{"product_id":"the-natural-1","title":"THE NATURAL","description":"The classical novel (and basis for the acclaimed film starring Robert Redford) now in a new edition\n\nIntroduction by Kevin Baker\n\nThe Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first―and some would say still the best―novel ever written about baseball.\n\nIn it Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material―the story of a superbly gifted \"natural\" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era―and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: \"Malamud has done something which―now that he has done it!―looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology.\"\u003cbr\u003eASIN: 0374502005\u003cbr\u003eVSKU: 31UKMW000PBW_ns\u003cbr\u003eCondition: Acceptable\u003cbr\u003eAuthor\/Artist:Malamud, Bernard|Baker, Kevin\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eNote:\u003c\/b\u003e Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Notes\u003c\/b\u003e: The item is very worn but is perfectly usable. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, worn and creased covers, folded page corners and minor liquid stains. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include moderate to heavy amount of notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable. Page edges may have foxing  age related spots and browning . May NOT include discs, access code or other supplemental materials.  \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Blue Vase Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43245150502973,"sku":"31UKMW000PBW_ns","price":5.89,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0589\/4225\/9261\/files\/0374502005-0_21e01b76-ac78-427a-be3a-9eec1c12821a.jpg?v=1780436365","url":"https:\/\/www.bluevasebooks.com\/products\/the-natural-1","provider":"Blue Vase Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}