Book Review: Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella

Ray Kinsella is sitting quietly on the back porch of his Iowa farm one evening when he hears the ghostly voice of a baseball announcer who says to him, "If you build it, he will come." Needing no further explanation, Kinsella immediately sees in his mind's eye a baseball field that he is being asked to create in the middle of a corn field. The voice will speak only two other things to Ray: "Ease his pain" and "Go the distance," and yet the dreaming, idealistic man knows just what he is supposed to do. He knows that digging up the corn field in the back of his house will inspire the return of baseball legend Shoeless Joe Jackson, a man whose reputation was forever tarnished by the scandalous 1919 World Series. So opens the award-winning novel by W.P. Kinsella which was the inspiration for the incredibly popular film Field of Dreams starring Kevin Costner.

W.P. Kinsella has been called a great writer of baseball novels but this title transcends that description. Kinsella doesn't merely treat baseball as a subject in and of itself; instead, he uses it as a metaphor to discuss larger issues such as innocence, belief, and perhaps above all of these things, America. Shoeless Joe is a parable about one of the most fundamental American ideals: beginning anew.

By plowing up a large section of his farmland, Ray Kinsella is both building and rebuilding, creating what has never been as well as re-creating in a sense what had come before. The land had been a place where past sins could be expunged and a new vision realized. It is exactly this sort of renewal that Kinsella's quixotic creation brings about. Most importantly, this is a story about renewal and redress of trauma and sins of the past.

Shoeless Joe is #47 on the Sports Illustrated Greatest 100 Sports books.

I am not a baseball person by any means, despite the hall of fame being so close. Maybe that is why I did not love Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella. Maybe it’s because I’m a curmudgeonly young person who dislikes the tourists, and the main character Ray, reminded me of those tourists.

To be brutally honest, I could not read Shoeless Joe without hearing Kevin Costner in my head. I also kept picturing James Earl Jones as the author, even though the author (JD Salinger) was white. Maybe I should take this as proof that I shouldn’t watch a movie before reading a book, but I won’t.

What can I say? The characters were one-dimensional. The writing was akin to someone in writing class who has promise, but no voice of their own, in other words, it was conventional. The antagonist, Ray’s brother in law, was continually described as twirling his mustache. Ray’s wife was perfect even though her boobs were small(so I’m shallow). Ray’s child was always being compared to flowers and nature. Meh.

I think this book would be excellent for baseball fans. Unfortunately, I am going to have to say I liked the movie better. I would also recommend sipping a Bud Light Lime while reading Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella.

Other reviews of Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella:

• Book Junkie Mom – “this book just didn’t do it for me“

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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