If you love baseball and movies, this is a must read. And the book really shows more character development in Ray, his wife, JD Salinger, and "Moonlight" Graham. There are a few differences, the author that Kinsella goes to meet in Boston is JD Salinger, as opposed to the fictitious Terrance Mann played by James Earl Jones in the movie. Also - Ray Kinsella, the main character who built the field, gets a chance to see his father come back from the dead to play catch again. By former players - I mean dead players - who are led by a man who is possibly the greatest baseball player of all time - "Shoeless" Joe Jackson. Once the field is built, many former players come from the field to play ball. Most people have seen the film "Field of Dreams." That movie, staring Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and the University of Michigan's own James Earl Jones, tells the story of a man losing his farm to foreclosure because he has decided to build a baseball field in the middle of a corn field in Iowa. Have you ever seen a movie - and wondered if the book was really better (you know, like they ALWAYS say)? Well, here is your chance. Perhaps Kinsella wrote other, better stories. What I knew as a lovely tale (on film) turned out to be a story told in florid language that just went on for far too long.
It's quite another to go completely overboard. It's one thing to paint a picture in words for a reader. Nearly every sentence was filled with adjectives, metaphors and similes to the point where I was cringing. Someone must have told Kinsella when he was young to use lots of description in his writing. But the major thing that bothered me was the writing style. It was kind of nasal and whiny and just grated on my ears. For one thing, it is unfortunate (and no fault of the author) but I didn't like the reader's voice. But this audiobook, on 9 discs, was almost painful to listen to. Kinsella has written many books and as far as I know, is an acclaimed writer. In my experience, it isn't often that a film is better than the book it is based on but in this case, I would have to say, this was a shocking disappointment.W.P.
So when I found this unabridged audiobook at the library, I was delighted. I love baseball and I truly adored the movie (Field of Dreams) adapted from this book.
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