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The Necessary Hunger
As a star basketball player in her last year of high school, Nancy Takahiro's life is about to change forever. Faced with the college recruitment process and unsure of where her skill will take her, Nancy is not prepared for meeting Raina Webber, an All-State shooting guard whose passion for basketball is matched only by her talent.
When Nancy's father and Raina's mother move in together, the girls are faced with the challenge of negotiating their already intense friendship and rivalry. As Nancy's love for Raina grows and both prepare to leave inner city neighborhood that has nurtured them, they find themselves looking toward a future that is no longer easily defined.
Set against a backdrop of racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles and infused with tenderness and passion. The Necessary Hunger explores not only the intricacies of the game of basketball, but also the very nature of the relationships young women create in the face of the odds that are stacked against them.
When Nancy's father and Raina's mother move in together, the girls are faced with the challenge of negotiating their already intense friendship and rivalry. As Nancy's love for Raina grows and both prepare to leave inner city neighborhood that has nurtured them, they find themselves looking toward a future that is no longer easily defined.
Set against a backdrop of racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles and infused with tenderness and passion. The Necessary Hunger explores not only the intricacies of the game of basketball, but also the very nature of the relationships young women create in the face of the odds that are stacked against them.
365 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 1997
16 people are currently reading
2008 people want to read
About the author
Nina Revoyr
13 books165 followersNina Revoyr was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a white American father, and grew up in Tokyo, Wisconsin, and Los Angeles. She is the author of four novels. Her first book,
The Necessary Hunger
, was described by Time magazine as "the kind of irresistible read you start on the subway at 6 p.m. on the way home from work and keep plowing through until you've turned the last page at 3 a.m. in bed."
Her second novel, Southland, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and "Best Book of 2003," a Book Sense 76 pick, an Edgar Award finalist, and the winner of the Ferro Grumley Award and the Lambda Literary Award. Publishers Weekly called it "Compelling... never lacking in vivid detail and authentic atmosphere, the novel cements Revoyr's reputation as one of the freshest young chroniclers of life in L.A."
Nina’s third book, The Age of Dreaming, was a finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Publishers Weekly called it "enormously satisfying;" Library Journal described it as "Fast-moving, riveting, unpredictable and profound," and Los Angeles Magazine wrote that "Nina Revoyr ... is fast becoming one of the city’s finest chroniclers and myth-makers."
Nina's fourth novel, Wingshooters, was published in March, 2011. It is one of O: Oprah Magazine's "Books to Watch For," an IndieBound Indie Next Selection, and a Midwest Connections Pick. Publishers Weekly described it as "remarkable...an accomplished story of family and the dangers of complacency in the face of questionable justice; and Booklist called it "a shattering northern variation on To Kill a Mockingbird.
Nina is the executive vice president of a large child and family service agency in Los Angeles. She has also been an Associate Faculty member at Antioch University, and a Visiting Professor at Cornell University, Occidental College, and Pitzer College. Nina lives in Northeast Los Angeles with her partner, two rowdy dogs, and a pair of bossy cats.
Her second novel, Southland, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and "Best Book of 2003," a Book Sense 76 pick, an Edgar Award finalist, and the winner of the Ferro Grumley Award and the Lambda Literary Award. Publishers Weekly called it "Compelling... never lacking in vivid detail and authentic atmosphere, the novel cements Revoyr's reputation as one of the freshest young chroniclers of life in L.A."
Nina’s third book, The Age of Dreaming, was a finalist for the 2008 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Publishers Weekly called it "enormously satisfying;" Library Journal described it as "Fast-moving, riveting, unpredictable and profound," and Los Angeles Magazine wrote that "Nina Revoyr ... is fast becoming one of the city’s finest chroniclers and myth-makers."
Nina's fourth novel, Wingshooters, was published in March, 2011. It is one of O: Oprah Magazine's "Books to Watch For," an IndieBound Indie Next Selection, and a Midwest Connections Pick. Publishers Weekly described it as "remarkable...an accomplished story of family and the dangers of complacency in the face of questionable justice; and Booklist called it "a shattering northern variation on To Kill a Mockingbird.
Nina is the executive vice president of a large child and family service agency in Los Angeles. She has also been an Associate Faculty member at Antioch University, and a Visiting Professor at Cornell University, Occidental College, and Pitzer College. Nina lives in Northeast Los Angeles with her partner, two rowdy dogs, and a pair of bossy cats.
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November 22, 2009
i'm pretty sure there aren’t many books that focus on teenage girls, not in some special light and under particular (and doubtlessly most worthy) agendas, but as vibrant, strong people with a rich private and communal life that encompasses all sorts of realities. i can think of books that do this with boys, and from the point of view of boys, but girls, girls are mostly relegated to literature that exposes abuse (i’ll be delighted to be proven wrong).
nancy takahiro is a japanese-american high-school senior and star basketball player who lives in inglewood, an entirely african-american neighborhood of los angeles, with her divorced father. mom left, married a white guy, and pretty much forgot all about nancy, maybe an unpleasant reminder of her racialized past. nancy's dad, wendell, is loving, attentive, and solid, and, while not in a we-tell-each-other-everything way, nancy and he get along great. nancy's rapport with her dad is one of the bearing walls of this novel, and i think it's portrayed beautifully. nancy feels towards him the way a seventeen year old should: she takes for granted his support and protection, looks up to him in a way that has yet to reckon with the fallibility of parents, and pretty much ignores him in order to do her own stuff. the trajectory of their relationship, which is traced throughout the year that constitutes the temporal span of the novel, is a lovely tribute to the way parents and children's love can grow instead of ebb over time.
soon after the beginning of the novel dad falls in love with the mother of another gay high school basketball star he meets at a game, and mother and daughter soon move in. raina, nancy's newly acquired step-sister of sorts, happens to be the girl nancy has long admired and desired.
remarkably, at seventeen, nancy knows that she is, and feels fully comfortable being, gay, and is in close touch with the girls in the high school basketball circuit who are also gay. they consider themselves a "family," and draw a tremendous amount of strength from this statewide community of theirs.
the novel tells us just about all we ever wanted to know about high school basketball in the 80s (i doubt it's much changed), which is a great thing if you like sports. it tells you about tournaments, leagues, camps, training session, seasons, and play-offs; uniforms, shoes, diet, and lifestyle; how kid athletes are seen, the way they negotiate their lives as athletes and their lives as children, students, friends, and the tremendous confidence they derive from being something that is recognized and admired instead of just regular teens trying to find their place in the world. it tells you all about games: moves, tactics, team psychology, coaching, leadership, the advantages of height and weight, and what makes a kid a star and another an ordinary player. and it tells you all about recruitment.
