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

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.