Team Seven

by Marcus Burke

In contemporary American fiction there are very few examples of novels that have portrayed the realities of black inner-city life with honesty, empathy, and storytelling skills. Into that near-vacuum steps Marcus Burke and his first novel, Team Seven —a literarily accomplished, autobiographically tinged coming-of-age family drama with an undeniably authentic feel for place, language, and character.

As Andre Battel, a native of Milton, a town south of Boston, ages from age eight through his teenage years, he grows away from his Jamaican family, discovers genuine prowess on the basketball court, and eventually falls into dealing drugs for the local street gang, Team Seven. But when Andre and his crew fall behind on payments, dire and violent consequences await. The story is told primarily through Andre's voice, but we also see the point of view of his mother, Ruby, a hardworking medical secretary; his older sister, Nina; his mostly-not-there and typically drunk-and-high father, Eddy, a halfhearted reggae musician; and Reggie and Smoke, the kingpin of competing drug crews.

What emerges is a rich portrait of a black family, a black community, and one young man poised between youthful innocence and ambiguous experience.

Genres: Fiction, Sports, Literature

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 2014

About the author

Marcus Burke grew up in Milton, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. A standout athlete, he attended prep school at Brimmer and May and was recruited to play basketball at Susquehanna University, where he played varsity for all four years. But a knee injury limited his playing time, so he took up fiction writing instead and was accepted at the Iowa Writers Workshop, where he was awarded a grant in honor of James Alan McPherson from the University of Iowa MacArthur Foundation Fund. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

Reviews

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is first person narrative, a voice out from the inner city, raw and unfiltered, true and close to the heart.
The author has you hooked in this tale with one memorable character, through his school of hardnocks and coming of age.
The dialogue and the storytelling flows and shows, unravelling and mesmerising you in.
You will feel like your behind the scenes of a true life lead up to a bloody scene stripped from many a news reels.
http://more2read.com/review/team-seven-marcus-burke/

[Nickolas Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcus Burke’s “Team Seven” is a raw, honest, and original exploration of one young man’s quest for identity and loyalty as he navigates the mean streets of a neighborhood near Boston. With brutally beautiful prose, Burke surveys an urban American landscape with a critical eye on notions of masculinity, race, class, religion, and the escape and commodification of youth athletics. What he has assembled in “Team Seven” is an important and timely American novel, where the economics of basketball and drugs collide, where the lessons of past generations may or may not be relevant anymore, and where parents seem just as lost as their children. His hand is on your shoulder, his voice is close to your ear, and as a reader, you’ll read up-tempo and race all the way to the basket to watch Burke deliver this slam-dunk.

Nickolas Butler, author of "Shotgun Lovesongs"

[Naomi Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcus Burke's Team Seven is one of my favorite novels of 2014. It's a beautiful portrait of a young man coming of age in Boston's suburbs, and trying to balance the lures of the street, the mores of his family, and his own still-developing heart and mind. It's been a long time since I've read such an affecting tale about what happens to boys who lose their fathers. Great read.

[kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh, this book is just flat out wrong. Where do I begin?

First of all, this book had a lot of potential. It's the story of Andre Battel, a Jamaican-American boy growing up in the urban center of Boston around the 80s and 90s. We follow him from around age 7 or so until his late teens, though the way the story is written, it's hard to tell. We also follow his very dysfunctional family during the same period: Eddy, his alcoholic, unemployed, drug-addled and absent father, Nina, his sister, and Ruby, his saintly, long-suffering mother. There is a host of extended family as well, an aunt and his grandparents, who live upstairs from the ongoing Battel family drama.

Around the age of 9 or 10 (I assume), Andre falls under the influence of a neighborhood drug crew of older boys, eventually becoming their seventh member (hence the title, "Team Seven"). He comes of age in a violent street culture--selling and smoking shitloads of marijuana, doing poorly in school, fighting, treating girls like garbage (along with a misogynistic attitude about them), and beefs with his dad. The one thing Andre is good at his basketball, which he plays with a reasonable amount of talent. He continues this sport until he is a teenager, looking for a way out of his twisted home life.

