Barry Beckham (2)

(#12 in the 2007 book challenge)

This is possibly the craziest book I have read, ever. It's a YA biography of basketball player Earl Manigault, alarmingly told in the second person. I say "alarmingly" because by page 6, we learn how you are picked up after a street game by an adult woman for an afternoon of sex when you are twelve years old, and it's also a little dizzying when you are addicted to heroin later on. It seems obvious that this book was written for the YA audience in the context of providing a cautionary tale that is also hip and cutting edge. Keep in mind it came out in 1980 -- the author's excitement about the possibility of teens talking about his book in a "rap session" is palpable. The upside is Earl Manigault's story is compelling no matter how badly it's written (although most of the meatier issues are glossed over - it assumes that black people live in slums because, well, that's where black people live, duh, and treats school as that place you go to play basketball), and many of the players he comes up against are famous names (including Dean "the Dream" Meminger, whose son is now a reporter for NY1).

Grade: As a book, D. As a story, B+. As an example of Weird Tales, A.
Recommended: Probably not unless you have particular interest in basketball during this era.… (más)