Review of "Shoeless Joe," by W. P. Kinsella

 Review of

Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella, ISBN 0395957737

Five out of five stars

The ultimate baseball fantasy

 The premise of this story, that if you build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield, then deceased major league baseball players will arrive and play on it, is one that initially sounds absurd. Yet, it is one that works so very well. The main character is Ray Kinsella and the first hint of what he is to do is when he hears, “If you build it, he will come.” He is the legendary player, Shoeless Joe Jackson. 

 No less a player than Ty Cobb openly stated that Joe Jackson was the best baseball player he had ever seen. Unfortunately, Jackson was indirectly implicated in the famous Black Sox scandal, where some of the Chicago White Sox players conspired to throw the World Series. Even though there was no evidence that Jackson decreased his game, the fact that he knew about it led to his permanent banishment from baseball.

 Furthermore, Kinsella departs from Iowa and drives to New Hampshire to attempt to meet the reclusive author J. D. Salinger. As absurd as this sounds and a secondary unusual premise, it works. Salinger is surprisingly compliant, and they go to a Red Sox game at Fenway. 

 The inclusion of Salinger is a stroke of plotting genius as the dialog between Kinsella and Salinger provides a bit of grounding to the unusual fantasy of Kinsella. This is about dreams and satisfying unusual desires. While the two fantasies of bringing a baseball legend back to life and getting the extremely reclusive Salinger to get back into the world of writing are unusual but work together very well. 

 This is one of the best baseball novels ever written, even if you have little interest in baseball and have no idea who Joe Jackson was, you will find it an enjoyable read. Baseball fans will be convinced that Joe Jackson should be voted into the baseball Hall of Fame. 


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