Reviews tagging 'Death'

There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib

5 reviews

magicalsocks's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

5.0

(6/19/24)

...& this is how i slipped into the
shed just barely & watched through the cracks
& ate the only sandwich I hadn't abandoned
in the pursuit & watched five cops out of breath
collapsing into the grass field & shaking their heads
& there is the casting away of demons into a herd
though I can't recall which animal but maybe you can

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"But let it be known that some of us never once dreamed of leaving. Never thought about making it out of any place as glorious as this. Tell me if you have ever built a heaven out if nothing, and then tell me what it would take for you to look for a new one somewhere else."

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

nicklybear's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Confinement, and Police brutality

Minor: Death of parent and Death

uranaishi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Police brutality, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Car accident, Abandonment, Death of parent, Murder, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Violence

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Slavery, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Classism, Drug use, Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Addiction, and Sexual content

mmccombs's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’ve never read a love letter to basketball that felt quite like this. I love the sport, have loved it since I was a kid, but Hanif Abdurraqib has unlocked some of the magic that makes it so special. But this book is not even really about basketball so much as it is about the people that play it, the people who make the mythologies around it, the towns that rally for a team or a player. 

Abdurraqib has a way of writing moments to feel like personal memories I’ve lost and have just now recovered. I’ve not once been to Cleveland or Columbus or Ohio, but it almost feels like I have, his writing flowing into and illuminating the cracks in the concrete, the corners of his neighborhood. This is a book firmly about Home, about coming home and loving home even when home is called a “war zone” by the people who will never understand it. This is also a book about how difficult it is to be alive or to survive, how hard and violent and lonely life can be. But there’s basketball. There are underdogs and miracles and dreams. There is longing and love songs. There are people who love us and people who we have loved, even if they are gone and can’t return home. 

If you have already read and loved Hanif’s other works, you will once again fall in love here. And if you haven’t, this is a great place to join in! So much thanks to Netgalley and Random House for this eARC, this was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and it certainly delivered!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Grief, Racism, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

ktkeps's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, Death, Classism, and Grief

Moderate: Racism, Mental illness, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Child death