Gideon Clarke is a man on a quest. He is out to prove to the world, as his father tried before him, that the world-champion Chicago Cubs traveled to Onamata, Iowa, in the summer of 1908 for an exhibition game against all-stars from the Iowa Baseball Confederacy, an amateur league. The game, which was to be short, pleasant, and, the Cubs thought, one-sided, turned into a titanic battle of over two thousand innings, played mostly in the pouring rain. This game is not on the record books. No one remembers it or the Confederacy. But Gideon Clarke knows it happened, and he is determined to set the record straight.
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"I loved Shoeless Joe and when this one appeared on our staff favorites shelf, I grabbed it. It is a strangely compelling story of a baseball game that "never" happened, but was really a titanic battle of wills. It goes even farther out there than Shoeless Joe and not quite as heartwarming, but still a really good read!"
— Betty (4 out of 5 stars)
" I read this book during a marvelous college class about baseball, literature, art, statistics and how to effectively heckle a Yankees fan. I love this book and though I agree with others that the last 3rd of the book gets a little wordy and may be in need of some editing, the magic of the book carries it through. "
— Bianca, 2/18/2014" About a baseball game only two men remember anything about (including the stats, scores and players), but which was never recorded in written history... Great story. "
— Lori, 2/16/2014" Simply put, the best baseball fiction there is. "
— Ross, 2/14/2014" Fun to read about early baseball. "
— Melissa, 2/6/2014" What a fun book! Also a bit confusing, however. I really loved all of the baseball + time travel + historical figures (Teddy Roosevelt, Leonardo da Vinci). But some of the other characters, such as Sunny, bothered me, and I didn't get the thing about Sarah getting stuck. The ending kind of lost me. Still, left me feeling pretty happy with it. "
— Grace, 2/1/2014" I purchased this book based on the movie Field of Dreams. So, it's not exactly what the movie was based on - that was Shoeless Joe. I couldn't afford Shoeless Joe, so I bought this one instead. Same author AND it's about baseball... so, it'll drive me to tears and reduce me to some quivering emotional mass. So, not really... however, the book does offer up some magical realism in slow pitch softball form. The depiction of a 2,000 inning game are glorious... it truly is a game that has not changed in a century. The story lost me in the alternate reality and I didn't quite under the connection between Gideon and the Indian. It's a novel that I will have to revisit. "
— S, 1/28/2014" Simple pleasure for a summer afternoon. If you like baseball and magic, you'll enjoy it. If you don't like baseball and magic, stay away. Not from the book--from me. "
— Gannon, 1/27/2014" Loved the baseball basis, the magic/spiritual part, not so much. I'm more than willing to suspend belief, but the last half of the book was just way to disjointed for me. That being said, if you love baseball it's still a good bit of fun. "
— Liesl, 1/26/2014" A little fantasy in the baseball world. A fun read "
— Lauren, 1/16/2014" This is rather an odd baseball book. It is rather mystical yet it still shows the roots of the game and how people love it. "
— Darlis, 1/2/2014" I love baseball, and if you do, too, this is a must read. Fictional story of the dedicated players and fans! "
— Kay, 12/28/2013" I like all of Kinsella's baseball fiction, but this is my favorite. "
— Chris, 12/28/2013" Kinsella is the Gabriel Garcia Marquez of baseball. The way he weaves words together to frame the national pastime and the American heartland in magical realism is beautiful. "
— The, 12/27/2013" Like the game that is its centerpiece, this novel carries on...and on (maybe that's the point). Kinsella is a gifted writer, but like Shoeless Joe, this book could use a hard edit in the final third of the narrative. That said, if you like baseball, it's worth the read. "
— Walker, 12/22/2013" An absolutely amazing book for anyone with a passion for baseball. "
— Dave, 11/13/2013" Interesting story about a neverending game of baseball, Teddy Roosevelt, and Native Americans. From the author who brought you the idea behind Field of Dreams, this book is bubblegum sports fiction but is interesting enough to merit 4 stars (as long as it's a vacation read). "
— Luke, 10/24/2013" It can't be easy to combine baseball, time travel, Indian lore, biblical allusions, magical realism, and romance into one novel without it being a big pile of shit. But this novel accomplishes the feat, making it look easy. "
— Davelowusa, 8/17/2013" i'm not even a baseball fan, but this tale of myth & near-magic was a fun read. "
— Joslyn, 5/1/2013" Odd book that was ok - it really could have been great because it was magical and funny but it had just a few too many sub themes... "
— Beverlee, 4/29/2013" Gets 4 stars because it was so odd . . . and kind of magical. Can't say I "really liked it" but can say it wasn't what I expected. "
— Erin, 4/14/2013" This book reminds me a bit of the movie Big Fish. The writing is great and the story focuses on characters with baseball as a backdrop, not a focus. Quick read, fun story - overall a good read!! "
— Lindsay, 2/22/2013" The first 50 pages are the kind of perfection that makes you hold your breath. The rest of the book takes you home. "
— Dan, 2/5/2013" A game of 2000 innings and a Big Indian... Angels in the graveyard and an albino protagonist. This is magical surrealism at its most wonderful. "Shoeless Joe" was a wonderful magical and popular book. This will never be so popular, but it contains some of his finest writing. "
— Dallas, 10/5/2012W. P. Kinsella (1935-2016) was a Canadian novelist, short-story writer, and poet who won numerous awards for his work, including the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship and the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humor. In 1993 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, their highest civilian honor. He is best known for his novel Shoeless Joe, basis for the award-winning motion picture Field of Dreams.
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.