recruitment is another of the bearing wall of the novel; it constitutes a nice focal point for the moment in which nancy and raina will leave home and become (a bit more) adult. both girls, now housemates, have a lot of suitors and they deal with the pressures of recruiting with a mixture of pride, pleasure, and anxiety.
now that raina lives with her, nancy has a whole new problem vis a vis her feelings for her, which grow and grow with each passing day (because of raina, nancy’s been single for two years). through nancy's eyes, raina is the most charismatic kid ever. she's beautiful, a brilliant athlete, strong, focused, and vulnerable in the right amount and fashion for maximum seductiveness. nancy's love for her is boundless. since it is a known fact in the lesbian circle in which raina and nancy navigate that nancy is infatuated with raina, things are complicated between them from the start. nancy makes a high wire act of loving raina without losing her dignity or risking rejection, and raina, for her part, goes out of her way to be kind and friendly toward nancy without giving her the wrong idea. the novel is so drenched in longing, you could wring a bucket out of it. but it's longing mixed with the pure pleasures of childhood – watching tv together, playing one on one or pickup games every afternoon in the park, studying in the same room. nancy lives of the fumes of raina's life – raina has a girlfriend she very much loves and who constantly breaks her heart with her cheating and callousness – but they are rich fumes and keep nancy exhilarated.
The Necessary Hunger does a fabulous job of portraying the miseries and delights of adolescence in the context of ordinary life. revoyr takes her time building the novel, and she gives us nancy's life with a calm, steady pace that takes full pleasure in repeated description of routines and apparently insignificant acts. i found this deliberately slowness intensely mesmerizing. you find yourselves living with these people and finding peace whenever they do. this tempers what could have been an intensely emotional novel and gives a sense of the normality of life, in which deep and rich moments are drowned out, quantitatively, by the simple acts that constitute our getting from morning to night and vice versa.
it is astonishing to see how many profound themes revoyr manages to get deeply into while seeming to spend time on walks in the neighborhood and pancake breakfasts. one of these themes, of course, is the huge complexity of race in a big city like L.A., which is most glaring in the moments in which teams from different part of towns meet (nancy takes awesome pleasure of making mince-meat of the all-white teams from wealthy neighborhoods) and in the fact that nancy and her dad are the only non-black characters of the book, so that every relationship they get into is ipso facto a mixed one.
revoyr describes lovingly the dangers and allures of the run-down neighborhoods that sit on the other side of the tracks. many reviewers have seen this book as a love song to L.A. and revoyr herself describes it as such. the charm of urban america, especially of cities like L.A. that are designed for cars instead of fragile machines of flesh and calcium, is somehow lost on me, but, having lived and sweated in L.A. for a chunk of years, i still see what revoyr and the reviewers mean.
the most striking element of this striking novel is the level of assurance and confidence of girl athletes. these black girls own the town. they have no problem roaming all of its neighborhoods, wealthy or poor, because they have played there and probably beaten their high school teams. their being brown-skinned, gay, poor, and female means nothing to them. they inhabit their bodies and their identity with ease and feel pretty much invincible. in her rough neighborhood, nancy, courted by the best colleges in the country, is a hero, and this makes her feel safe and strong.
at the same time, the novel breaks your heart with the stories of high school athletes who are courted by no one, and whose strength and safety are doomed the day high school is over. nancy knows that most of her teammates and friends from the basketball circuit are headed for dead-end jobs, early pregnancies, crime, and jail, and it hurts her tremendously.
i have delighted in reading so many novels, recently, that deal with what it feels like to be on the cusp of adulthood. the overwhelming sense i have derived from them is that we never get there, that adulthood and childhood are inextricably linked and that pure, unfettered maturity is a fictional construct designed to give us a sense of where we should be more than of where we will ever be.
nancy takahiro is a japanese-american high-school senior and star basketball player who lives in inglewood, an entirely african-american neighborhood of los angeles, with her divorced father. mom left, married a white guy, and pretty much forgot all about nancy, maybe an unpleasant reminder of her racialized past. nancy's dad, wendell, is loving, attentive, and solid, and, while not in a we-tell-each-other-everything way, nancy and he get along great. nancy's rapport with her dad is one of the bearing walls of this novel, and i think it's portrayed beautifully. nancy feels towards him the way a seventeen year old should: she takes for granted his support and protection, looks up to him in a way that has yet to reckon with the fallibility of parents, and pretty much ignores him in order to do her own stuff. the trajectory of their relationship, which is traced throughout the year that constitutes the temporal span of the novel, is a lovely tribute to the way parents and children's love can grow instead of ebb over time.
soon after the beginning of the novel dad falls in love with the mother of another gay high school basketball star he meets at a game, and mother and daughter soon move in. raina, nancy's newly acquired step-sister of sorts, happens to be the girl nancy has long admired and desired.
remarkably, at seventeen, nancy knows that she is, and feels fully comfortable being, gay, and is in close touch with the girls in the high school basketball circuit who are also gay. they consider themselves a "family," and draw a tremendous amount of strength from this statewide community of theirs.
the novel tells us just about all we ever wanted to know about high school basketball in the 80s (i doubt it's much changed), which is a great thing if you like sports. it tells you about tournaments, leagues, camps, training session, seasons, and play-offs; uniforms, shoes, diet, and lifestyle; how kid athletes are seen, the way they negotiate their lives as athletes and their lives as children, students, friends, and the tremendous confidence they derive from being something that is recognized and admired instead of just regular teens trying to find their place in the world. it tells you all about games: moves, tactics, team psychology, coaching, leadership, the advantages of height and weight, and what makes a kid a star and another an ordinary player. and it tells you all about recruitment.
recruitment is another of the bearing wall of the novel; it constitutes a nice focal point for the moment in which nancy and raina will leave home and become (a bit more) adult. both girls, now housemates, have a lot of suitors and they deal with the pressures of recruiting with a mixture of pride, pleasure, and anxiety.
now that raina lives with her, nancy has a whole new problem vis a vis her feelings for her, which grow and grow with each passing day (because of raina, nancy’s been single for two years). through nancy's eyes, raina is the most charismatic kid ever. she's beautiful, a brilliant athlete, strong, focused, and vulnerable in the right amount and fashion for maximum seductiveness. nancy's love for her is boundless. since it is a known fact in the lesbian circle in which raina and nancy navigate that nancy is infatuated with raina, things are complicated between them from the start. nancy makes a high wire act of loving raina without losing her dignity or risking rejection, and raina, for her part, goes out of her way to be kind and friendly toward nancy without giving her the wrong idea. the novel is so drenched in longing, you could wring a bucket out of it. but it's longing mixed with the pure pleasures of childhood – watching tv together, playing one on one or pickup games every afternoon in the park, studying in the same room. nancy lives of the fumes of raina's life – raina has a girlfriend she very much loves and who constantly breaks her heart with her cheating and callousness – but they are rich fumes and keep nancy exhilarated.
