Shoeless Joe

By W. P. Kinsella

Publisher Description

The novel that inspired Field of Dreams: “A lyrical, seductive, and altogether winning concoction.” —The New York Times Book Review

One of Sports Illustrated’s 100 Greatest Sports Books

“If you build it, he will come.” When Ray Kinsella hears these mysterious words spoken in the voice of an Iowa baseball announcer, he is inspired to carve a baseball diamond in his cornfield. It is a tribute to his hero, the legendary Shoeless Joe Jackson, whose reputation was forever tarnished by the scandalous 1919 World Series.

What follows is a timeless story that is “not so much about baseball as it is about dreams, magic, life, and what is quintessentially American” (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

“A triumph of hope.” —The Boston Globe

“A moonlit novel about baseball, dreams, family, the land, and literature.” —Sports Illustrated

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305 Reviews

3.5

Nella Mason

Created 17 days ago

Believable Clunky Hard to follow

Bella

Created about 2 months ago

Kelsey Murphy

Created 3 months ago

Flat Relatable Strong relationships Disjointed Slow-paced Unsatisfying conclusion Atmospheric Beautiful Evocative imagery Rustic Setting fits the story Easy to read Simplistic Straightforward

Cassandra Knight

Created 3 months ago

“A thoroughly enjoyable read. As a huge fan of the movie, Field of dreams, it was great to finally read this book.”

Chelsea Patterson

Created 3 months ago

“Shoeless Joe by WP Kensella Is ghostly One of my attempts this year with my reading is to reread books that I read for school. To see if these classics and novels that I had to consume and ruminate on for conversations and essays really stood up to my memory. Or if simply have a dynamic teacher that showered me in praise biased my experience the novels. Shoeless Joe was a book we read after Catcher and the Rye but I can’t remember if it was the same year when I was 15 or the next when I was 16. I’m thinking the later, which means I read it over 21 years ago. The most I remember from it was the general plot, Salinger, the scandal, shoeless Joe and the part where the twins get hard to measure themselves finding no difference between them. I remembered the big parts, not all. And I found it interesting but slightly less catchy as I remember it. Much of it sounds like a man wholey in love with his wife, and completely clueless about what the true messages are. I remember the father aspect being a surprise but it’s right there from the start. Same with his brother, his landlord, everything. It is clear as day! But he get thrown on these random tangents. The book is largely boring, more so if like me you care not for baseball, but it’s also engrossing. You feel so many emotions. I still cried at Moonlight coming off the field. This book is for anyone that likes magical realism, ghost stories, Salinger or baseball.”

About W. P. Kinsella

Canadian author W.P. Kinsella was born in 1935 on a farm in Northern Alberta and did not receive his BA in creative writing until he was thirty-nine. Before that, Kinsella held a series of odd jobs including working as a taxi driver, selling insurance, and managing a restaurant. While he began writing short fiction at seventeen, Kinsella did not see publication until 1979 with his work Dance Me Outside. He became a sensation in 1982 with Shoeless Joe, a novel about an Iowa man who digs up part of his cornfield in order to build a baseball field. This novel was an elaboration of his short story, "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa," which won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship and was made into the popular film Field of Dreams in 1989.