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alexilse's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
sarajaneandtall's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
elspor94's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
susanw's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
casskrug's review against another edition
4.5
one thing about hanif abdurraqib: he can make me care about any subject. you don’t need to know anything about basketball to appreciate the gorgeous writing in this book - it’s about so much more than that. it’s about community and success and survival. he is layering stories about basketball and his hometown of columbus ohio with really touching personal anecdotes, and even without any basketball knowledge, it’s easy to see how the emotions brought on by the game correlate to the situations in his life that he’s describing. he knows how to evoke a place within his writing, and the respect he has for his hometown and especially the people in it shines through constantly. because at its heart, this is a book about people. hanif makes you feel welcome with his words, often addressing the reader and drawing them in to whatever he’s talking about. he just has such an immense understanding of the things that connect us and it’s really something else to witness.
the third quarter was my favorite section with its themes of longing, leaving, and loss. he looks at lebron james leaving cleveland and the various reactions from fans - some begging him to come back, some being angry with him and wanting him to fail - and how we deal with those feelings all the time as our interpersonal relationships falter and end. there was so much gorgeous and relatable writing (in the entire book of course, but this section hit differently for me) that i would’ve underlined to death if i hadn’t been reading a library copy.
melfry01's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
kslu13's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
A coworker saw me reading this book and asked if I was a fan of basketball. I confused him by responding honestly that no, I'm not actually a big basketball fan nor a sports fan at all. But I love Hanif's work and will follow his writing to the edges of the world. Another beautiful woven and intriguing novel by him and I don't think I'll ever stop enjoying how he writes about grief, music, and belonging.