The Necessary Hunger does a fabulous job of portraying the miseries and delights of adolescence in the context of ordinary life. revoyr takes her time building the novel, and she gives us nancy's life with a calm, steady pace that takes full pleasure in repeated description of routines and apparently insignificant acts. i found this deliberately slowness intensely mesmerizing. you find yourselves living with these people and finding peace whenever they do. this tempers what could have been an intensely emotional novel and gives a sense of the normality of life, in which deep and rich moments are drowned out, quantitatively, by the simple acts that constitute our getting from morning to night and vice versa.
it is astonishing to see how many profound themes revoyr manages to get deeply into while seeming to spend time on walks in the neighborhood and pancake breakfasts. one of these themes, of course, is the huge complexity of race in a big city like L.A., which is most glaring in the moments in which teams from different part of towns meet (nancy takes awesome pleasure of making mince-meat of the all-white teams from wealthy neighborhoods) and in the fact that nancy and her dad are the only non-black characters of the book, so that every relationship they get into is ipso facto a mixed one.
revoyr describes lovingly the dangers and allures of the run-down neighborhoods that sit on the other side of the tracks. many reviewers have seen this book as a love song to L.A. and revoyr herself describes it as such. the charm of urban america, especially of cities like L.A. that are designed for cars instead of fragile machines of flesh and calcium, is somehow lost on me, but, having lived and sweated in L.A. for a chunk of years, i still see what revoyr and the reviewers mean.
the most striking element of this striking novel is the level of assurance and confidence of girl athletes. these black girls own the town. they have no problem roaming all of its neighborhoods, wealthy or poor, because they have played there and probably beaten their high school teams. their being brown-skinned, gay, poor, and female means nothing to them. they inhabit their bodies and their identity with ease and feel pretty much invincible. in her rough neighborhood, nancy, courted by the best colleges in the country, is a hero, and this makes her feel safe and strong.
at the same time, the novel breaks your heart with the stories of high school athletes who are courted by no one, and whose strength and safety are doomed the day high school is over. nancy knows that most of her teammates and friends from the basketball circuit are headed for dead-end jobs, early pregnancies, crime, and jail, and it hurts her tremendously.
i have delighted in reading so many novels, recently, that deal with what it feels like to be on the cusp of adulthood. the overwhelming sense i have derived from them is that we never get there, that adulthood and childhood are inextricably linked and that pure, unfettered maturity is a fictional construct designed to give us a sense of where we should be more than of where we will ever be.
August 28, 2021
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2 ½ stars
The Necessary Hunger, Nina Revoyr's debut novel first published in 1997, had the potential of being a great YA book. In many ways this novel was ahead of its times. Set in Inglewood, L. A., in the late 1980s The Necessary Hunger is narrated by seventeen-year-old Nancy Takahiro, a Japanese-American all-star high school basketball player. Nancy, who is a lesbian, falls hard for Raina Webber, an African-American all-star guard from a competing school. Raina, who is also a lesbian, is in a relationship with an older girl.
When Raina's mother and Nancy's father get together, things get a bit complicated. Nancy, who isn't used to sharing her home with anyone other than her father, has to get used to the presence of two other people. Her massive crush on Raina further complicates matters.
There were aspects of this novel that I really liked such as Revoyr's approach to sexuality and race. There are quite a few gay characters, and their sexuality is never made into a big deal. While stories about coming out and/or exploring your sexuality are certainly important, it was refreshing to read a storyline that casually revolves around gay teens. Nancy's sexuality is never made into an 'issue'.
The novel also has a great sense of time and place. Revoyr's Inglewood is vividly rendered. From the graffitis decorating some of the more run down buildings, to the ever-present threat of danger (government neglect results in gang violence, drive-bys, carjackings, burglaries). Acquaintances of Nancy drop out school, get into drugs, go to prison. Life isn't easy. A sense of solidarity unites Inglewood's various residents and both Nancy and her father navigate Inglewood with ease. When Raina and her mother move into their house tension arise. Inglewood informs Revoyr's discussions about class hierarchies and social / race relations (particularly interracial relationships).
Sadly, readers merely 'overhear' these more interesting conversations. Nancy is a snoop, and she will often sneakily listen to other people's conversations. For all her navel-gazing Nancy's character lacked interiority. She's defined by her love for basketball and her obsessive feelings for Raina. Although other characters aren't distinctly three-dimensional, they at least had a semblance of personality. Nancy was a not very profound bore. The narrative tries to emphasise that she's looking back to these events, by making her reflect on 'what-ifs' or the significance of a certain moment, but this technique added little to the narrative.
While I knew that this would be a novel about basketball, I wasn't expecting pages and pages of basketball games. Perhaps if I had been more interested in the characters or if I had felt that these game had some sort of stake...but readers know from the beginning that unlike her teammates Nancy will have plenty of college offers. Raina is often reduced to the role of 'object of desire'. Nancy's feelings for Raina never struck me as genuine. It seemed a classic case of 'physical attraction + jealousy/awe'.
At times the writing seemed quite dated (for example Nancy uses the word 'schizophrenic' to describe her room's decor).
Nothing remarkable happens. Nancy is often a mere observer in the novel's more compelling moments. A lot of the narrative is dedicate to Nancy's 'yearning' for Raina....and the ending was incredibly underwhelming. What was all that for?
All in all The Necessary Hunger strikes me as a rather mediocre piece of fiction. It had the potential to be a really thought-provoking read but it just felt flat to me. There were also so many cheesy lines that were probably meant to be taken seriously.
2 ½ stars
The Necessary Hunger, Nina Revoyr's debut novel first published in 1997, had the potential of being a great YA book. In many ways this novel was ahead of its times. Set in Inglewood, L. A., in the late 1980s The Necessary Hunger is narrated by seventeen-year-old Nancy Takahiro, a Japanese-American all-star high school basketball player. Nancy, who is a lesbian, falls hard for Raina Webber, an African-American all-star guard from a competing school. Raina, who is also a lesbian, is in a relationship with an older girl.
When Raina's mother and Nancy's father get together, things get a bit complicated. Nancy, who isn't used to sharing her home with anyone other than her father, has to get used to the presence of two other people. Her massive crush on Raina further complicates matters.
There were aspects of this novel that I really liked such as Revoyr's approach to sexuality and race. There are quite a few gay characters, and their sexuality is never made into a big deal. While stories about coming out and/or exploring your sexuality are certainly important, it was refreshing to read a storyline that casually revolves around gay teens. Nancy's sexuality is never made into an 'issue'.
