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Shoeless Joe

3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 · rating details · 5,144 ratings · 378 reviews

“If you build it, he will come.”

These mysterious words inspire Ray Kinsella to create a cornfield baseball diamond in honor of his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson. What follows is a rich, nostalgic look at one of our most cherished national pastimes and a remarkable story about fathers and sons, love and family, and the inimitable joy of finding your way home.

Hardcover, 272 pages

Published April 28th 1999 by Turtleback Books (first published 1982)

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Jun 27, 2008 Jeffrey rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow! I saw the movie years ago and I just picked this book up to have something to read at the beach. I was blown away. Kinsella has a beautiful way with language. As the cover says, this is not just a book about baseball. It is a book about love and memories, about the truth of our lives, and, in the end, like so many other great works, it is about fathers and sons and the heart rending distance between them that is filled with longing and love and the inability to express it. It left me in tea...more

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Jul 24, 2009 April rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: summer-challenge-2009

I am not a baseball person by any means, despite Cooperstown being 45 minutes away. Maybe that is why I did not love this book. Maybe it's because I'm a curmidgeonly young person who hates those tourists who find it in their best interest to do 30 MPH in a 45 MPH, and the main character Ray, reminded me of those tourists.
Read the rest of my review here

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May 25, 2007 Raquel rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: baseball fans, writers, and maybe people from iowa?

A "grand slam." (Don't groan too loudly!) An easy read (it was in the young adult section of my library) but the prose is really lovely. The story is similar to the movie that was based on it, Field of Dreams, but has more characters, who are all much more interesting.

I learned about the Black Sox scandal and the class tensions behind it. Interesting!

I highly recommend it. I'd offer to lend out my copy, but I don't own it.

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Feb 01, 2010 Casey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

It is so nice to read a book like this one.

I admit that I approached it with apprehension. I had been wanting to read it for a very long time, but the movie Field of Dreams was already so beloved to me that I worried the book might somehow lessen its appeal in my eyes.

This is not a book that is meant to be skimmed through for plot details, or main ideas. This book is meant to be savored. The prose reads like poetry and breeds fantasy and wonder. The author puts his reader right in the moment wi...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought it would be okay... but it's fantastic. One of those books to own and add to your collection, with such a great lyrical style, it's an amazing, beautiful book. A little heavy-handed on the baseball religion towards the end, but an awesome read.

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Mar 11, 2009 Ted Mallory rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites, dear-recommendations

Shoeless Joe is the novel that the Kevin Costner movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was based on. Once again I had a famous actor’s voice to use and once again the book is better than the movie. That’s a tall order in this case because ‘Field of Dreams’ is one of the greatest movies ever. ESPN rates it as the all time best baseball movie, even above ‘the Bad News Bears’ and ‘Bull Durham.’

The only things that make me cry are the Gettysburg Address and the scene in ‘Field of Dreams’ where Ray Kinsella (Kevin...more Shoeless Joe is the novel that the Kevin Costner movie ‘Field of Dreams’ was based on. Once again I had a famous actor’s voice to use and once again the book is better than the movie. That’s a tall order in this case because ‘Field of Dreams’ is one of the greatest movies ever. ESPN rates it as the all time best baseball movie, even above ‘the Bad News Bears’ and ‘Bull Durham.’

The only things that make me cry are the Gettysburg Address and the scene in ‘Field of Dreams’ where Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) finally works up the nerve to talk to the ghost catcher, who’s a younger version of his dad.

Shoeless Joe is written in first person and it does include a lot of description, but its practically poetry and it’s mostly about Iowa. Ray’s father, who played baseball as a young man but never made it to the majors, owned a hardware store in Montana. Ray came to the University of Iowa for college, tried selling insurance, but was talked into farming corn by the girl he fell in love with and married in Iowa City. It didn’t take long for him to fall in love with the land too.

Anyone who’s seen the movie knows that it’s not so much about what Ray can do for Shoeless Joe and the other 1918 White Sox as it is about what Baseball does for Ray. This book is about guys figuring out how to have relationships with other guys. Something we guys aren’t always good at.