There are shifts in voice and time here, and that's where the problems start. In the beginning there's a young Andre, though as he grows there's no kind of context of the character's age or any indication of how much time has passed. It's just a kind of chapter to chapter 'snapshot' of Andre, with no backstory. He speaks and thinks in a heavy street dialect from the 90s and the 2000s, though other period indications in the book don't seem to match. For example, there's the mention of a lyric from Outkast's "ATLiens" album (which came out in 1996), though several pages later there's the appearance of a paragraph-length cell phone text. Any genius will tell you that there were no such cell phones with such advanced texting capabilities during this period.

The novel also starts with multiple narrators, Andre's dad Eddy, mom Ruby, and one of the members of Team Seven. They each get a small sections in the beginning and, other than one other narration by Eddy later in the book, are never heard from again. Why have other characters narrate at all if it's not continuous? Hmm.

And then there's the members of Team Seven, who, other than two main characters of which are continuously mentioned, we don't know much about either. While we know they're older, how old are they? As I said before, the lack of structure to the timeline is terribly confusing.

The author also mixes up Andre's narration in present and past tenses, depending on what chapter you're reading. Is Andre currently in the action, or far beyond it, reflecting on the past? This is unclear and inconsistent.

This book had potential, but the rookie-ness of the mistakes here are glaring and detract from the overall cohesiveness of the story. I'd read, but only with caution.

[Garrett Zecker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marcus Burke’s Team Seven is the striking story of a black family (and friends) facing the variety of social expectations of late 1990s Boston. Told mainly through the perspective of Andre Battel, Burke engages the audience with a mastery of time, place, dialect, culture, and climate to explore Andre’s development from a fatherless teen to a lost young man in search for a path in his life. Burke’s strong prose and literary development are striking in this book, however, as it is difficult to corner this book as even a contender in the urban fiction category – the true heart of this novel raises the bar much higher with character-driven and prose-driven narration that easily places it as literature that just happens to reside in the inner city that I remember from my youth.

While I don’t want to discount any of the truly remarkable moments in this book, I felt like the most amazing elements of the novel surround how well Burke captures a time and place that I am intimately familiar with. From watching every passing face trying to unmask David Allen Boucher, to paging friends messages using a numeric code on their pagers, to getting in trouble in school for absolutely nothing (or worse, defending oneself), to a street-by-street, store-by-store, face-by-face recognition of the city that Andre wanders and observes at an almost Joycean-level. This book is deeply rooted in my childhood, as are many of Battel’s experiences and all of its geography, so I found this book to be an extremely empathetic and engaging examination of the violent and volatile Boston of my youth. The best part, though, is that it raises itself to be a genre of itself in its portrayal of the urban experience that doesn’t cheapen his characters’ lives by making them caricatures of themselves through that "urban fiction” execution I am used to. Burke is a master of the written word, and the soul these characters breathe on the page is unparalleled in anything that I have read about the inner city I wandered like Andre at the same time of the book. And much like the Boston of the 1990s, the consequences that reach past every choice and relationship can echo into the future in an explosion of terrifying violence no one could have expected.

Burke’s voice and his ability to embody the lost youth of inner-city Boston in Team Seven makes this book a triumph of the urban survival spirit, and I look forward to everything he brings next.

[Avid Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulously written book! I should have not been able to relate to anything in this story, but I did. My hat is off to the author for making me feel what the Andre felt and understanding his struggles.

Andre is being raise with the values of his family, but his neighborhood is filled with gangs and drugs. He is constantly torn between what he has been raised to know is right and what his environment has groomed him to believe. Team Seven is the local gang and because of a series of horrible events, Andre finds himself tangled in a vicious web with them.

The story was well told and the POV alternated a bit, though it was mostly that of Andre’s. I have so much respect for the author and the way he gave a voice to the realities of this part of the would that I simply would otherwise have never experienced. Gripping and heart-wrenching at times, this was a powerful story. I experienced a barrage of feelings while walking in Andre’s shoes. When the story ended, I just needed a break to breathe and reflect on everything I thought felt while reading.

Team Seven was not my normal read, but I would happily read anything by this author. I was thoroughly impressed with the writing style and the storytelling.

