Unlike the quartet which seems to fawn over The Art of Fielding in this Defector article, “The Art of Reading,” I maintain that the work of Chad Harbach was overrated. Yes, it got a lot of attention when it came out in 2011, primarily, I believe, because the first-timer author received such a huge advance.
To me, TAOF was one of those books that if you didn’t appreciate it, there was something wrong with you.
One panelist called it “[a] Book You Should Read back in the day.”
Back in the day?? We’re talking 14 years ago, not 140 years ago. Maybe it’s me; my “back in the day” is apparently a lot further back than these folks.
Not going to pull any more quotes from the piece because it will just make me grumpy again. Suffice it to say, “back in the day” I did not write about TAOF with any kind of fondness. In fact, I had thought to omit a link to its Amazon page, but I decided that would border on the edge of censorship and I did not want to go there.
But am I alone in this? Do I just not get it? I would love to see some comments here explaining why I’m right or wrong.
is available on Amazon.com,
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