Whale of a book

So “The Art of Fielding’’ is ambitious, and Harbach’s reach is not limited to grasping at the edges of the volume Melville himself termed “a wicked book.’’ Harbach includes a contemporary take on the cozy relationship between Ishmael and Queequeg. One of the Westish ballplayers, Owen, is a gay, biracial student whom his teammates nickname “Buddha.’’ This is in part because instead of paying attention to the ballgame, Buddha sits in the dugout with a little lamp attached to the brim of his baseball cap and reads “Fear and Trembling.’’ Oddly, Coach Cox is OK with this. So are Owen’s teammates. So is the college president, who is, perhaps not coincidentally, a Melville scholar, and who falls in love with the Buddha, and may learn as much from him as Ishmael learns from Queequeg about male companionship and the benefits of a relaxed and philosophical approach to whatever the waves carry in.

Though there’s plenty of baseball in “The Art of Fielding,’’ Harbach’s novel is no more about the game than “Moby Dick’’ is about whaling. Both books examine determination and striving, which can ennoble one or drive one mad. The whaler and the ballplayer both set off from home and then return, and when they come back they are changed. A ship that’s wrecked in the pursuit of a monster both real and mythical makes for profound changes. Maybe a ball team that suffers defections for mysterious reasons and exceeds all expectations can do that, too.