4.5 stars

This book was provided in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I HIGHLY recommend this for fans of Colson Whitehead and Junot Diaz. A snapshot of reality with an incredible fresh literary voice out of the Iowa program.

[Brian TramueL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thinkin' I'm so glad that I can read cause I can't move no dope. But I do know, a few that did and a few that still and a few that's through, are the few that's dead.

Bricks.

Interesting read.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is told in four voices: Andre Battle; his mother Ruby; Reggie Graham, his neighbor who also sells drugs; and Eddie, Andre’s elusive father. We follow Andre from Middle School to High School as he moves between his working / middle-class family and the intricate social structures of school and community. He lives with his mother and sister (and sometimes his father) in an intergenerational duplex owned by his Jamaican grandparents who live upstairs.

Burke’s characters are drawn with humor and deft details. Jamaican food establishes connections: Andre learns from his grandfather how to make breakfast scramble with hot dogs and fried plantains. His grandmother charges him with bringing “Black Cake” to their neighbors at New Year’s. This is an elaborate holiday concoction of raisins and dates that she mixes and ferments in a covered pot all year.

The portrayals of the nonsense of school is brilliant. Stupid authoritarian rules, boring lessons with minimal relevance, judgmental teachers, bullies who get away with it, the pointless expectation to sit all day with no recess or chances to blow off steam, and the readiness to slap on the ADHD label and medicate kids into compliance.

The language is vivid with colloquial expressions that characterize and ground in a particular time and place. In chapter 3, Reggie talks about the nosy neighbors up the block as they watch a disturbance on Christmas Eve between Ruby and Eddie. He calls them the Suntan Ladies, smoking Virginia Slims. “These suburban broads love to hate and call the jakes on niggers. They think they’re the neighborhood watch but they really the peanut gallery of insignificant opinions.”

There is plenty of brawling. Though his mother does her best to prevent it, Andre is drawn into Reggie’s crew, originally called Squad Six. It becomes Team Seven when Andre, a middle schooler, hurls his basketball at a guy’s face who had just been fighting with the Squad.

Andre faces intense pressures from peers and power brokers to conform or face violence. Part of that peer pressure is to prove yourself through violence, or at least not to intervene when someone you care about is being beat up. In several poignant passages, Andre reflects on his difficulty controlling his impulses. He embodies the inner struggle to be a better person yet is pulled in by circumstances and exhibits a lack of self-control so typical of adolescents. This demonstrates the importance of strong role models like his grandfather, as well as Andre’s passion for basketball, which guides him away from a self-destructive path.

Marcus Burke grew up in Milton, MA, where this story is set. In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid’s novel, “Lucy,” he mined his own experience to craft a great literary coming of age story. Set in a specific time and place—Boston suburbs in the ‘90s—with related music and cultural references, the characters are vibrant and themes of family loyalty, tough love, the toll of violence and substance abuse, peer pressure, social hierarchy, adolescent anxiety, first love, life dreams, and finding one’s way in the world are universal.

[Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Team Seven, while well-written, suffers from a lack of a coherent timeline and organization, lending significant doubt to its character’s actions, language, etc.

Perhaps unfortunately for my opinion of the book, it came on the heels of the excellent novel “Astonish Me” by Maggie Shipstead, which has a similar structure and pacing. While Shipstead’s novel clearly placed time in which each chapter took place, “Team Seven” lacks any sort of grounding.

Admittedly, “Team Seven” is Burke’s first novel. For this, he deserves credit for a well-written novel.

Even so, “Team Seven” is not without its glaring errors.

The book starts off with the narrator and main character, Andre, discussing his father’s “vitals.”

“I would ask Pop about his strange-smelling funny-cigarettes but I’m afraid to ask him questions anymore. He’s always in a rush and never tells me where he’s going when he leaves.”

So, we’re made to understand, the narrator is a youngster. Yet, this problem remains through the entire narrative: there is only rarely, or never, indication of time and the character’s respective ages/grades in the context of the time.

Were one to presume the story takes place in a timeless place, between say the 1990s and the 2000s, the issue still strongly remains that the characters’ ages throughout the time-line are never given, casting doubt on their use of language and the plot.

