The Art of Fielding

★亞馬遜網路書店2011年度百大編輯選書年度第一名！★

　　一名天賦優異的游擊手，改變了大學球隊的戰力和價值
　　朝向防守最高境界邁進之際，他卻突然決定退出，並引發隊友間連環風暴
　　人生危機中的深沈省思，與青春歲月的友誼與愛，如何影響並改變人們和我們？
　　一部令人讀到廢寢忘食的年度小說，一本令編輯讀者心靈震撼的文學傑作

　　一個人的靈魂不是與生俱來，而是必須經過努力、過失、學習和愛情加以打造。

　　亨利是密西根湖岸衛斯提許大學棒球校隊裡的明日之星，人生正朝著大聯盟球場前進，他不僅是天生的游擊手，也是整支球隊的靈魂核心。就在一次爭逐全國冠軍賽的那個夏天，亨利碰上球場生涯以來最大的危機，他的恐懼竟引發一連串連鎖效應，改變了球隊戰友的人生方向。

　　全書圍繞亨利和校隊戰友間的友誼和愛情，在勁筆描寫精采緊湊的賽場背後，作者更細膩刻畫年輕人即將踏入成人社會必須面臨的殘酷抉擇，書寫青春生命背後的渴望焦慮和祕密。作者天生文筆真情動人，尤其對年輕人放不掉的回憶、對光明前程的憧憬、在殘酷現實人生前怯懦詰問夢想的掙扎與哲思，引發極大共鳴。隨著球隊邁向戲劇性的冠軍總決賽，書中的五位主角真情相挺，幫助彼此找到真正該走的路。

　　At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.

　　Henry’s fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry’s gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners’ team captain and Henry’s best friend, realizes he has guided Henry’s career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert’s daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life.

　　As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment--to oneself and to others.

　　★本書中譯版《防守的藝術》由時報出版。

作者簡介

　　Chad Harbach grew up in Wisconsin and was educated at Harvard and the University of Virginia. He is a cofounder and coeditor of n+1.