There are two major differences between the movie and the book. One is that Ray doesn’t just have to reconcile with his dead father, he also has an identical twin who ran away from home at fifteen that Ray hadn’t seen in twenty years. The other is that the character of the radical sixties writer played by James Earl Jones in the film is actually a real writer, J.D.Salinger.

When Bethany and I first saw ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, we went out and got a copy of ‘An Affair to Remember’ with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr because the characters in the ‘Sleepless’ were so caught up and influenced by ‘An Affair.’(less)

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Jan 25, 2009 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had always wanted to read this novel, which became the movie Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner, which I loved. (It is “not so much about baseball as it is about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American.” Philly Inquirer.) I really enjoyed it, and the movie was very true to it, so I could really visualize the events and people in a fabulous way that doesn’t happen too often when novels are made into movies. The love of baseball permeates the whole book, and is a homey feeling...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Erik Malvick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, ebook, fiction, favorites, recommended

I read this book because of the movie Field of Dreams. I'm sure that is typical. This novel reads very much like the screen play to that movie, but as in most book and movie combos, the book wins out in terms of quality.

The key to any good baseball story is if the story is good enough for a non-baseball fan to read. For this book, I would say yes... I would even say that for the movie. This story isn't so much about baseball but about dreams. It is about going after your heart no matter the cons...more

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Oct 13, 2012 S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

For me Shoeless Joe is as much a story about religion as it is about baseball. A simple man hears a voice that tells him to build a baseball field in a cornfield across from his house in Iowa. Despite his doubts and the voices of critics, the man follows blind faith and builds it. This reminded me at least a little of Noah and his ark. And although there is no flood, the result is nothing less than a miracle. The man then hears the voice again and sets out once again with blind faith to drive ac...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Jamie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This summer I read Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. The main basis of the story is that a baseball loving farmer, Ray Kinsella, living in Iowa hears a strange voice saying "If you build it he will come." Ray decides that "it" is a baseball stadium that he must construct in his corn field, and "he" is the infamous Shoeless Joe Jackson of the 1919 Chicago White Sox. After months of meticulous construction he finishes his right field. Soon after a ghostly man appears on the field. This man is the gh...more

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Jan 29, 2012 Alkatraz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

"If you build it, he will come." One of the most famous lines in both film and literature. We, as readers, are dropped square in the middle of Iowa with Ray and his family on his small farm. The place is mortgaged to the hilt and he starts to hear an announcer and see visions. He knows what he has to do without being given any specific instructions. Build a ball field, ease an author's pain, going the distance... all in hopes that he can see one person again.

Throughout the story, we are regaled...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Carlton rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book ''shoeless Joe'' was a great book. W.P. Kinsella wrote this book to entertain a reader who loves baseball and mystery. I think W.P. Kinsella wrote this book for teenagers and anyone who enjoys the game and history of baseball and to have people remember how fun baseball is as a sport.

The theme of this book is a farmer from Iowa who grows corn. His wife Annie and their five-year-old daughter Karin. I think Kinsella likes the game of baseball. Kinsella likes his hero shoeless Joe Jackson....more

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May 16, 2011 Lily Bart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not perfect -- but much better than the movie!!!

I read this book when it first came out, as a young Marine in 1988. I found it to be MUCH better than the movie with Kevin Costner that came out shortly afterwards. The book is light, fun, playful, full of warmth but never takes itself too seriously. The movie is slow, dull, self-important and strangely inert, with a lot of dull, empty scenes and some strident Sixties posturing that has nothing to do with the book's exploration of baseball.

When I l...more

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Feb 22, 2011 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-classics

W.P. Kinsella is a phenomenal wordsmith -- particularly when it comes to similes. His writing enchanted me, and there were passages that I had to stop and reread again and again; the phrasing and lyricism capturing something. I really enjoyed that about this book, though it made it a very slow read (not a book to skim or speed read).

