Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Shoeless Joe
Book Review: For the teacher
Summary: 5 Stars
I had the idea of reading this book with my class and watching the movie. The book is awesome. I loved it. If you have seen the movie, Ray in the book is a little more psycho. Kevin Costner makes him seem like a regular Joe. In the book, he is more edgy. With a high school class, this book would be appropriate. Of the 265 pages, 99% of the ideas expressed are wholesome, life-altering, and clever. It's the one percent that will not allow me as a professional educator to read this book with my sixth grade class next year. I would recommend this book if a student asked me about it, but I would not assign it. There are a few questionable passages that are unnecessary to the plot, yet help us understand the edgy Ray. The movie is pretty true to the book. The book is satisfying to read, whether you enjoy baseball or not.Book Review: Fulfilling Dreams
Summary: 5 Stars
If you like baseball, read this book. If you like history, read this book. If you dream, read this book. If you are human, read this book. Shoeless Joe is a novel about life's miracles and fulfilling dreams. It is about helping others to live their dreams and therebye realize your own. It shows that dreams must be earned. Along the way, the readers learn some esoteric baseball history that any fan of the game would find fun.
A good novel.
Book Review: Glove oil and leather, and Freshly cut grass
Summary: 5 Stars
W.P Kinsella. Shoeless Joe. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982. 265 pp. $22.95.When was the last time you tumbled onto cool, moist grass, looked up at the robin's-egg blue sky, and imagined that the clouds were forming shapes of various animals? Or the last time you felt total freedom while lifting yourself skyward on an old tree swing, back when summer never seemed to end?
These and many more childhood memories will come alive while reading Shoeless Joe. W.P. Kinsella's fictional accounting centers on baseball legend Joe Jackson, one of the Chicago "Black" Sox 8, who was permanently banned from baseball. Joe's magical appearance in an Iowa cornfield initiates a journey for main character Ray Kinsella, to not only fulfill his dreams, but those of many extraordinary characters, too.
At first glance, the book is about baseball and Ray's journey to fulfill the request of the voice, "If you build it, he will come." But as Ray ventures across the country the reader begins to sense that, as in The Wizard of Oz, anything is possible, simply by believing. As the plot develops, Ray's acceptance of the mystical, almost religious aspects of baseball, allows the reader to revisit dreams from his own past, too. Ray says, "Your secret dreams grow over the years like apple seeds sown in your belly...sprout through your skin, gentle and soft and wondrous, and they breathe and have a life on their own...."
Though most of the characters are as refreshing as a Popsicle or as rich as a Fudgsicle on a summer's day, Ray's wife, Annie is far too loving and weak. Female readers, in particular, may have difficulty connecting to Annie's life, with her lack of protest when her husband plans to plow under their crops to construct a ball-field. But, many readers can relate to Ray's efforts directed toward repairing his relationship with his dad, and may realize how profoundly this book mirrors their own relationships, too.
Upon deeper reflection, a reader realizes the importance of Moonlight Graham's statement that "hardly anybody recognizes the most significant moments of their life at the time they happen." While reading this book, a reader may experience a deep desire to turn back the hands of time for a chance to relive his childhood, or to take back words spoken in anger, or to reawaken in the arms of a love from long ago.
The story rides on dialogue, rhythmically slow like baseball, as Ray tiptoes beyond the realm of this world. Threading the timelessness of baseball throughout the book suggests immortality to the reader, as Ray tries to answer the question "Is this Heaven." The reader is drawn in and realizes that looking at this world is not the same as seeing it. Miracles happen everyday and can be taken for granted when viewed only with the eyes, and not appreciated with the heart, as well. Sacred events of planting and harvesting fertile farmland, the changing seasons, and the glorious birth of children are connected to the repeating cycle of baseball.
Author W.P. Kinsella's strength is mastery of the metaphor, with similes stunning our senses with vivid descriptions, conjuring up precise, almost tangible images. He writes, " Moonlight butters the whole Iowa night. Clover and corn smells are thick as syrup." A reader can almost taste a big stack of pancakes. W.P. Kinsella draws in the reader with the familiarity of baseball, while challenging him to rekindle his dream. Each time a batter is up in Shoeless Joe, the renewal of hope hangs as crisp and fresh as sheets on the line to dry. When Ray's twin brother, Richard, returns to the family, and J.D Salinger is reunited with his first love, the reader comes away believing that it is truly possible to start over again.
Like meeting an old friend at a favorite ballpark, the reader can escape the routine of schedules and deadlines, while enjoying this book based on a summer ritual. W.P. Kinsella satisfies the reader with a significant amount of baseball facts, sifted through the Chicago scandal. He successfully concludes when the reader's nostrils are filled with nostalgia of glove oil and leather, freshly cut grass, and home-baked apple pie. Kathie Mueller
Book Review: Great Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I had to read this book for school and I thought I would hate it because I hate baseball. As soon as I started reading this book I knew I would love it. This book is a must read even if you hate baseball.Book Review: Great theme and ideas, really bad writing
Summary: 2 Stars
"Shoeless Joe" has lots of great ideas, and the central theme is nothing short of amazing. However, Kinsella's writing style is so "unique" that it can be extremely difficult to read. The dialogue is awkward, the characters are flat, and as has been mentioned before, he basically describes every person, place, thing, and action in this novel through an endless series of analogies. Excusing poor writing gets tiresome, and it detracts from the overall enjoyability of the novel. This is one example of a story that Hollywood elevated from its original source material. And this review is not coming from a high school student who read the book as part of a class assignment, as a previous reviewer has suggested for anyone with less than a 5-star review of the book. Overall, reading this novel is like tolerating a poor imitation of your favorite meal cooked by an inexperienced chef at a poorly managed restaurant. Its heart is in the right place, and it does in fact resemble something you love; but it's impossible to enjoy because the taste is so appalling.