I’m happy to announce that WordPress is introducing new writing prompts! However, as of this morning, the new prompts are only available on the full, web browser version of wordpress.com. The Jetpack mobile app is still using the “classic“ writing prompts.
To be honest, I don’t know if I have too many books that really surprise me. For as much as I claim to be an avid reader, I tend to read what I like—and it’s the exact same with the TV shows and movies I watch. That’s why you see a lot of reviews for Star Trek, Marvel, and Star Wars on here.
I’m a creature of habit. I’m the same way when it comes to going out to eat. Part of that is just being a picky eater, but on some level, I don’t want to risk paying for food I might not like. In that same vein, I hate the idea of wasting my time reading a book or watching a show that I’m ultimately going to dislike. Of course, that leads directly into a trap: If I never take the risk, am I ever going to discover anything new?
When I first thought about this prompt, I wanted to just list a handful of books that had surprising elements to them. But the more I think about it, there is one specific book that completely broke through my usual defenses and genuinely shocked me: Bernard Malamud’s The Natural.
The Battle in My Head
I have a very strong natural reflex when I read: if I’ve seen the movie adaptation first, I will inevitably see that movie playing out in my head as I turn the pages. Because I’ve seen the film version of The Natural dozens of times over the last forty years, it is deeply ingrained in my memory. I fully expected the novel to just unfold on the back of my eyelids exactly the way David Fincher or Robert Redford intended.
I didn’t think it was possible for a book to radically override that reflex. But Malamud did it.
In the 1984 movie, the filmmakers basically tried to create a living, breathing Norman Rockwell painting. Roy Hobbs, played by Robert Redford, is this humble, apple-pie, “aw-shucks” Americana hero. Redford’s actual age at the time played perfectly into the narrative of an over-the-hill rookie fighting for one last tragic, beautiful shot at glory.
But the moment I opened the book, that entire golden image shattered.
A Completely Different Animal
In the novel, Roy Hobbs isn’t a humble, sundrenched hero. He is described as a hulking, aggressive, alpha-male type. He is deeply flawed, consumed by a voracious appetite for food and fame, and driven by a much darker energy than the guy wearing number 9 on the screen.
The disparity between the book and the movie was so massive that it completely cancelled out my tendency to picture Redford. The text forced me to see a totally different character, rendering my forty years of movie fandom useless against the page. That was the real surprise.
Now, does a surprising reading experience mean it was a good one? Not necessarily.
I didn’t think The Natural was a great book, and the movie is far from my favorite baseball film. Because the book gives us a radically different Roy Hobbs, he makes radically different decisions. And as for the ending of the novel?
It absolutely sucked.
Instead of the heroic, stadium-light-shattering home run that we get in the movie, the book leaves you with something much grittier, cynical, and depressing. But even if the ending left a bad taste in my mouth, I have to give the book credit: it managed to completely hijack my imagination and catch me totally off guard. For a creature of habit like me, that’s a rare feat.
Rebuilding a life takes grit, consistency, and a lot of ‘Option C’ thinking. Whether I’m closing in on 1,000 consecutive days of blogging or reflecting on the decade of work that brought me here, the mission remains the same: No glitz. Just the work. New to the blog? Start your journey here to see the blueprint and the ‘Tricorder’ perspective behind the rebuild.
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The article “The Natural: The Book’s Ending Absolutely Sucked” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob
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