On the other hand, W.P. Kinsella is *exceedingly* odd. "Field of Dreams" is taken from this book, but I quickly discovered that it is very loosely taken from this bo...more

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Dec 01, 2010 Jeremiah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 04, 2010 Michael Ramm rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: baseball fans

The book that the movie Field of Dreams (which is one of my favorite movies of all-time) has much more than the filmmakers used.

It is the story of Ray Kinsella and how he plowed under his precious corn fields in the middle of Iowa to build a baseball field because a mysterious voice from beyond told him to do so. He is ridiculed by family, almost bankrupt, but he continues to manicure the field until one day some one shows up to play on the field. It is none other than 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson, th...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Casey Harris rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've never been a big fan of Field of Dreams, the film based on this novel. But, there's something fantastic about this book (maybe it's that Kevin Costner isn't part of the book...ahem). I think one of the neatest things about the book is that J.D. Salinger, legendary reclusive author of Catcher in the Rye, is a character in this book, one that was replaced in the film by another writer portrayed by James Earl Jones, reportedly in response to Salinger's threats to bring legal action against the...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Peter rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: baseball fans

Shelves: fantasy

I picked this up used at the library's permanent book sale for a buck.

Add it to the very short list of books which aren't as good as their movie adaptations. A lot of the speeches were improved by much pruning for the movie, and the plot was cleaned up a good bit, too.

The book is okay, and I can see that for some it might really "click". But to me it just doesn't quite work. The whole thing felt forced to me, a too-deliberate attempt to create a classic (not unlike The Polar Express, which was a...more

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Oct 04, 2011 The Rusty Key rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Becca Worthington

Recommended for: Boys and girls, Ages 10+ (mostly boys)

One Word Summary: Heavy-Handed.

To be candid, I don’t find baseball a particularly magical sport. I have always found it to be a lot of standing around and waiting, while a few people occasionally jog a little and catch something with a lot of time in between.

As a child growing up in Richmond, I was occasionally dragged to a Richmond Braves game, where I spent the majority of the time running up...more Reviewed by Rusty Key Writer: Becca Worthington

Recommended for: Boys and girls, Ages 10+ (mostly boys)

One Word Summary: Heavy-Handed.

To be candid, I don’t find baseball a particularly magical sport. I have always found it to be a lot of standing around and waiting, while a few people occasionally jog a little and catch something with a lot of time in between.

As a child growing up in Richmond, I was occasionally dragged to a Richmond Braves game, where I spent the majority of the time running up and down the risers playing tag with my siblings and trying to start “the wave” when no one else wanted to do it. In high school, I dated a guy or two on the team and loyally showed up at the games, but usually after ten minutes of cheering out of girlfriendly obligation, I would stealthily pull out my homework. Now, living in New York as an adult, I have proudly done my duty and gone to two

Mets games and a Yankees game. I don’t remember who won any of them, but my favorite was the Yankees game, which consisted of spending two hours hunkered under an awning in the stands of Yankee Stadium while we waited for the verdict that it was officially rained out. But since I ate a hot dog and Cracker Jacks, I still feel like I truly “experienced” a Yankees game. At least to the degree that I ever care to.

So why in the world, you are probably asking, did I opt to read Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella? The answer is two-fold. One, it is historically known as the biggest love letter to the sport of baseball written to date, and I figured that—susceptible as I am to a well-told story—if anything could show me the magic of the sport, this was it. Two, I had to. It was the monthly selection for my film adaptations book club.

