TITLE: The Last At-Bat of Shoeless Joe
CHARACTERS: Shoeless Joe Jackson
AUTHOR: Granville Wyche Burgess
PUBLICATION DATE: 05/01/19
ORDER LINKS: Amazon | B&N
BOOK SYNOPSIS:
1951. Greenville, South Carolina.
Jimmy Roberts is the best hitter in this little mill town, and maybe in the whole Textile Baseball League.
He’s got major league potential, and then some.
But to get there, he’ll need a miracle. Or maybe the help of a local drunk and liquor store owner … who just happens to go by the name of “Shoeless Joe.”
“Granville Wyche Burgess is such an amazing talent.” — Patzi Gil, nationally syndicated radio host, Joy on Paper
“In Granville Wyche Burgess’ new novel, Shoeless Joe Jackson of Black Sox fame comes alive in a most ingenious way. He becomes involved in a struggle between good and evil, and in the end you root for him to become the hero he might have become had dark forces not ended his baseball career. If you love baseball, you’ll love this book. If you love books with satisfying endings, you’ll give Joe (and Granville) a standing ovation.” — Peter Golenbock, New York Times bestselling author of Dynasty, The Bronx Zoo (with Sparkly Lyle), Number 1 (with Billy Martin) and Idiot (with Johnny Damon)
“Joseph Jefferson ‘Shoeless Joe’ Jackson passed away in December 1951, three decades after he was laid low by the Black Sox scandal. But the mystique of Shoeless Joe has never left us…. [H]e is now the subject of a remarkable new novel by Granville Wyche Burgess. With a grand slam plot wrapped in lyrical and whimsical prose, Burgess gives us the grit and glory of old time baseball, poignantly reviving the spirit of a fallen hero.” — Raymond Arsenault, author of Freedom Riders, The Sound of Freedom, and Arthur Ashe, A Life
REVIEW:
4.5 Hearts I had never heard of Shoeless Joe until I watched Field Of Dreams. Whether it was his story or Ray Liotta I will never know but I became a fan of Joe Jackson that very day. Then of course I went and watched Eight Men Out (which had come out before Field Of Dreams) and thought I knew the story. But now I have a different take on what happened.
Some of this is fact and some fiction. Sort of like the Titanic movie. The part of the ship and its passengers were real except Rose and Jack. Will the story of Joe Jackson seems to be real while the story of Jimmy Rogers is fiction.
Jimmy’s story is really good but the parts of Shoeless Joe was what kept me wanting to read this book. Wonderfully written and engrossing. Hope someone sees it and makes it into a movie (hint hint).
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
4 Hearts
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