny, implausible, or irrelevant: Roy's chance meeting with Memo, his gargantuan appetite, his magic tricks. Pages which should have been devoted to developing Roy's internal crisis and his unpreparedness for the world around him are wasted with vaudevillian-style hijinks where one character "gets over" on another. Hat's off to the writers of this movie. I didn't know they had to stretch this far to make such a great film. I've no problem with sad endings and disappointments, just don't play me "When the Saints Go Marching In" for 250 pages and call it "Ave Maria."
Rating:
Summary: 'The only real game in the world' The great American myth
Review: Baseball is in one sense just a game. In another for many I knew growing up in America it was a kind of religion. Malamud understands both these dimensions and in this work he plays on the sense of baseball as a kind of metaphor for all that is important in life. The story of Roy Hobbs partakes of many of the myths of baseball , the small- town boy who makes it big, the underdog who comes from behind, the hero of extraorindary powers who single- handed like the Babe himself takes a team and makes it into a champion and a legend. This is not my all- time favorite baseball book (That distinction belongs to two books largely unread today, Zane Grey's ' The Shortstop ' and Charles Einstein's ' The Only Game in Town' )but it is a very good book that shows a real understanding of both the game of baseball and the game of life.
Rating:
Summary: A classic...but a very sad classic...
Review: Wow...was I wrong! Having seen the movie years ago and (I know I am in the minority) not loving it, but at least feeling happy with the end, I assumed that the book was somewhat similar. The book is so very sad, but if you read (and you should), you will see that it stays true to Malamud's viewpoint all along. The ending fits. There is much symbolism and good vs. evil and all that good stuff. In the end, it is an American tragedy, I think. A nicely written and very sad look at sport. And one that is still relevant today.
|