The novel also has a great sense of time and place. Revoyr's Inglewood is vividly rendered. From the graffitis decorating some of the more run down buildings, to the ever-present threat of danger (government neglect results in gang violence, drive-bys, carjackings, burglaries). Acquaintances of Nancy drop out school, get into drugs, go to prison. Life isn't easy. A sense of solidarity unites Inglewood's various residents and both Nancy and her father navigate Inglewood with ease. When Raina and her mother move into their house tension arise. Inglewood informs Revoyr's discussions about class hierarchies and social / race relations (particularly interracial relationships).
Sadly, readers merely 'overhear' these more interesting conversations. Nancy is a snoop, and she will often sneakily listen to other people's conversations. For all her navel-gazing Nancy's character lacked interiority. She's defined by her love for basketball and her obsessive feelings for Raina. Although other characters aren't distinctly three-dimensional, they at least had a semblance of personality. Nancy was a not very profound bore. The narrative tries to emphasise that she's looking back to these events, by making her reflect on 'what-ifs' or the significance of a certain moment, but this technique added little to the narrative.
While I knew that this would be a novel about basketball, I wasn't expecting pages and pages of basketball games. Perhaps if I had been more interested in the characters or if I had felt that these game had some sort of stake...but readers know from the beginning that unlike her teammates Nancy will have plenty of college offers. Raina is often reduced to the role of 'object of desire'. Nancy's feelings for Raina never struck me as genuine. It seemed a classic case of 'physical attraction + jealousy/awe'.
At times the writing seemed quite dated (for example Nancy uses the word 'schizophrenic' to describe her room's decor).
Nothing remarkable happens. Nancy is often a mere observer in the novel's more compelling moments. A lot of the narrative is dedicate to Nancy's 'yearning' for Raina....and the ending was incredibly underwhelming. What was all that for?
All in all The Necessary Hunger strikes me as a rather mediocre piece of fiction. It had the potential to be a really thought-provoking read but it just felt flat to me. There were also so many cheesy lines that were probably meant to be taken seriously.
July 8, 2015
I came to love basketball later in life than most fans. I was a junior in high school, and the University of Kansas had risen to the top of my list of college options. My grandma had been a KU fan for years, and her enthusiasm mixed with my own excitement at the prospect of heading to college, especially a school where basketball is king. Before I knew it, I had learned what a ball screen was, and I've spent every March since 2002 screaming at the TV.
So, as a basketball fan, I was really into Nina Revoyr's debut novel, originally published in 1997 and set in the mid-to-late '80s. The narrator is Nancy Takahiro, a standout forward on her high school team in inner city LA. As a six-footer with a quick first step, Nancy has been getting attention from college scouts for pretty much her entire high school career. She loves the game of basketball, and she knows it's her ticket out of Inglewood.
Nancy's life becomes more complicated when her father starts dating the mother of a highly-touted player from a different school, Raina Webber. Nancy has had feelings for Raina for a long time—feelings that Raina hasn't reciprocated. When their parents move in together, Nancy and Raina will have to navigate a minefield of issues, on and off the court. They're both incredibly fierce competitors, and emotions run as high and hard as the girls do in practice.
There's so much going on in this novel besides basketball. Nancy's father and Raina's mother have to deal with backlash from their friends over their inter-racial relationship (Nancy's father is of Japanese descent, while Raina's mother is African-American). Nancy has to find a way to swallow her jealousy every time she sees Raina with her girlfriend, Toni. Both their parents have good jobs, so the family isn't living in poverty, but life in their neighborhood isn't always easy or safe. And after all the high school games are finally over, Nancy and Raina are each going to have to choose a college, decisions that will have ripple effects throughout their entire lives.
The basketball scenes are well-placed, building tension throughout the book to a showdown that feels inevitable, though I never could have predicted the outcome. Those scenes on the court are where Revoyr's narration shines the brightest. I could see perfectly every pass, every shot, down to the last heartbreaking second. (Of course, if you don't have at least a basic grasp of the game, those scenes won't carry as much of a punch.) And I didn't live in LA in the '80s, but to my ear, Revoyr's dialogue rings true—exactly how I'd imagine players jawing to each other on the court.
I had to delve deep into the backlist for this one—it's not terribly often these days I'm reading books written in the '90s—but I'm so glad I did. And I'll definitely be checking out more of Revoyr's books in the future.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
So, as a basketball fan, I was really into Nina Revoyr's debut novel, originally published in 1997 and set in the mid-to-late '80s. The narrator is Nancy Takahiro, a standout forward on her high school team in inner city LA. As a six-footer with a quick first step, Nancy has been getting attention from college scouts for pretty much her entire high school career. She loves the game of basketball, and she knows it's her ticket out of Inglewood.
Nancy's life becomes more complicated when her father starts dating the mother of a highly-touted player from a different school, Raina Webber. Nancy has had feelings for Raina for a long time—feelings that Raina hasn't reciprocated. When their parents move in together, Nancy and Raina will have to navigate a minefield of issues, on and off the court. They're both incredibly fierce competitors, and emotions run as high and hard as the girls do in practice.
There's so much going on in this novel besides basketball. Nancy's father and Raina's mother have to deal with backlash from their friends over their inter-racial relationship (Nancy's father is of Japanese descent, while Raina's mother is African-American). Nancy has to find a way to swallow her jealousy every time she sees Raina with her girlfriend, Toni. Both their parents have good jobs, so the family isn't living in poverty, but life in their neighborhood isn't always easy or safe. And after all the high school games are finally over, Nancy and Raina are each going to have to choose a college, decisions that will have ripple effects throughout their entire lives.
The basketball scenes are well-placed, building tension throughout the book to a showdown that feels inevitable, though I never could have predicted the outcome. Those scenes on the court are where Revoyr's narration shines the brightest. I could see perfectly every pass, every shot, down to the last heartbreaking second. (Of course, if you don't have at least a basic grasp of the game, those scenes won't carry as much of a punch.) And I didn't live in LA in the '80s, but to my ear, Revoyr's dialogue rings true—exactly how I'd imagine players jawing to each other on the court.
I had to delve deep into the backlist for this one—it's not terribly often these days I'm reading books written in the '90s—but I'm so glad I did. And I'll definitely be checking out more of Revoyr's books in the future.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
March 4, 2016
This book took awhile to grow on me, but by the end I was very attached to the narrator, Nancy Takahiro. I think what intially turned me off was Revoyr's tendency to narrate in real time (e.g. "Then I saw a man walk across the street. He seemed to shuffle for some unknown reason. I kicked a pebble dejectedly while dribbling my basketball. The wind blew through my hair."). That was a bit cumbersome.
