Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Shoeless Joe
Book Review: "Shoeless Joe" had hard time staying interesting
Summary: 1 Stars
Like many of the people here, I too had to read this novel for school. Never seeing the movie "Field of dreams", I didn't go into it already knowing the ending. 'Shoeless Joe' starts off like most novels, kinda slow. Unfortunally this makes the reader think that it will soon start to pick up and become an interesting novel. This is not so. The story drags on yanking the reader in different pointless directions. I have a book report due for this book tomorrow, and I'm only 3/4 way through the book. I have lost interest in it and have only made it as far as I have because we have to read it some days in engilsh class. Even then I have a hard time keeping my attention pointed to the novel. I always thought keeping the reader interested was a large part of writing a good novel, apparently I was wrong.
Book Review: A feel good experience
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book in a few days over the summer for a class I was taking. Out of the seven other books we read in five weeks this one really stands out in my mind. I am not a fan of baseball either I don't watch or play it, but I was able to follow and understand this book completely. The story line was very different and effective. It is more about a son looking for closure with his father than baseball. Ray's experience in the novel takes on an almost religious quaility. Every time I think about this novel I feel good and want to read it over.Book Review: A Book And A Subsequent Film That Both Offer Nostalgia
Summary: 4 Stars
There are a few claims to fame in the literary world that I obnoxiously hold on to, meaning I read the book long before the movie adapation made the book famous. This is one of them. Being a sucker not only for a nice, sentimental story but one involving baseball, this book looked interesting to me on the shelves right after it came out in 1982. I wasn't disappointed.
The odd thing was that someone changed the name of the field to "Field Of Dreams," so I was shocked when I began watching the movie. "I know this story!," I said, a bit too loud at the movie theater. Anyway, this book is very interesting and the movie is one that can bring a tear to a man's eye. As the years have gone by, I have retained interest in both and last year, re-read this book. Both film and novel, I think it's safe to say, will appeal far more to men than to women. It's just a father-and-son guy's story.
If you're like me and have seen the film a lot more than you've read the book, you're in for a few surprises......both good and bad. I don't want to get into specifics because I'd spoil it for those who haven't read this.
I still like the movie better, to be totally honest, but the book offers good stuff, too. The only problem I had with Kinsella was his political agenda which he seems to push on the reader a lot more than was shown in the film.
Book Review: A Book to Read When You Feel Magic Seeping From Your Life
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine listening to Peggy Lee singing "Is That All There Is" and feeling like you need to sleep for a week to escape the inane, predictable world. And then imagine youself feeling inspired by a short but magical novel that seems to say that just about anything is possible. If you're in the doldrums and tempted to become a cynic, read W. P. Kinsella's SHOELESS JOE. Peggy won't sound so convincing after you're finished.
Yes, of course, the plot is slightly different from the movie's, but not by much. A few scenes from the book are omitted for the sake of pacing, and Hollywood made J.D. Salinger into bestselling writer Terence Mann for legal reasons in case the recluse got his shorts all bunched up. But the storyline of FIELD OF DREAMS is quite faithful to the novel. So why read the book, you ask.
First, Kinsella's style is quite poetic. Although it becomes a bit saccharine in spots, it nevertheless has an easy feel to it. The paragraphs flow with a descriptive grace that is a bit magical in itself. There are some very long digressions, but even these are interesting as they slip nicely into Kinsella's tale of baseball as the saving grace of America--and one man in particular: Ray Kinsella.
The best reason to read this book, however, is to have the author's original words, as opposed to the resulting screenplay, sink into your soul so that you can feel the magic of the prose-poetry at a deeper level, where it can take root.
Kinsella manages to do two things in this novel: he speaks of the importance of the simple things in life: a farm, a pitcher of lemonade, a kiss, baseball. Simultaneously, he implies that there is a magic woven into the very fabric of reality, a magic that can happen to anyone. Paradoxically, it is this magic that ultimately makes the simple things accessible to us. Maybe that's why kids can have fun with rocks, sticks, and carboard boxes--kids who also believe in magic and baseball.
So "is that all there is"? No, Peggy. There is a mysterious world in the cornfields of Ray Kinsella's farm, a world that can touch our own if we allow ourselves to once again believe in dreams and possibilities.
Book Review: A Diamond Gem; A Perfect Game...
Summary: 5 Stars
It was in the summer of 1987 that I wandered into a bookstore in Rockport, Mass. To this day, some 17 years later, I have no idea what drew me to the second floor of that bookstore. There, among the stacks, I found a fantastical book called the Iowa Baseball Confederacy by a W.P. Kinsella. It was summer outside and yet, I was drawn to this obscure book. I read it and fell in love. Two years later, Field of Dreams was released and it was based on Shoeless Joe by this Kinsella fellow. And I feel in love with that movie too. Life moved on and I never read the book, Shoeless Joe. I read a few Kinsella stories, but never had the chance to read his only other novel. THen, I was finally drawn to the book. Perhaps it was the 15th anniversary of "Field of Dreams." Nevertheless, I read Shoeless Joe in a single day (and what a pleasure it was). The book is indeed different from the movie. And that makes it a pleasure. The movie stays close to the spirit of the book, and works beautifully as a motion picture. The book is deeper, sweeter, and more magical. J.D. Salinger, Ray's twin brother, and others populate the cast. Annie is sweeter and more dreamy than in the Amy Madigan's protrayal. Enough about the film though. This is a story about life, love, dreams, and baseball (although baseball is indeed all of those things). It is, as Salinger says,the one constant in our lives. The books explores Ray's mania a bit more. The magic of Kinsella will touch anyone who reads the book. While I'm sorry I took so long to read it, I'm sure as heck glad I did. I read somewhere that Kinsella is no longer writing. I respect that of course, but we sure as hell miss him.