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emilyahl_thetime's review against another edition
2.0
This book leaves a lot to be desired.
I'm willing to concede that it could just be me, because this is not the first memoir I've read and didn't like. However, for a book whose title implies that it is going to be about basketball, only about 25% of the book is actually about basketball. Or, maybe more accurately, the chapter starts talking about basketball, but then wanders so far off from the initial topic that you forget that it was even talking about basketball in the first place.
Wideman's description and writing are good - I do believe he is a good writer. It's just that this book is so disorganized and jumps all over the place and maybe errs on the side of over-describing that anything good gets easily lost, because by the end of the chapter, you can't remember where the chapter started or what it was even about because so much gets crammed into it that you can't absorb it all. Plus, like I said, you think it's going to be about basketball but most of the time it really isn't.
I also will say I admire Wideman's honesty and vulnerability in writing this - he leaves nothing out. But the thing of it is, I think in parts it errs on the side of imprudent sharing. There are things in there he is brutally honest about that the reader did not need to know and didn't really add anything to the story.
Overall, I would not read this book again and would not recommend that anyone read this book. I think it has some potential, but as it stands currently, it was a painful and difficult book to read, and not the good kind of pain or difficulty.
I'm willing to concede that it could just be me, because this is not the first memoir I've read and didn't like. However, for a book whose title implies that it is going to be about basketball, only about 25% of the book is actually about basketball. Or, maybe more accurately, the chapter starts talking about basketball, but then wanders so far off from the initial topic that you forget that it was even talking about basketball in the first place.
Wideman's description and writing are good - I do believe he is a good writer. It's just that this book is so disorganized and jumps all over the place and maybe errs on the side of over-describing that anything good gets easily lost, because by the end of the chapter, you can't remember where the chapter started or what it was even about because so much gets crammed into it that you can't absorb it all. Plus, like I said, you think it's going to be about basketball but most of the time it really isn't.
I also will say I admire Wideman's honesty and vulnerability in writing this - he leaves nothing out. But the thing of it is, I think in parts it errs on the side of imprudent sharing. There are things in there he is brutally honest about that the reader did not need to know and didn't really add anything to the story.
Overall, I would not read this book again and would not recommend that anyone read this book. I think it has some potential, but as it stands currently, it was a painful and difficult book to read, and not the good kind of pain or difficulty.
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