However, what I appreciate most about this novel is its honesty. Nancy Takahiro is super sympathetic because she's really sensitive and really pretty unsuccessful romantically. She has an incredibly intense crush on this fellow basketball player named Raina, who happens to live with her because Raina's mom and Nancy's dad are together. I dunno, I just really felt for Nancy because her love was unrequited, and although Raina's a wonderful person, she just doesn't feel as strongly about Nancy. It's kind of heartbreaking to watch this played out over the length of a year, but I was pretty game to see things develop, not in a concise, neat way like in movies. The way this book resolved was much more poignant and truthful. By the end Nancy and Raina drift apart--and not necessarily out of animosity. I just liked this book, what can I say?
Also, I am very satisfied with Revoyr's take on race. She herself is half Japanese, so it's like, wow, she gets it. Like, Japanese Americans in SoCal--yep--my grandma went to Evergreen SBC down there. I dunno, just the way that she captures Japanese American culture in such a subtle way that only an insider would know how to do it. I noticed all of the subtle details that ring true for myself as a half Japanese American woman. What's fascinating about Nancy Takahiro is that she's a local celebrity because of her basketball skills, yet, she's not really connected with the greater Japanese American community and most of her friends are black and white. It's like, she's a racial outsider with a lot of her friends but also able to adapt to different settings? Like, I feel like that's the blessing and the curse of being a middle class Asian American. Revoyr does well exploring this.
She also does a great job of exploring class difference. Nancy lives is a somewhat dangerous neighborhood, almost gets carjacked. Revoyr explores the notions of what it means for young people of promise to "get out" of environments like those (a la Arnold getting of the rez in Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian). Whereas Nancy and Raina can "get out" via full ride college scholarships, their friends with less of a safety net crumble before their eyes. It's pretty tragic, but also needs to be mentioned.
The Necessary Hunger is a worthwhile read. I'm so glad someone recommended it to me!
However, what I appreciate most about this novel is its honesty. Nancy Takahiro is super sympathetic because she's really sensitive and really pretty unsuccessful romantically. She has an incredibly intense crush on this fellow basketball player named Raina, who happens to live with her because Raina's mom and Nancy's dad are together. I dunno, I just really felt for Nancy because her love was unrequited, and although Raina's a wonderful person, she just doesn't feel as strongly about Nancy. It's kind of heartbreaking to watch this played out over the length of a year, but I was pretty game to see things develop, not in a concise, neat way like in movies. The way this book resolved was much more poignant and truthful. By the end Nancy and Raina drift apart--and not necessarily out of animosity. I just liked this book, what can I say?
Also, I am very satisfied with Revoyr's take on race. She herself is half Japanese, so it's like, wow, she gets it. Like, Japanese Americans in SoCal--yep--my grandma went to Evergreen SBC down there. I dunno, just the way that she captures Japanese American culture in such a subtle way that only an insider would know how to do it. I noticed all of the subtle details that ring true for myself as a half Japanese American woman. What's fascinating about Nancy Takahiro is that she's a local celebrity because of her basketball skills, yet, she's not really connected with the greater Japanese American community and most of her friends are black and white. It's like, she's a racial outsider with a lot of her friends but also able to adapt to different settings? Like, I feel like that's the blessing and the curse of being a middle class Asian American. Revoyr does well exploring this.
She also does a great job of exploring class difference. Nancy lives is a somewhat dangerous neighborhood, almost gets carjacked. Revoyr explores the notions of what it means for young people of promise to "get out" of environments like those (a la Arnold getting of the rez in Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian). Whereas Nancy and Raina can "get out" via full ride college scholarships, their friends with less of a safety net crumble before their eyes. It's pretty tragic, but also needs to be mentioned.
The Necessary Hunger is a worthwhile read. I'm so glad someone recommended it to me!
October 16, 2011
This is the story of Nancy Takahiro, a Japanese-American all-star high school basketball player who lives in Inglewood, California. Nancy is in love with her biggest rival, Raina Webber who ultimately becomes her step-sister. Yes, this sounds a little weird but really it is not. Nancy's father meets and falls in love with Raina's mother when both girls are already in high-school and preparing for college. Not a lot of books (at least of which I'm aware) have as their protagonist a lesbian Asian teenager and that in and of itself makes this book special and worth reading. It is a fairly simple read, not complex and certainly not the most challenging of all novels. Still, the teenagers in "The Necessary Hunger" are aspirational, striving for better lives as they deal with homophobia amongst their families, racial tensions typical of Los Angeles, and typical angst about growing-up and leaving the comforts of their friends and their beloved high school sport. These are the stories of girls whose voices and lives we seldom hear and/or see.
November 12, 2016
I'm still just trying to wrap my head around the fact that this book was published (by a major publisher, no less) in 1997 (20 years ago, people; I could have read this when I was 13 or 14 years old) and features an Asian American lesbian protagonist and several (I mean, too many to count) other lesbians of color, who are all in high school. And the plot is not even focused on the coming out process or feeling conflicted about being gay or other traumatic consequences of homophobia. I do have some critiques of the writing style, but who cares.
April 8, 2024
I think I’ll find myself coming back to this book. What a beautiful, vulnerable story.
April 9, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It's about the one that ultimately gets away, and there's something intangibly poetic about the story and the characters.
September 27, 2021
She had the kind of hunger that is necessary for any venture into greatness. But the only thing that I had was her.
Incredibly written. A coming of age story about two young women, one Japanese American and one African American, in 1980s Los Angeles; both fierce basketball players who love the game and are reaching for greatness. It's old from the perspective of Nancy, who first meets Raina through basketball. They start living together when Nancy's Japanese father and Raina's black mother fall for one another, and then Nancy very quickly falls for Raina.
It's always very pleasurable reading a well-researched novel, and based on the afterword, Revoyr based a lot of this on her own experiences. It shows. The way the neighbourhood and its people and its peculiarities are frankly and lovingly described, it felt really visceral, well-defined, and real. Nancy loves her hood, but we also hear about the racism that she and her father sometimes face, as well as ways she's aware of her own privilege amidst her mostly black peers. I really love Revoyr's style of writing, which is super down to earth, but sometimes she'll sweep into these really lush and expansive passages and descriptions that I got totally lost in, and it never seemed out of place in the milieu. She perfectly captured all the intensity and pain of being a teenager. As a novel about a sport, this was kind of perfect? So much so that I, notoriously disdainful of sport and ambivalent about books about it, was totally swept away. Between the layer of their friendship and Nancy's love, the girls have this intense rivalry that I loved reading about. All of the basketball matches were so good, especially nearing the end. I was on the edge of my seat. I also loved all the descriptions of their blended family, and Nancy's father was such a great guy, one of the standout side characters for me.