The plot
Andre grows up in a not-incredible part of Boston, plays ball, gets involved in the marijuana trade and eventually leaves high school, presumably a graduate. Who knows. The book is not clear, of either Andre’s age, if he’s still in high school, or had graduated by the end.

Andre sort-of comes of age in a culture of violence and drugs. Andre, as one might guess, becomes a product of the society he grows up in, smoking more pot than any reasonable adult should, let alone a teenager. He drinks. He makes misogynistic comments about women and plays out those comments in his actions. He goes to church with his mother. He plays ball, and hustles at it. He strifes with his Jamaican-born father.

That is not to write, women are somehow saintly. No, everyone is steeped in violence and plays that violence out in their lives.

Almost everybody speaks in dialect, which it appears Burke has managed to keep up during the entirety of the book. (There is a strong danger, I believe, when writing in dialect, because one it is begun, it may not stop. Plus, it’s often hard to understand what’s being said.)

Although “Team Seven” is well written, and that decent writing carries much of the book, the plot is relatively thin.

The incongruities in voice
The narrator’s voice, which is what often gives hints of the age of the characters, jumps around. A seemingly little boy uses language to describe his surroundings more appropriate for a teenager, in terms of vulgarity and swearing.

I’m all for swearing. I work in a newsroom where swearing his the norm, although sometimes are foul language goes too far. I do not believe swearing is a sign, as some might argue, of weak writing. I believe a writer should use every tool available, from big words to swear words.

However, the amount of cursing in the narrator’s voice, that is to say, everything outside of dialogue, becomes tiresome and redundant. Further, it is often at odds (as mentioned mere paragraphs above) with the presumed age of the narrator.

Burke lays it on much too thick. We get it, man, we get it. It’s a nasty world out there.

Coming of what?
It’s certainly odd to have a coming of age story, coming of age from a pre-teen to that of a semi-adult, with no mention of where that person falls at any given point on the age scale. Or, where the other characters fall on that age scale.

Andre’s friends/fellow dealers, the main character’s, that is, are in high school. Some are out of high school. Maybe? The book is never clear on the true standing of most of the characters. Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. A strong detraction that could have very easily been fixed, and should have.

From hypocrite, to . . . Hypocrite
Andre sleeps around a little bit, as do his friends, who have their own various mistresses. But he always comes back to Tunnetta, AKA, Chocolate Chip.

“He ripped pen his chocolate chip muffin (sic) and held it in the air like he was Rafiki from the Lion King holding Simba toward the sun.
‘The side of Tunnetta’s face, ladies and gentlemen!’ He spun himself around in a dramatic circle and curtseyed.
I never called her that but the nickname stuck, and bad skin, big tits, and pretty eyes was all Tunnetta ‘Chocolate Chip’ Johnson was known for around school. She wasn’t really a good look for me, but I was curious.”

So here we have the narrator, still with his “v-card,” presumably a freshman in high school, already having mastered the intricacies of the social order. He enjoys screwing Tunnetta, but thinks less of her for sleeping around. Despite his own sleeping around, but men should never confront society’s double standard of promiscuity, right?

Besides, this girl he’s screwing around with, when her boyfriend punches her in the face, it’s not his place to step in. That’s why he’s on his way to becoming a man.

Unfortunately, the incongruity between what the character’s say, AKA, no man ever hits a woman, and what they do, and allow others to do, is not addressed.

Multiple narrators, sort of
“Team Seven” starts out with multiple narrators. The Jamaican-born father and Andre’s mother, Ruby. But they each get maybe one to two of the 14 chapters. It’s not clear why they even narrate, mostly at the beginning of the book, if their voices never reappear.

It seems like the author started in one place, finished in another, and never cleaned up his book to reflect the beginning or the end.


Show, not tell
“Team Seven” is, fortunately, broken up, for the most part, into scenes. However, at the beginning of each chapter, there is usually a whole bunch of telling before whatever is going on in that scene begins. Which is annoying and, with the lack of viable age or other true clues to timeline, becomes confusing.

