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Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'
There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
3 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
---
"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."
...& 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
---
"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."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Police brutality, Gun violence, and Murder
Minor: Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Death
cindypepper's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
(4.5 stars, rounded up to 5)
(Fleabag voice): This is not a book about basketball.
Yes, this book uses basketball as a lens to explore far-ranging themes of homecoming, what we owe the places we grew up in, the Midwest, police brutality, religion, and why people like sports so dang much.
No, I wouldn't say it's actually about basketball, so much so that basketball is an incisive and deeply personal lens to examine the above topics. And it works very well. Hanif Abdurraqib's style defies categorization; his writing is all at once cultural criticism, memoir, and poetry. There's something very dynamic about the way he writes, in the way that basketball moves at a breakneck pace, until it doesn't. Even if you don't know much about basketball, you can easily read this and understand why and how people love it, which (imo) is the hallmark of a great writer. (For context, I spent 8 years as a Dubs fan smack-dab in the Bay Area, including the year 2016, where thinking about those NBA finals stung. And I relived that trauma by reading the perspective of a fan from the other side!!! And it was more than fine! I loved it.)
All facetiousness aside, props to anyone who can make me feel nostalgic for something I never experienced. I found his meditations on the Midwest and coming back particularly resonant, especially as somebody who used to live there and was all too ready to leave.
(Fleabag voice): This is not a book about basketball.
Yes, this book uses basketball as a lens to explore far-ranging themes of homecoming, what we owe the places we grew up in, the Midwest, police brutality, religion, and why people like sports so dang much.
No, I wouldn't say it's actually about basketball, so much so that basketball is an incisive and deeply personal lens to examine the above topics. And it works very well. Hanif Abdurraqib's style defies categorization; his writing is all at once cultural criticism, memoir, and poetry. There's something very dynamic about the way he writes, in the way that basketball moves at a breakneck pace, until it doesn't. Even if you don't know much about basketball, you can easily read this and understand why and how people love it, which (imo) is the hallmark of a great writer. (For context, I spent 8 years as a Dubs fan smack-dab in the Bay Area, including the year 2016, where thinking about those NBA finals stung. And I relived that trauma by reading the perspective of a fan from the other side!!! And it was more than fine! I loved it.)
All facetiousness aside, props to anyone who can make me feel nostalgic for something I never experienced. I found his meditations on the Midwest and coming back particularly resonant, especially as somebody who used to live there and was all too ready to leave.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Racism
uranaishi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
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
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