Where the book really shines is in the love story. This isn't a romance, but there's all the intensity that I could ever want, wrapped up in a lot of teen angst. I adore a good story about devotion, especially when it's wrapped in a complicated package, like Nancy's love for Raina. The language used to describe Raina, her physicality, the way she plays the game, the ways she treats others and approaches the world... it's pitch perfect. Nancy's infatuation is a thing that lives in this book, and while it never feels childish, it is written about in a way that perfectly encapsulates the teen experience? I just enjoyed it so much. One thing I didn't love was all the foreshadowing. I've definitely read and loved books like this before, where it's being narrated by the protagonist from a vantage point of years in the future; a protagonist who knows and hints at what is going to come. I didn't super love it here? It made me kinda jumpy, anticipating everything that was going to come.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Jin Yang; really liked it! Some of her accents for side characters didn't really work for me; they sounded a bit too exaggerated? But her rendition of all the sporty stuff was impeccable. This was my second book by Revoyr, and I'm once again really bowled over by the writing, and really appreciative of her perspective and the efforts she makes to shine light on communities that don't get the attention they deserve. Looking forward to reading even more of her work.
All I knew, despite everything, was the love, the inevitable love, which was deepening by the moment, which did not exist in me but in which I existed.
April 9, 2011
Nancy Takahiro loves basketball and is a top ranked player in the State of CA. So is Raina Webber, from a competing school. What's even more complicated is that Nancy loves Raina, both are gay, but Nancy is in awe of Raina. Things get more complicated when Nancy's father and Raina's mother move from going out to living together. And then there is the whole racial thing.
This novel has several interwoven themes, all centered on girls' basketball. Some characters are racially mixed; some are gay; some are both. There is tolerance and intolerance. The neighborhood is "sorta" mixed, with racial integrations having gone through several exchanges. There is the complex issue of wanting to win, but being confused as to what will happen with friendships/potential romances if you do. How do you approach someone you admire so thoroughly? What about the state of girls' basketball?
Revoya does a skilled job in writing about all these various themes. The book, at times tedious with play-by-play descriptions of basketball games, does not completely describe certain characters in a way you can feel them. Written from a first person point of view, it is understandable when there is limited contact. But the true emotional reactions were missing.
I highly recommend this book for YA girls, even if they are not gay, athletic, or culturally mixed..
This novel has several interwoven themes, all centered on girls' basketball. Some characters are racially mixed; some are gay; some are both. There is tolerance and intolerance. The neighborhood is "sorta" mixed, with racial integrations having gone through several exchanges. There is the complex issue of wanting to win, but being confused as to what will happen with friendships/potential romances if you do. How do you approach someone you admire so thoroughly? What about the state of girls' basketball?
Revoya does a skilled job in writing about all these various themes. The book, at times tedious with play-by-play descriptions of basketball games, does not completely describe certain characters in a way you can feel them. Written from a first person point of view, it is understandable when there is limited contact. But the true emotional reactions were missing.
I highly recommend this book for YA girls, even if they are not gay, athletic, or culturally mixed..
December 14, 2018
It's funny how the standard synopsis leaves out lesbians. Since I read this in high school, I do appreciate the book cover's vagueness because as the article cited below points out, I would have been too scared to check out something more explicit from my school library. At 16, I loved and was scared by this book in ways I couldn't articulate .
I have a longer review in me about how Revoyr tackles complex issues about racial and sexual identity while coming of age in 90s LA are handled with great realistic nuance, and I loved Nancy's friendships with her teammates, and relationship with her dad and Raina's mom. The arc of unrequited love, and the final coda reflecting on the glory days of high school has so much relatable angst and pain. I wish this was on kindle, and may just order a hard copy. This book, and Nancy have stayed with me since I read it at 16.
Sources
1. Cover Talk: Lesbian Hands Are a Thing http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/20...
2. OUT AND PROUD VS. HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: THE EVOLUTION OF YA BOOK COVERShttps://bookriot.com/2016/10/11/proud...
I have a longer review in me about how Revoyr tackles complex issues about racial and sexual identity while coming of age in 90s LA are handled with great realistic nuance, and I loved Nancy's friendships with her teammates, and relationship with her dad and Raina's mom. The arc of unrequited love, and the final coda reflecting on the glory days of high school has so much relatable angst and pain. I wish this was on kindle, and may just order a hard copy. This book, and Nancy have stayed with me since I read it at 16.
Sources
1. Cover Talk: Lesbian Hands Are a Thing http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/20...
2. OUT AND PROUD VS. HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT: THE EVOLUTION OF YA BOOK COVERShttps://bookriot.com/2016/10/11/proud...
August 13, 2015
There were some things in this book that were incredible. A non-white lesbian protagonist who is interested in another non-white lesbian, and how to navigate being queer and ethnic. The mixing of a black household and a Japanese household, and what that means for both families. What it's like to be a senior in high school, with everything ending.
While those elements were great, the story itself was lacking. Nancy, the protagonist, is very passive. Things just kind of happen around her, and she internalizes things, but it didn't feel realistic--any character growth felt like exposition, and while everyone was changing and doing things around Nancy, she felt the same at the end as she did at the beginning. Also, not a whole lot happens; it's very much a story about senior year of high school and how this one character lives through it.
Overall, it was a relatively quick read, and I think the parts about race were really important, so I'd recommend this.
While those elements were great, the story itself was lacking. Nancy, the protagonist, is very passive. Things just kind of happen around her, and she internalizes things, but it didn't feel realistic--any character growth felt like exposition, and while everyone was changing and doing things around Nancy, she felt the same at the end as she did at the beginning. Also, not a whole lot happens; it's very much a story about senior year of high school and how this one character lives through it.
Overall, it was a relatively quick read, and I think the parts about race were really important, so I'd recommend this.
February 20, 2019
The Necessary Hunger
by Nina Revoyr
1997/2019 (due 3-5-19)
Akashic, Brooklyn
5.0 / 5.0
What an amazing book and story! It will stay with me and be read many times.
The protagonist, Nancy Takahiro is an Asian American, 6´0´, and an all-star High School basketball player. And a lesbian. She develops a crush on a rival, Raina Webber, and African American all-star point guard. It becomes interesting and intense when Nancyś dad falls in love with Rainaś mom, and decide to move in together. They move to Inglewood.
Revoyr has developed realistic characters, easy to relate to. She weaves a story of sexual orientation and coming out with the challenge of racial identity and class. The intensity, practice and devotion to womens basketball helps Nancy keep it together and feel comfortable.