Take for example this little tid-bit. Notice the change from past to present tense. It’s not even clear when the narrator is speaking from. Is he speaking from a place in the future of the action he’s narrating if so, how far? Is he speaking in the present of his situation, or is he looking back mere days, speaking of the situation he is currently in, referencing the very-recent past? Who knows.

“When school lets out, the drama of the hallway turns real. You’ll get your issue if you got one. This is how it worked. Basically you had to be some type of somebody. We latchkey kids all walked together in a huddle, but won’t get it twisted, we were not together. The pack was like a prison yard, everyone had their territory. People step out they zone and it turns into a jungle.

The conclusion is summarily confusing, mixing the present tense with the recent past, the current event with recent similar past events (bible studying.)

The end
For a first novel, “Team Seven” is a good try with good writing that could have used lots and lots more grounding.


This book was received, free of charge, from the Goodreads First Reads program.
All quotes are taken from a bound galley version of the book and may, or may not, reflect the final commercial edition.

[Cheryl Durham · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time author Marcus Burke did a fantastic job with Team Seven. Team Seven is a depiction of a young boy coming of age and the conflict that he encounters. We all know of the importance of family, boundaries and support as youngsters navigate the world in which they live. We also know that when interruptions occur they can stymie, stunt or damage the youngster’s plight.

Burke tells of the dilemmas confronting Andre, a youngster from Milton, MA in the 1990s. He speaks from different perspectives on the things that are before Andre and the choices he makes. We get a chance to see the dilemmas attached to a mother who utilizes religion as her foundation, a father that is absent, a boy seeking an outlet (who knows he has a future with basketball but needs structure that a guy can offer and a young girl who can ease temporary pains).

Andre’s father navigates two world: he’s in and out of Andre’s life in Milton and with his other family in Lynn. He is skilled as a drummer but also a drug dealer, addict and a pimp. He infiltrates an area school to sell drugs…to support his lifestyle.

Burke’s work shows that the balance between a mother’s focus and a father’s emphasis can’t be understated. All to well women have demonstrated the power of nurturing. Choices made can compromise that delivery. When a father is present and provides an emphasis on achievement and structure in tandem with the mother, there can be healthy growth and development of children. When these things are absent, just as Burke and others have postulated and many know from experience, children look elsewhere.

Without being preachy, Burke highlights the importance of parental image and quality time with children. Burke goes on to show that parents who demonstrate integrity can help reduce the incidence of behavioral problems among their sons and influence a healthy self-esteem among their daughters. Children need healthy examples. The essence of the reading wasn’t new. Adults and communities can do better or continue to pay the cost for not doing so.

[Emily Mae Dilley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I liked this book. The concept is there, and a few chapters in you understand why the title is what it is. But then it's like all the set up to Team Seven is forgotten and the book changes direction. And then it changes again...and again. Time jumps happen seemingly at random; topics and storylines meander for the entirety of the book. Characters get introduced, fall away, and then end up being key players in the end. No one's character--even Andre the main character--is really ever fully fleshed out. Along the way, there are a couple of chapters written from the perspective of secondary characters, but those are so sporadic and anti-climatic that I found myself wondering what the real point of including them ever was.

There are some lines and a few relevant moments in Team Seven that make me (barely) not regret reading it, but the book never reached it's full potential. If you're looking to read something about kids from the "wrong side of the tracks," start elsewhere.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was nice to read a gritty Boston coming-of-age novel that wasn’t set in Southie. But this was a mess. If you want to jump POVs, you need to give each character a distinguishing voice. If you want to jump time, make the signifiers potent enough to identify. If two seemingly minor characters are going to suddenly dominate the story, give them a personality and maybe actually describe them. Don’t hide significant plot details and character development behind walls of slang— even if your characters know the context, a broad reading audience may not. If relentless depictions of misogyny & sexism are central to your plot, think carefully about how causally they are portrayed and whether or not that casualness validates such behavior. Too much casualness, too many caricatures, not enough meat on the bones of the story. I wanted to like this, the potential was there, but the writing was terrible.