I remember watching the movie Field of Dreams (the movie based on this book) as a child, marveling at the sound whispering across the field toward
Kevin Costner: “If you build it, he will come.” And as I read the book, I fully remembered the brilliance of the premise: an everyday Iowa corn farmer hears a voice telling him to plow down half of his crops and erect a baseball stadium in his backyard. He is convinced, against all reason, that if he does this, the long-dead baseball hero Shoeless Joe Jackson will appear somehow, and against all reason, he actually does. The ghost of Shoeless Joe appears one evening on the new field and plays a game of catch with the farmer. But the voice does not stop there. It begins to task him with other equally peculiar errands, all of which are increasingly preposterous to his Iowa neighbors. When he hears the voice tell him to drive several states away, locate a famously reclusive author, and bring him back to Iowa with him, even his wonderfully understanding wife begins to worry that they will have to foreclose on the farm if he continues listening to the voice. But the magic has clearly begun, and he feels strongly that he must carry his tasks through to their completion. Will his faithful obedience cost him everything from his farm to his marriage, as he is beginning to fear, or will the magic pay off and will he find out what the voices intended for him all along?

I wanted to like the book. I really did. But the movie—which I can report is a charmingly loyal and fantastically successful adaptation with room for some interesting discussion points, should you choose to read the book and view it on your own—is just so much better. Where the movie captures the true magic of the adventure and the nuanced struggle of continuing to believe in the face of ridicule and tremendous loss, the book bludgeons its reader over the head with long-winded soliloquies about the religion of baseball and the historical statistics of third basemen. For a reader who already loves the sport, this will likely be less of an issue, but it doesn’t change the fact that the narrative suffers at the hands of one so obsessed. The premise, courtesy of W.P. Kinsella, is no doubt inspiring, and the book has gotten well reviewed enough by baseball lovers of many ages that I am hesitant to give it a double thumbs down. But I will say this: in the opinion of this book fanatic, the film hit a home run where the book struck out.

For more reviews, author interviews, reading lists and articles from The Rusty Key, visit us at www.therustykey.com (less)

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May 31, 2011 Shari Larsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not into baseball, but I still loved the movie Field of Dreams, so I was glad to see this book, which the movie was based on, free for Kindle.

A voice tells Ray Kinsella to build a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield in Iowa, where he lives with his wife Annie and his daughter Karin. Ray loves baseball, and despite people thinking he is crazy, he begins to construct a ball park on his farm, he knows that sometimes you just have to follow your heart, and Annie supports him in this. S...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Aaron rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: baseball fans, farmers, writing students, dreamers

Recommended to Aaron by: Michelle Haire

We all know that well-worn, but completely apt, cliché that the "book is better than the movie." Also, to say that "Field of Dreams" is one of my favorite baseball movies would be a vast understatement. So, then, we come to Shoeless Joe, and the cliché wins again. After reading the book, there's just so much more to the experience. The writing, the settings, even the characters (who are not the same, by the way) exude so much more essence in the book than they do in the film. The way Kinsella de...more

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Feb 20, 2013 James rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: baseball

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Like most baseball fans, I've seen Field of Dreams a number of times, though this was my first time reading Shoeless Joe, the book it was based on. Knowing what happens, at least on a general level, before you read a book takes a little of the fun out of it. It's hard to get as wrapped up in the tension of certain scenes when snippets from the film start running in the back of your mind and eliminate any element of surprise. I found myself following Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan through the narr...more Like most baseball fans, I've seen Field of Dreams a number of times, though this was my first time reading Shoeless Joe, the book it was based on. Knowing what happens, at least on a general level, before you read a book takes a little of the fun out of it. It's hard to get as wrapped up in the tension of certain scenes when snippets from the film start running in the back of your mind and eliminate any element of surprise. I found myself following Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan through the narrative, though James Earl Jones at least was easy to eliminate.

The Terrance Mann character that Jones played was concocted for the movie. In Shoeless Joe, the voice that gives Ray Kinsella messages sends him out to New Hampshire in search of reclusive author J.D. Salinger, who becomes quite a significant character. Real-life Salinger, however, was none too thrilled by fictional Salinger. Lawyers were involved. Threats were made. The movie producers concocted Mann and left Salinger out of the Hollywood version of the story.