This would be great for LGBTQ and cultural studies classes, too.
Thanks to Akashic, Nina Revoyr, and LibraryThing for sending this ARC for review.
by Nina Revoyr
1997/2019 (due 3-5-19)
Akashic, Brooklyn
5.0 / 5.0
What an amazing book and story! It will stay with me and be read many times.
The protagonist, Nancy Takahiro is an Asian American, 6´0´, and an all-star High School basketball player. And a lesbian. She develops a crush on a rival, Raina Webber, and African American all-star point guard. It becomes interesting and intense when Nancyś dad falls in love with Rainaś mom, and decide to move in together. They move to Inglewood.
Revoyr has developed realistic characters, easy to relate to. She weaves a story of sexual orientation and coming out with the challenge of racial identity and class. The intensity, practice and devotion to womens basketball helps Nancy keep it together and feel comfortable.
This would be great for LGBTQ and cultural studies classes, too.
Thanks to Akashic, Nina Revoyr, and LibraryThing for sending this ARC for review.
February 18, 2014
Why did it have to end? The writing was at sometimes awkward but the content, subject matter, race relations, relationships, etc., made up for it. Highly recommend this book for anyone who played (was at one time obsessed with basketball) and felt visceral loneliness even while surrounded by friends and family. Great book for an Asian Am or African Am lit course or a Race and Lit course.
April 3, 2016
Slow, but engaging. The story of a Japanese-American high-school basketball player who lives in a black neighborhood in L.A. in the late 1980s, it offers thoughtful reflections on racial and class dynamics that I've rarely come across in fiction. (Because #WeNeedDiverseBooks.)
January 7, 2024
A long time ago, I went on an epic quest to find a book that I couldn't recall the name of. During my quest, someone had brought this novel to my attention. Even though this wasn't the novel I was thinking of (that honor goes to When God Says No by Reina Sasaki), I still really wanted to check it out, but was just unable to. Until now!
(As a star basketball player in her last year of high school, Nancy Takahiro's life is about to change forever. Faced with the college recruitment process and unsure of where her skill will take her, Nancy is not prepared for meeting Raina Webber, an All-State shooting guard whose passion for basketball is matched only by her talent.
When Nancy's father and Raina's mother move in together, the girls are faced with the challenge of negotiating their already intense friendship and rivalry. As Nancy's love for Raina grows and both prepare to leave inner city neighborhood that has nurtured them, they find themselves looking toward a future that is no longer easily defined.
Set against a backdrop of racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles and infused with tenderness and passion. The Necessary Hunger explores not only the intricacies of the game of basketball, but also the very nature of the relationships young women create in the face of the odds that are stacked against them.) ~ Blurb From Goodreads
I found Nancy to be interesting. Despite her and Raina being friends and having some things in common (such as their love of basketball, coming from a divorce type situation, and so on), the whole situation of Raina and her mother moving in with her and her dad is still a huge shock to her and she does struggle to adjust. It's a very believable way to react. Now you have to see your friend almost all the time, you may learn some things about them or their family that may shock you, you get the idea. Even though her having a crush on Raina and being a lesbian is kind of a big part of her character, they're not the only part of her character. For example, in addition to her character arc of having to adjust to a new living situation and trying to navigate her last year of high school, she loves basketball, is unsure of her future partly because she's scared to leave the comfort of high school, likes to eavesdrop, comes from a divorce-type situation, is a mediocre student (including being bad at math), and so on.
Speaking of characters, I loved how this novel developed some of its side characters. I loved how they had their own distinct personalities and problems to deal with. For example, Nancy's dad is a supportive goofball who has constant disagreements with another coach at the high school he works at about whether the coach's son or another football player who is more skilled and popular should get more play time.
I admire its subtlety and complexity. For example, Nancy has experienced racism multiple times in her life, but rather than go on and on about how racism is bad or have it be shown through super unrealistic means, the novel spends just enough time on these moments to establish a believable action and the impact of that action and that's it. I also like how it doesn't try to pin the cause of issues like racism and the like on one person or one group. For me, I think this strategy also shows that the novel understands that its audience can handle nuance and grasp things without needing to be extensively preached at, which I seriously respect.
I loved the scenes of Nancy and Raina interacting with one another. Despite them being friends, they're still able to learn new things about one another and allow one another to see familiar things in a new light. These scenes are so fascinating, including the scenes where they play basketball together and just let their passion for the sport come out in full force.
The ending was awesome. Even though she still manages to She also Wow! Not only was it a realistic and satisfying ending, but it also goes to show that which I think is a great lesson, especially for young adults.
There was one moment however that felt rather cheap. So in chapter nine, Nancy and her crew get into an argument in the parking lot of a movie theater with some bigoted surfer guy named Brent for supposedly messing with the girls that go to his school and it gets more and more heated and just when it seems like a full on brawl is going to happen, two cops suddenly appear and the older cop of the duo basically solves the problem by establishing that he knows Nancy and is a fan of Nancy and and telling everyone to go somewhere else. Yeah. I'm not even kidding. Like, he just happens to know who Nancy is and just happens to be a fan of hers. While the fame of Nancy and crew was established before this point, the arrival of the police has no set up and the actions of the older cop solved the problem way too easily, making for a moment that severely contradicts the grounded and down to earth tone that this novel is clearly going for. I think the best solution would be to have Brent's buddy Rick or a random bystander say, "I'm calling the cops!" and run off, then later on, have Brent charge at Nancy and her crew, forcing the latter (along with the police) to do some quick thinking in order to protect themselves and arrest Brent.
I hated most of the basketball scenes. Like, the make up of nearly every basketball scene is like, ninety-five percent technical terms (like head fake, lay-up, etc) with no context behind them and five percent actual description. I understand that Nancy is a basketball fanatic and it's very much in-character for her to use these terms, but it's still very annoying, especially for someone like me who has very little knowledge of basketball. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, forcing the reader to stop every five seconds to look up a term just to understand what the hell you're talking about is not a sign of good writing.
Overall, The Necessary Hunger was a very raw, very real slice of life novel with some great characters that made me really thankful that someone brought it to my attention.
Overall Grade: A-
(As a star basketball player in her last year of high school, Nancy Takahiro's life is about to change forever. Faced with the college recruitment process and unsure of where her skill will take her, Nancy is not prepared for meeting Raina Webber, an All-State shooting guard whose passion for basketball is matched only by her talent.
When Nancy's father and Raina's mother move in together, the girls are faced with the challenge of negotiating their already intense friendship and rivalry. As Nancy's love for Raina grows and both prepare to leave inner city neighborhood that has nurtured them, they find themselves looking toward a future that is no longer easily defined.