[Rina · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me this was like reading a foreign language. Though I got the gist of everything I did not know what specific words actually meant. The story was well-written despite the language barrier. Andre Battel, a native of Milton, MA, grows away from his Jamaican roots, discovers his prowess on the basketball court, and drugs. The story is told from his point of view but you get his mother's, his sister's, his father's and his two friends points also. Though it was sad in a way, it had an uplifting ending. Mr. Burke's acknowledgements point to his writing ability and mastery of the English language as I know it (LOL) and helped improve my view of the book.

[The Book Posh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Team Seven by Marcus Burke is a coming-of-age story for the main character, Andre Battel, set in Milton in a town south of Boston. This story is an example of what it can be like to live in the inner city as an African-American. I enjoyed the authenticity of this story, the language, the sounds, the colors. The story started off slowly, but I quickly found myself wanting to know more and rooting for Andre and his family. If you want a snapshot of a black community and a black family, then this one is a must read.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andre, an inner city kid who is struggling with the life of the streets and becoming a star Basketball player. This book has so many different elements in it. I enjoyed this wonderfully crafted novel that will have anyone rooting for the main character. Well thought out character and storylines. A must read.

[Lisa Turkow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up at a dollar store and got more than my moneys worth!! The world is lucky to have this book instead of another drug-induced wasted life. Thank you for sharing your story with me.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful look at what it’s like growing up in a tough community but it also makes the reader realize that all of us have ways of coping with the difficulties of life, only some ways are more destructive than others.

[Sidik Fofana · Rating 5 out of 5]

SIX WORD REVIEW: When Andre & them skip Bible study...

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Summary:
This book follows a young man, Andre Battel, in his journey from child to teen to young man. Andre's skill on the basketball court may be his only way out of the life of drugs and danger that has been the fate of others before him.

Review
I'll admit, that has to be one of the worst summaries I have ever written, but part of my problem is that I just didn't care for the book and couldn't wait for it to be over.

I want to make this clear, it my not liking the book had more to do with me not caring for the genre than it did for the writing. Burke is a talented author, his voice is authentic and unique. I can admire the quality of the writing and the realism of the novel he created. Unfortunately, that knowledge and skill can't make me enjoy the book.

Like I said, the book is incredibly well written and I can definitely see the teen appeal. It will be an easy sell to many of the teens that come to our library.

I guess I am just not a big fan of the urban fiction genre--very few have held my interest. I can tell you though my kids love it and will no doubt be picking up this book.

Audiobook Review:
I purchased the audiobook from Audible. It was produced by Dreamscape Media, LLC. The audiobook is 8 hours and 48 minutes and is narrated by Arnell Powell, Simone Cook, and James Shippy. All three narrators did an amazing job with this novel and were brilliant with the voices.

Overall:
While I can admire the quality of the writing and the authentic voice of the novel, I can't make myself like it. Urban fiction just isn't my genre of choice. Still, this book will have readers and fans of urban fiction will love it.

Cautions for Sensitive Readers:
Recommend this book to mature readers.

Language: Yes (prolific, though realistic)
Sex: Yes
Drugs: Yes (both using and selling)
Violence: Yes

[Mrs. Kenyon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andre Battel is torn between the Jamaican upbringing his family is trying to instill and the neighborhood street gang that surrounds him. Team Seven takes the reader along the winding path of Andre from the age of eight into his teen years. Although he has real talent on the basketball court, he eventually falls into selling drugs for the local gang, Team Seven. Through a series of unforeseen events, Andre is not able to make his payments on the drugs he is responsible for and the actions that follow have the potential to cause additional damage. Most of the book is told through the voice of Andre, but sections dispersed throughout give the reader insight into his mother, his sister, his father and some of the Team Seven gang.

Team Seven fills a desperate niche that needs to be filled. Teens love to read stories that are similar to themselves and others love to live vicariously through books. Whether the reader is surrounded by gangs or just likes to read about this very tough life, they will get satisfaction from this story. The language is harsh and the truths presented are rough, but life is not always rosy and not every story has a happy ending. Burke wonderfully portrays the struggles of the inner city youth and brings the characters and their issues to the audiences who will devour them. Although this is his first young adult novel, I hope Burke spends time writing more books for these readers.