There were enough other differences that the book contained a few twists and turns. Ray has an identical twin who shows up on his farm while wandering the country with a circus sideshow. They haven't seen each other in 20 years and have some catching up to do. Ray also befriends (and purchases his farm from) an old ballplayer named Eddie "Kid" Scissons, who claims to have played for the Cubs from 1908-10 and totes around the uniform he intends to be buried in. He too didn't make the screenplay. Conversely, the famous book-banning brawl at the PTA meeting didn't happen in the book.

Perhaps most significantly, the relationship between Ray Kinsella and his father develops very differently in the book. There is no game of catch, hence no famous "Hey, Dad, you wanna have a catch?" line. When Ray finally musters up the gumption to approach his father, as a young catcher, he is accompanied by his brother Richard, who has up until that point been frustratingly unable to see the players or the action on the field. Both brothers are understandably nervous and excited.

"As the three of us walk across the vast emerald lake that is the outfield, I think of all the things I'll want to talk to the catcher about. I'll guide the conversations, like taking a car around a long, gentle curve in the road, and we'll hardly realize that we're talking of love, and family, and life, and beauty, and friendship, and sharing …"

In many ways, that is also a fair description of the book. With a whole lot of baseball mixed in, of course. There's beauty in both what Kinsella writes about and how he writes it. He splashes color throughout with liberal use of similes to liven his descriptions.

"It is one of those nights when the sky is close enough to touch, so close that looking up is like seeing my own eyes reflected in a rain barrel." … "He goes down slow as a toppling tree, the ball snapping into his glove as little puffs of dust rise in the air all along the length of his body." … "The crack of the bat sounds like a paper bag exploding, yet the sound is cold and lonely, too, like a hunter firing on an endless tundra." … "Mark and Bluestein are rooted to their spots at the foot of the bleacher, as if they've been driven into the ground like pins on a map."

It is justifiably regarded as one of the best baseball novels ever written. Definitely in my top 5-10 somewhere.(less)

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Jul 18, 2011 Jason rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have a feeling I would've liked the movie better even if I'd read the book first. From a style standpoint, the author pumps out metaphors like a coke machine (IRONY ALERT!). He's in love with describing one thing as being like something else, which is fine when done sparingly.

The story's great, though. Annie sounds like the most perfect woman/wife ever created by a writer, Canadian or otherwise. And I spent a fair amount of time wanting to punch J.D. Salinger, which seems about right given my...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Jeff Stockett rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, saw-the-movie

This is the book that inspired one of my favorite movies, Field of Dreams. I absolutely loved this book.

Of course, I have loved the movie for a long time. I love how it is the story of a man who followed an inspiration, a still small voice, even though it was crazy. His inspiration lead him to help others achieve their dreams, and get the things they were looking for but ultimately it lead to him achieving his own dreams.

But this isn't a review of the movie. The book tells the same story but ad...more

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May 06, 2011 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fiction

I enjoyed this story mostly for its themes of forgiveness, sacrifice, and redemption. Even though the movie based on this story (Field of Dreams) is somewhat different in its plot, the strength of these themes is similar.

This is the second book where Kinsella has confused me with symbolism. I had the same problem with The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. (view spoiler)...more

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Jul 18, 2011 J.E. Jr. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: baseball fans

Recommended to J.E. by: Lee Ferguson

Shelves: fiction, treadmill-reads

Another good, yet strange, book.

Naturally, I’ve seen the movie (Field of Dreams) based on this book, so when my friend Lee mentioned that it was available for free through the Kindle Store, I gladly downloaded it. It seemed like a good one to tackle while working out on the stationary bike and/or treadmill. And it was.

The movie gave me the advantage of being familiar, at least loosely, with the story, and I was pleased to see that the movie re-told the story pretty closely (leaving out a few key...more Another good, yet strange, book.

Naturally, I’ve seen the movie (Field of Dreams) based on this book, so when my friend Lee mentioned that it was available for free through the Kindle Store, I gladly downloaded it. It seemed like a good one to tackle while working out on the stationary bike and/or treadmill. And it was.

