About this title: Ray Kinsella, an insurance agent turned farmer, begins hearing voices--rather, a Voice. "If you build it, he will come," the Voice tells Ray, who intuitively knows that "he" is Shoeless Joe Jackson, banned from baseball along with the other 1919 "Black Sox." Ray builds a baseball stadium in his cornfield, and waits. But the Voice isn't finished. "Ease his pain," it orders Ray; in this case, the person the Voice is talking about is J. D. Salinger, and Ray must kidnap him and take him to a game at Fenway Park in Boston. This is just the beginning....
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Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780345342560ISBN:0345342569
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. very light shelf wear. one dogeared page. small tear/crease side front cover. light browning. Very Good+ Book. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1987-03-12
ISBN-13:9780345342560ISBN:0345342569
Description: Good. Paperback; Ballantine Books; 1987; 0.64 x 6.86 x 4.17 Inches; Good with no DJ; reading copy. Unconditional money back guarantee. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1987
ISBN-13:9780345342560ISBN:0345342569
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
"W.P Kinsella can really write. He used true real life individuals in this book on baseball. Shoeless Joe is there of course, along with Moonlight Graham. While fiction, it is very lifelike. Shoeless Joe was shafted by Judge Landis - who in my view - should be banned from baseball for life and his name striken from all records. Talk about an ego! Shoeless Joe needs to be in the HOF and if I can help with that, I will. Have signed petitions in the past.
This book was the basis for the movie "Build it and they will come."
If you like baseball, this book is a must for your reading and inclusion in your library."
"If you enjoyed the movie Field of Dreams, you owe it to yourself to read Shoeless Joe. What makes this book such a joy to read is Kinsella's powers of description. He creates characters that you love or hate - sometimes both in the course of the story - but to whom you just can't remain indifferent. His metaphors are common things employed in such uncommon literary ways that one hears, smells, and feels all that the characters do. These are the tools that Kinsella uses to frame his central message of striving for what we believe in and that is what makes this an important novel. The protagonist faces the potential loss of the physical means of achieving his dream as well as the scorn and ridicule of those who can't or wont understand the importance of "silly" or impossible dreams in making us who we are. This is also a book about how vital those who believe in us are to our dream-chasing. I challenge any dreamer to not be in love with Annie by the end of the first chapter."
"I have read this book a number of times (at least 3 times). They made the movie FIELD OF DREAMS from this book (and lots of dialogue from the movie is in the book.)
The book of course is very different from the movie. The book is PG-13. There is enough adult stuff in it that I wouldn't recommend it to a 5th or 6th grader.
I have had the chance to visit the FIELD of DREAMS field in Dyersville, Iowa twice, and once was with my 6 year old son (one of the greatest days of my life).
The thing that I like about the book is that it was written in 1982 so the ballplayers that are mentioned were all real players when I was 17 years old. I remember them.
The story is just a good story. I like the way Kinsella ties Moonlight Graham into the story, and how he was a REAL baseball player who really only played one inning for the New York Giants.
JD Salinger was a real author. Kinsella tied just enough real stuff with just enough fiction (and then you can go see the field) that you wonder just how much of it really is fiction.
If you like baseball, it is a great book.
I don't know that it isn't getting a little dated, but it will always be one of my favorites."
"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.'"
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