[John Luiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am always excited when I discover another author I can add to my must-read list. Marcus Burke demonstrates a lot of talent here in his story of a young man caught up in what is a fairly affluent suburb of Boston, but which has an area that clings to the "tough streets" atmosphere . On the surface, the characters might seem to be like stereotypes of a black family -- the strong-willed church-going mother, the absentee father, and the young man trying to prove his merits to the drug-peddling gangs who control street life from their corner hangouts. The novel goes far beyond those stereotypes, though, and offers a nuanced look at these characters. Even the irresponsible father -- a reggae musician who can't hold down a job and only pops in once every few months on his family -- ultimately becomes a character you have compassion for once you learn his back story. The central character, Andre, is a wonderful portrait of a young man whose basketball talents give him an out to make it out of his neighborhood, but whose loyalty to the macho code of the streets could get him caught in the dead-end cycle of failure and setbacks that plagues his father and those street-corner gang members. The writing and the language is inventive and a joy to read. This is Burke's first novel, but I look forward to following his career now.

[Doug Seaberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this some time ago, but the story and characters still resonate deeply. Marcus Burke is in deed a very talented young writer. His voice will no doubt be an important one for decades to come. Setting plays a prominent role in this novel, almost to the point of becoming one of the characters. And Burke does a nice job of subtlety building depth within each of the major characters. Some of his strongest writing occurred when he would insert a chapter written in the voice and perspective of a different character. I wish he would have done more of this. I look forward to reading more rom Burke in the future. Regardless of your own race or culture, Team Seven is an important read. I hope Burke picks up Andre Batel's story at some point later in his life. It would be fun to see what happens to him.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got off to a slow start. For the first fourth or so, I wondered what the plot was supposed to be. It wasn’t bad, just disjointed. One reason was that the narrative switched somewhat awkwardly between several characters. After the first part, the story was told mostly from Andre’s point of view and the pace quickened.

The author grew up in the same area of Boston where Andre and his family lived so I’m assuming that his portrayal of Andre’s life is realistic. His story is about how easy it is for a good kid to make bad choices when in certain environments. I liked Andre and kept rooting for him to do the right things. He rarely listened to me though! If you pick up Team Seven, make sure you hang in there past the first bit – it will be worth it.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Team Seven (I received an ARC from goodreads) for me was one of those books that I really enjoyed reading but it was a bit of a slog to get through. Perhaps it was the lack of structure to the timeline, there were few markers between chapters to just how much time had, or hadn't passed. Then out of nowhere a chapter came from the perspective of another character that didn't really seem to add anything to the story. It just felt a little disjointed and certainly more of a YA read.

Still, certainly an enjoyable and a worthwhile read.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by an author who is an alumnus of Susquehanna University where I worked so I knew him in my job. Very happy for his success. The book is both troubling and compelling. I recently read a non-fiction account that offers a parallel to a young man's life in Newark, NJ. I was surprised at the similarities which has me wondering more and more about urban teen male development and what is missing from those lives, the mothers who end up sad and disappointed. Tough read. I look forward to what Marcus Burke does next.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is about a kid who has a dream to become a professional basketball player but gets cought up in bad stuff with bad kids and gets into gang stuff and his mo0m tryes to help him but he doesn't listen and ends up in a bad place and he ussaly is with his grandparents cause his dad does drugs. my favorite part in the book is when he gets out of all that stuff and gets his life back on track and gets good at basketball. I don't recommend this book I didn't like this book very much its not the best but you can still read it if you like

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting debut novel about a young black man growing up in inner-city Boston. I enjoyed this, learned some street slang, but feel as though it really should be a young adult novel. We follow Andre from age 8 to 16 or so. I wonder if some of the gritty content is why it's not YA, but it really should be.

[Doug Seaberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable debut novel from a very talented young writer. Burke brings his characters to life with a deeply reflective coming of age story. Poignant and empathetic, this novel is not to be missed. Looking forward to Burke's next work.

[Calvin Rico · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember looking for a last minute novel to complete my book collection and came among this novel. Marcus does a great job personalizing this book in way were we can all relate to this book in one way or another.