Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Shoeless Joe
Book Review: Catch a Good Book
Summary: 4 Stars
Shoeless Joe is a great story. "If youbuild it he will come"were the words Ray Kinsella, and Iowa corn farmer, hears coming from a mysterious baseball announcer. Ray knows what he must do; he cuts down part of his cornfield to build a baseball stadium where miracles do happen. This story isn't so much about baseball as it is emotion, love, and honor. In Shoeless Joe, after Ray completes the stadium, two men named Mark and Bluestein keep trying to buy Ray's land and bulldoze the stadium and have the land be farmed by computers. So Ray is trying to save his farm throughout the whole book. Ray recieves other instructions from the mysterious such as' Ease his pain," and "Go the distance." Ray knows that he must follow these instructions and his travels bring him from Iowa to New Hampshire then all the way to Minnesota. I would give this book four stars because it is a great book with lots of good characters, however there are where it's sort of boring because it grows very repetitive, but over all I thought it was a very good book.Book Review: Comfort Reading
Summary: 5 Stars
Just as there is comfort food, there is comfort reading. And for me, there is no better comfort reading than W.P. Kinsella's classic baseball fantasy, Shoeless Joe. I re-read this one every few years to remind myself why I fell in love with the game in the first place - and why that romance has lasted for over 50 years now. What is not to like about a novel about baseball, family and second chances? Keep in mind that this is not Field of Dreams, the great Kevin Costner movie based on Kinsella's novel. Shoeless Joe is better.
Ray Kinsella, an accidental farmer, lives with his wife and little girl on a rented Iowa farm. Ray is still learning on the job, and things are not going well. But despite the family's financial problems, Ray is willing to plow up a substantial portion of his cornfield when he hears what seems to be the voice of a baseball announcer saying to him, "If you build it, he will come." Weird as that is, Ray instinctively knows that he is Shoeless Joe Jackson, one of the disgraced Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series (and his father's favorite baseball player). So build it, he does.
Building the stadium, though, is just the beginning of Ray's quest, a quest that will lead him on a cross-country road trip to the hideaway home of reclusive author J.D. Salinger. Ray knows that he needs to bring Salinger back to his little Iowa ballpark, but he does not know why - and Salinger is having none of it, so Ray kidnaps him. On the way back to Iowa, Ray stops in Boston to deliver on the promise he made to Salinger to bring him to a game at Fenway Park if he would just get in the car. Late in the game, Ray's personal announcer makes another appearance to give Ray and Salinger a hint about what they need to do next.
Shoeless Joe is, especially for hardcore baseball fans, a thing of beauty. It is primarily a novel about the beauty of second chances. Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Black Sox get to play baseball again; Ray reconciles with the twin brother he lost track of years earlier; old men who barely missed out on the opportunity to play major league baseball get a chance to see their younger selves compete with and against ghost players from the past; Ray gets to see his father as a young man. And Ray gets a second chance to save his farm from his scheming brother-in-law.
This is a book about following one's dreams, taking chances, and joyously living the only shot at life any of us will ever be blessed to have. When I need to remind myself of these principles, I reach for Shoeless Joe. It has done the trick for three decades - and I hope there are still several more re-reads in my future.
Book Review: Compares only slightly to the movie "Field of Dreams"
Summary: 3 Stars
"Never judge a book by its movie," they say, and in this case the adage holds true. "Field of Dreams" has been around since 1989 and is not merely a baseball flick, or a Kevin Costner starlight -- it's the depiction of a spiritual journey for both Ray Kinsella and the audience. The book "Shoeless Joe," on the other hand, provides more food for thought and additional storylines. If you simply see the movie, you'll miss out on meeting Kid Scissons, the oldest living Chicago Cub, who rented his farm to Ray and Annie. You won't know that Ray has a twin brother Richard who left home at 15, never to be seen or heard from again, until the time that Ray built his baseball field. And though there are times when the novel's characters share the same script with their movie counterparts, there are many more instances when they don't.If you are the kind of person who has to watch "Field of Dreams" at least once a year, then you should jump back a step and read "Shoeless Joe." Better yet, you should make the trip to Dyersville, Iowa, where the field and the farmhouse still exist and look just as they did in the movie. If you can stand on that baseball field without any emotion or without a chill moving along your spine, then someone better check your pulse.
Book Review: Crap
Summary: 1 Stars
What a disappointment. You know a book is bad when the movie is actually better than it -- light years better, actually. Whoever wrote the screenplay took the few good ideas in the book and focused on them. They also kept some of the poetic / purple dialog. Just enough to not overdo it. The book overdoes everything. When compared with the movie script, it reads like a rough draft. The nerve to put J.D. Salinger in it. Like he should ever be associated with such low-grade art. Treasure the movie, don't bother with the book.Book Review: Crazy about Baseball in Iowa
Summary: 5 Stars
Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella is an inspiring story of Ray Kinsella, a not-so-typical farmer from Iowa who just loves baseball. One day while he's out in his cornfield, he hears the voice of a baseball announcer say, "If you build it, he will come." Like a vision from a crystal ball, he realises and sees that "he" is Shoeless Joe Jackson, and "it" is a baseball field. Although he's called crazy by the rest of the town, his daughter and wife stand beside him. The voice, and Shoeless Joe keep him motivated as they lead him on a journey all across USA to fufill his dreams.Shoeless Joe is a beautifully written story about going for your dreams, the American way, and remembering true values of life. It's a great book, and it's truly inspiring. I recommend you to BUY BUY BUY!