Hidden Audio Gem

I’m shocked at how few reviews are on here—this was not only an incredible story, the narration was near perfect. I hadn’t seen the movie, nor read the book before—but I loved this story. we all know sports stories, but this one, despite its age, felt fresh. It was constantly surprising. Highly recommended.

2 people found this helpful

Not very much like the movie. Reads like a true story & life lesson.

I love the movie and had not known of the book the movie version was based on u til I happened across a movie review by an excellent reviewer who stated in his opinion, Hollywood ruined this story. And that person went on to give an explanation why. After reading that review, I did a search on Audible to see if this book was in audio form. My research showed this book had NEVER before been in an audiobook format of any kind. I contacted Audible and politely asked one of their CS managers if they knew of this book arriving in audio sometime soon? The nice fellow told me he had no information in the Audible database showing a forthcoming audio version. I asked him to please forward my request for this book to be read and out into their audiobook catalog since Amazon already had it in Kindle format. I’ve been with many audiobook companies going back to when audiobooks were read badly, no performance at all and only a available from a few companies for the blind on reel to reel tape requiring a special open reel player to play these recordings which used all four tracks on a simple stereo recorded as individual monophonic voice tracks. The player which didn’t record had a switch to allow users to hear side A track 1 then in reverse hear side A track 2. It did the same for tracks 3 & 4. The first books on cassette were done the same way in case anyone likes trivia. The point of all that is to say....I hope my request was one of many who wanted to hear this book in its original written form by its author. This title showed up as available about two years after I made my request and I’m very glad it did. Such a very different story than the movie version and in my opinion and life experiences....much more how someone with a life filled with opportunities are always destroyed and winds up with next to nothing. A VERY human story.

1 person found this helpful

The Natural

Most people who read this book are drawn to it by seeing the movie first, right? Maybe. If you're like me, you're disappointed. The character of Roy Hobbs is much more of a bumpkin, not the charismatic character portrayed in the movie. The death of his father, the love interest of his boyhood, the son? Nope, no part of this story. Roy does get shot, but years later falls for the fem-fatalé. The silver bullet that near ends Roy's life, let alone career, isn't even mentioned. He does wind up in the hospital, but for stress/exhaustion, something equally mundane. The rest of the story, Pop, Wonderboy, throwing a game, all adheres to the story arc of the movie, except for the ending. No spoilers, but *sniff*, it is nowhere near as thrilling. Not even close. Yet, the actual field action of "baseball" - good stuff! The movie is considerably more uplifting. Considerably.