The movie gave me the advantage of being familiar, at least loosely, with the story, and I was pleased to see that the movie re-told the story pretty closely (leaving out a few key parts, of course, but surprisingly little in my opinion). That made for a faster read, I suppose, which is good because there were points where the book dragged a bit. The author had a couple of tangents that seemed entirely superfluous to me; perhaps an absolute hardcore baseball fan (like Lee!) might get them, but some of them I’m not so sure about even then.

Still, it’s a good story, and a fun one. A nostalgic, baseball-loving version of the “stickin’ it to the man” thing, with a few twists.

One thing I really liked: Ray’s relationship with his wife, Annie (which is barely a “B” story, but is still a consistent thread through the book) is a great portrayal of a wife who is so devoted to her husband and loves him well, in spite of how bizarre or off-the-wall his dreams and ambitions seem to others.

One thing I didn’t: the reverence for baseball in this book, at times, approaches religious zeal— even asserting at one point that salvation is found in the idea of baseball! It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with religious zealotry in books, or even that I’m inherently troubled by misplaced religious fervor; neither of those are necessarily bad. But I guess the reverence for something as, well, untranscendent as baseball seems like a waste of religious energy to me. Don’t get me wrong— I love baseball, and I “get” the transcendence that the author was/is trying to portray about baseball: that it is one of the few consistent things through the last half of American history, that it is something that can connect fathers and sons when other things can’t, etc. But even in light of these, Kinsella’s take was too much, I thought.

But I liked the book, and the zealotry only showed up occasionally, and only one scene were it went over the top— so I would recommend it to anyone who likes baseball.

(less)

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Mar 02, 2012 Elaine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Favourite lines: pg 99 - Baseball games are like snowflakes and fingerprints; no two are ever the same. pg 99 Your secret dreams that grow over the years like apple seeds sown in your belly, grow up through you in leafy wonder and finally sprout through your skin, gentle and soft and wondrous, and they breathe and have a life of their own. pg 107 It's like just falling in love - you want the sensations to last forever. You don't want to go to sleep because you know that no matter how good you fe...more

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Jun 28, 2008 Maury rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the book that the film Field of Dreams was based on. I love that movie, makes me cry every single time he goes and plays catch with his father. Anyway, I've never read the entire thing, but did as part of my Baseball Fiction class at UNLV this summer. It's lyrical, maybe too much, but I LOVED IT. I still love the movie, but this book is incredible.

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Jul 17, 2012 Martin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012books

"Field of Dreams" was the first movie I remember seeing in a movie theater. I remember being scared by "the voice," loving the players disappearing into the corn field, and not knowing who Burt Lancaster was. It's a movie I loved. Watching it again recently, I'm happy to say that, for the most part, it holds up. And the best sections of the movie (really from the time Ray leaves his farm to find Terrence Mann (JD Salinger in the novel) until he returns to the farm) come almost exactly from the b...more "Field of Dreams" was the first movie I remember seeing in a movie theater. I remember being scared by "the voice," loving the players disappearing into the corn field, and not knowing who Burt Lancaster was. It's a movie I loved. Watching it again recently, I'm happy to say that, for the most part, it holds up. And the best sections of the movie (really from the time Ray leaves his farm to find Terrence Mann (JD Salinger in the novel) until he returns to the farm) come almost exactly from the book. Many of the best, most memorable, lines throughout the movie come straight from the novel, and the movie retains the sense of poetic mystery so well crafted by the book.

That said, as is common, the book outstrips the film at every angle. My only criticism of the novel is the occasionally purple prose, and the slightly overwrought sense of poetry throughout. That said, the elegiac tone and gentle pacing, the mystery and clarity, the religion of baseball, even the relative weirdness of the book -- all feels completely sui generis. I've not read a book like this before.

The ties that bind all the characters in the story are clearer in the book than the film -- and when the film is at its clunkiest (the overly explicit and maudlin ending) the book strikes the perfect tone. You realize much sooner in the book that "the voice" is describing all the characters in the novel in different ways -- indeed, as is clear by the end -- the voice is crying out for all of America. Even as the dialogue in the book is clunky and overwritten (nobody sounds like a character, everybody sounds like the narrator), the people feel honest and real, each in their way.

