Shane’s Take — Shoeless Joe

Field of Dreams holds a special place for me that probably far exceeds the logical quality of the movie. I love baseball, and the story is so magical that you can’t help but come away with a special feeling. I don’t generally read books that are based on movies that I like. I thought I’d make an exception here since I came across a list of the best baseball books and this was on it. Unfortunately, I think the movie is far superior to the book. There are some minor differences, but that was expected. I think the main drawback of the book is that it was way too scattered for me. It often seems that when the plot is stalling, the voice appears to move the story forward. Things don’t seem to advance in a natural manner to me. The movie is able to soften some of these rough edges and is actually a little more natural and believable to me. All of this might lead you to believe that I dislike the book. I don’t dislike it, but I just didn’t love it either. I’m still glad I read it though.