The vitriol wears thin, but sharp writing makes this a worthwhile read for fans who know Cleveland’s pain.
An embittered, lifelong Cleveland fan chronicles the painful departure of LeBron James from the Cavaliers, taking stock of his own life in the process.
Among long-suffering fan bases, Cleveland sports fans can make a legitimate claim to the top spot. With no championships to celebrate since the Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964 (in the pre–Super Bowl era), they have suffered an ignominious procession of near misses and heartbreaking defeats in football, baseball and basketball. When James, perhaps the most physically gifted basketball player ever to grace the hardwood—and a native son from nearby Akron to boot—was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003, all of that miserable history seemed likely to end. Unfortunately for Esquire writer Raab (Real Hollywood Stories: Inside the Minds of 20 Celebrities, With One A-list Writer, 2008) and his tortured brethren, the next seven years would bring only more pain, with James leading the Cavs to only one NBA Finals appearance, where they came up short. In the summer of 2010, the King took his talents to South Beach, and the author decided to take matters into his own hands, chronicling the now-hated icon’s quest to win a championship with the Miami Heat. Raab hurls intricate helixes of epithet-laden invective at James, though each profane outburst feels less cathartic than it should (the book’s title comes from one such verbal haymaker launched on Twitter). Instead, it’s the author’s blunt evaluation of his own life—including his battles with alcohol, drugs, weight and relationship problems—that resonates as a mirror for Cleveland’s own festering decay and constant struggle. Unlike Cleveland, though, Raab can take solace in the fact that he finally found a good woman and fathered a son, championship victories denied his beloved Cleveland—that, and the fact that James failed in his first attempt to win a championship in Miami.
The vitriol wears thin, but sharp writing makes this a worthwhile read for fans who know Cleveland’s pain.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-206636-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
A competent academic work, by a freelance writer and scholar, on the eventful life of an energetic and outspoken intellectual and feminist of the 19th century. From early childhood, when she began studying Latin under the tutelage of her father, who was of the opinion that ``mediocrity is obscurity,'' Margaret Fuller (181050) grew into the energetic and sometimes abrasive woman who could ask her friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, ``Who would be a goody that could be a genius?'' In fact, it is partly for her connections with the Transcendentalists that Fuller is remembered, and her ideas may well have been aired beyond her own writings: In 1839, one observer noted that Emerson's lectures were ``fractions of [Bronson] Alcott, [Unitarian minister Timothy] Dwight, and ´ Miss Fuller.'' The popular and influential Conversation classes she held for women in Boston provided ideas for her writing as well as a much-needed income—income she was not receiving from the hard work she was putting in as first editor of the Dial, a philosophical and literary journal. It was for this journal that Fuller wrote the article that, in expanded form, became Woman in the Nineteenth Century, her feminist magnum opus, of which von Mehren delicately notes, ``She felt under no obligation to be strictly coherent.'' In her writings, Fuller addresses poverty and the double standard as contributing to prostitution, warns women not to enter marriages in which they would be too dependent, and argues that a woman should be able to try her hand at any occupation that appeals to her. Even when Fuller got her long-awaited chance to travel to Europe in 1847, her visits to guidebook attractions were set against the background of local poverty and political turmoil; unfortunately, this account is of the sort that offers more details on that turmoil than on Fuller's reactions to it. Von Mehren fails to capture the dynamism of her subject, who never quite emerges as a full-blooded person.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-87023-941-4
Page Count: 536
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
A revealing epistolary portrait of one of WW II's most daring heroes and mysterious victims. Several books record how this Swedish diplomat in Hungary intrepidly rescued more than 100,000 Jews bound for extermination camps. But no book until this one (to be published on the 50th anniversary of his disappearance into the Soviet gulags) has offered such an intimate look at who Wallenberg really was. His formative years, it could be argued, occurred on the University of Michigan campus, where the young architect student was much affected by the ``can do'' American spirit that contrasted with his continental education. To give nature (vs. nurture) some due, we can credit much of his individualism and adventurousness to Gustaf Wallenberg, the ``Dearest Grandfather'' to whom most of Raoul's letters are addressed. Later correspondence bears postmarks from locations as far-flung as Mexico City and Johannesburg, but Wallenberg's epistles from Palestine are especially instructive for those trying to gauge whether or not his heroic period in Budapest was motivated by any specifically pro-Jewish attitude. On his way to a banking position in Haifa in 1936 he writes, ``Knowing the average South African Jew, I'm a bit pessimistic, but the trip may turn out to be pleasant nonetheless.'' Once there, however, he states that the Jews of Palestine ``are optimistic to a man, and were energy a guarantee for success the results would be excellent.'' While not all the scores of letters, memos, and dispatches here are of interest, overall, Wallenberg's personality comes through forcefully. The man who repeatedly risked his life to save Jews from Nazis and Hungarian fascists appears in these documents to be someone who enjoyed thwarting Eichmann and lesser bureaucrats, and who admired the Zionist enterprise and those who could help it. A valuable addition to Wallenberg and Holocaust literature, shedding new light on a shining exception that proves the darkest of rules. (16 b&w photos)
Pub Date: Jan. 17, 1995
ISBN: 1-55970-275-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Arcade
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
