(Mini) Bookshelf Review: The Resisters, by Gish Jen

Got this one when it came out last year, but given my deep-seated reluctance to deal with baseball fiction, the surprise isn’t that it took so long to read (and write about) it, but that I got to it at all. I have given this hesitancy a name: I call it “The Art of Fielding Effect.”

For those of you unfamiliar with TAOF, released by Chad Harbach in 2011, it got rave pre-publication attention, not the least of which could be attributed to the high six-figure advance he received for his first novel. It was roundly praised, giving one the sense that if you didn’t like it, the fault lay with you, that you were somehow lacking in sensitivity or intelligence to appreciate  what the author was saying. I guess I fell into that unhip population since I just didn’t get what all the fuss was about. But given my low self-esteem, it reinforced my belief that I was unqualified to review fiction. Despite that, I’ve decided to have at it and let the chips fall where they may.

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Maybe it’s my personality, but I have a thing for dystopian fiction. That’s why the premise of Gish Jen’s most recent novel caught my attention.

Set in the ubiquitous “not too distant” future, The Resisters is the story of Gwen, a young girl with a prodigious talent for throwing the horsehide. (Kind of reminded me of a cross between Mo’ne Davis and Ginny Baker on the short-lived TV series, Pitch.) Her progress is recounted by her father, who serves as narrator of this tale, as she grows from precocious toddler to a teenage pitcher much in demand by an American society which separates people into two categories, best described as worthy and unworthy of lives of relative comfort and ease.

Our heroine’s family falls into the latter category, but relatively high on the food chain. While the parents are themselves talented and educated (mom is a lawyer and dad is a tech wizard), they nevertheless run afoul of the government, known as “Aunt Nettie,” which hands out rewards and punishments — such as being forced to live on houseboats thanks to an ever-rising water level — based on the willingness of its citizens to be compliant.

Some are actually able to “cross over,” if, like Gwen, they have a special talent. She accepts an offer to attend college with Aunt Nettie’s ultimate goal of having her as a member of the national team for the upcoming Olympics(!). Along the way Gwen finds love, betrayal, uncertainty, and existential doubt. Will she fit in with her new environment? Are her parents willing to go along, given her mother’s mission to fight “the man,” or, in this case, the “aunt?” How far is she willing to for her increasing uncertainty and vacillating love for the game? And what will she do when the government seeks to influence her decisions with not-so-veiled threats?

We’ve heard a lot of complaints over the past few years about how baseball is losing fans, especially the younger ones who would one day be game-goers and merchandise-buyers. Given the nature of sports coupled with the changing demands for time and attention, I often wonder if baseball will even be around in a hundred years or so. The Resisters offers a little bit of an answer. Technically, things are pretty much the same although there seem to be no professional teams, just co-ed national teams and a smattering of youth clubs that have to play under the radar, although the governing bodies turn a semi-blind eye, despite ever-present surveillance drones.

Kudos to Gish, who really knows her baseball, but I don’t know if that’s because she’s a real fan or has just done her homework? I would love to think it’s the former, but as she has declined to be a guest for a Bookshelf Conversation, that will continue to be a question, along with many others I had about the construction of the book.

Bottom line: The Resisters is thoughtful and entertaining. I chose not to believe a future like that is in the cards, but given the way the world is going…