This is a book that manages to encompass much grander themes than the film, and also achieve its success in a lower-key, gentler register. While the movie remains one of my childhood favorites, I was very glad to have finally read this book and explored deeper into that magical Iowa corn/baseball field, and the people who are redeemed by it.(less)

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May 30, 2008 Susan Quinn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I read this book at the start of baseball season every year for ten years. Don't judge from the deeply flawed movie adaptation, "Field of Dreams." This book is required reading for lovers of baseball, and few things can more effectively get me in the mood for summer and long evenings at the ballpark with my dad.

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About W.P. Kinsella

William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.

William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his...more William Patrick Kinsella, OC, OBC is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. His work has often concerned baseball and Canada's First Nations and other Canadian issues.

William Patrick Kinsella was born to John Matthew Kinsella and Olive Kinsella in Edmonton, Alberta. Kinsella was raised until he was 10 years-old at a homestead near Darwell, Alberta, 60 km west of the city, home-schooled by his mother and taking correspondence courses. "I'm one of these people who woke up at age five knowing how to read and write," he says. When he was ten, the family moved to Edmonton.

As an adult, he held a variety of jobs in Edmonton, including as a clerk for the Government of Alberta and managing a credit bureau. In 1967, he moved to Victoria, British Columbia, running a pizza restaurant called Caesar's Italian Village and driving a taxi.

Though he had been writing since he was a child (winning a YMCA contest at age 14), he began taking writing courses at the University of Victoria in 1970, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing there in 1974. He travelled down to Iowa and earned a Master of Fine Arts in English degree through the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1978. In 1991, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the University of Victoria.

Kinsella's most famous work is Shoeless Joe, upon which the movie Field of Dreams was based. A short story by Kinsella, "Lieberman in Love", was the basis for a short film that won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film – the Oscar win came as a surprise to the author, who, watching the award telecast from home, had no idea the film had been made and released. He had not been listed in the film's credits, and was not acknowledged by director Christine Lahti in her acceptance speech – a full-page advertisement was later placed in Variety apologizing to Kinsella for the error. Kinsella's eight books of short stories about life on a First Nations reserve were the basis for the movie Dance Me Outside and CBC television series The Rez, both of which Kinsella considers very poor quality. The collection Fencepost Chronicles won the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour in 1987.

Before becoming a professional author, he was a professor of English at the University of Calgary in Alberta. Kinsella suffered a car accident in 1997 which resulted in the end of his fiction-writing career. He is a noted tournament Scrabble player, becoming more involved with the game after being disillusioned by the 1994 Major League Baseball strike. He currently lives in Yale, British Columbia with his fourth wife, Barbara, and occasionally writes articles for various newspapers.

In the year 1993, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 2005, he was awarded the Order of British Columbia.
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Quotes from Shoeless Joe

“Baseball is the most perfect of games, solid, true, pure and precious as diamonds. If only life were so simple. Within the baselines anything can happen. Tides can reverse; oceans can open. That's why they say, "the game is never over until the last man is out." Colors can change, lives can alter, anything is possible in this gentle, flawless, loving game.” — 38 people liked it

“God what an outfield,' he says. 'What a left field.' He looks up at me, and I look down at him. 'This must be heaven,' he says.

No. It's Iowa,' I reply automatically. But then I feel the night rubbing softly against my face like cherry blossoms; look at the sleeping girl-child in my arms, her small hand curled around one of my fingers; think of the fierce warmth of the woman waiting for me in the house; inhale the fresh-cut grass small that seems locked in the air like permanent incense; and listen to the drone of the crowd, as below me Shoelss Joe Jackson tenses, watching the angle of the distant bat for a clue as to where the ball will be hit.

I think you're right, Joe,' I say, but softly enough not to disturb his concentration.” — 22 people liked it

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