Set against a backdrop of racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles and infused with tenderness and passion. The Necessary Hunger explores not only the intricacies of the game of basketball, but also the very nature of the relationships young women create in the face of the odds that are stacked against them.) ~ Blurb From Goodreads
I found Nancy to be interesting. Despite her and Raina being friends and having some things in common (such as their love of basketball, coming from a divorce type situation, and so on), the whole situation of Raina and her mother moving in with her and her dad is still a huge shock to her and she does struggle to adjust. It's a very believable way to react. Now you have to see your friend almost all the time, you may learn some things about them or their family that may shock you, you get the idea. Even though her having a crush on Raina and being a lesbian is kind of a big part of her character, they're not the only part of her character. For example, in addition to her character arc of having to adjust to a new living situation and trying to navigate her last year of high school, she loves basketball, is unsure of her future partly because she's scared to leave the comfort of high school, likes to eavesdrop, comes from a divorce-type situation, is a mediocre student (including being bad at math), and so on.
Speaking of characters, I loved how this novel developed some of its side characters. I loved how they had their own distinct personalities and problems to deal with. For example, Nancy's dad is a supportive goofball who has constant disagreements with another coach at the high school he works at about whether the coach's son or another football player who is more skilled and popular should get more play time.
I admire its subtlety and complexity. For example, Nancy has experienced racism multiple times in her life, but rather than go on and on about how racism is bad or have it be shown through super unrealistic means, the novel spends just enough time on these moments to establish a believable action and the impact of that action and that's it. I also like how it doesn't try to pin the cause of issues like racism and the like on one person or one group. For me, I think this strategy also shows that the novel understands that its audience can handle nuance and grasp things without needing to be extensively preached at, which I seriously respect.
I loved the scenes of Nancy and Raina interacting with one another. Despite them being friends, they're still able to learn new things about one another and allow one another to see familiar things in a new light. These scenes are so fascinating, including the scenes where they play basketball together and just let their passion for the sport come out in full force.
The ending was awesome. Even though she still manages to She also Wow! Not only was it a realistic and satisfying ending, but it also goes to show that which I think is a great lesson, especially for young adults.
There was one moment however that felt rather cheap. So in chapter nine, Nancy and her crew get into an argument in the parking lot of a movie theater with some bigoted surfer guy named Brent for supposedly messing with the girls that go to his school and it gets more and more heated and just when it seems like a full on brawl is going to happen, two cops suddenly appear and the older cop of the duo basically solves the problem by establishing that he knows Nancy and is a fan of Nancy and and telling everyone to go somewhere else. Yeah. I'm not even kidding. Like, he just happens to know who Nancy is and just happens to be a fan of hers. While the fame of Nancy and crew was established before this point, the arrival of the police has no set up and the actions of the older cop solved the problem way too easily, making for a moment that severely contradicts the grounded and down to earth tone that this novel is clearly going for. I think the best solution would be to have Brent's buddy Rick or a random bystander say, "I'm calling the cops!" and run off, then later on, have Brent charge at Nancy and her crew, forcing the latter (along with the police) to do some quick thinking in order to protect themselves and arrest Brent.
I hated most of the basketball scenes. Like, the make up of nearly every basketball scene is like, ninety-five percent technical terms (like head fake, lay-up, etc) with no context behind them and five percent actual description. I understand that Nancy is a basketball fanatic and it's very much in-character for her to use these terms, but it's still very annoying, especially for someone like me who has very little knowledge of basketball. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, forcing the reader to stop every five seconds to look up a term just to understand what the hell you're talking about is not a sign of good writing.
Overall, The Necessary Hunger was a very raw, very real slice of life novel with some great characters that made me really thankful that someone brought it to my attention.
Overall Grade: A-
read-audiobooks
February 4, 2022Nancy Takahiro is a Japanese-American and the star of her basketball team. It’s her senior year and she is faced with the college recruitment process and her feelings for Raina Webber.
That awkward moment when your rival, and crush, moves in with you because your parents are dating.
The book is set in the mid 80’s in Inglewood, California and the racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles is very high. There were several racial conflicts throughout the book, but overall it was just about Asian and Black characters living their lives and playing basketball. All of the characters were realistic and relatable.
I’m not a huge basketball fan, but my favorite parts were of the descriptions of the games and the random facts about historical basketball players. Also, the book almost felt like non-fiction; Nancy is telling her story and reminiscing on her last year of high school, and the time she spent with Raina. The ending made me sad, but again, it was realistic.
This book is so underrated! Y’all — It was published in 1997, and features an Asian-American lesbian protagonist and several other lesbians of color, who are all in high school. The plot is NOT about coming out or feeling conflicted about being gay or other traumatic consequences of homophobia. It was beautiful and I’m glad I stumbled across this book.
That awkward moment when your rival, and crush, moves in with you because your parents are dating.
The book is set in the mid 80’s in Inglewood, California and the racial tension between the Asian American and African American communities of Los Angeles is very high. There were several racial conflicts throughout the book, but overall it was just about Asian and Black characters living their lives and playing basketball. All of the characters were realistic and relatable.
I’m not a huge basketball fan, but my favorite parts were of the descriptions of the games and the random facts about historical basketball players. Also, the book almost felt like non-fiction; Nancy is telling her story and reminiscing on her last year of high school, and the time she spent with Raina. The ending made me sad, but again, it was realistic.
This book is so underrated! Y’all — It was published in 1997, and features an Asian-American lesbian protagonist and several other lesbians of color, who are all in high school. The plot is NOT about coming out or feeling conflicted about being gay or other traumatic consequences of homophobia. It was beautiful and I’m glad I stumbled across this book.
November 13, 2023
I adored this. The characters felt so real. This whole book felt real. There's drama and excitement, but mostly it's about an immature kid who doesn't know how to cope with her own feelings struggling through growing up. I loved the family dynamic and how that grew throughout the book. I loved all the side characters that were fully fleshed out, despite the fact that there were so many of them. This book contained such a developed world.
I loved Nancy and her growth, or at times lack there of. She was such a compelling lead with so much depth, but also such a kid and so full of immaturity. She's wildly flawed in ways that are frustrating, but so so real. And her feelings and behavior are so relatable to the teenage years.
I was all set to give this four stars until the ending hit and I just couldn't anymore. The ending blew me away. It really changed the perspective of the book from a lovely story about a kid in love to something so much more meaningful.
I think as a debut, it is honestly a little bit rough around the edges. Nancy does a lot of eavesdropping, which is kind of a lazy way to insert information the POV character doesn't have legitimate access to. There were too many characters, not enough sense of place. There were a number of little things. But I don't care about any of them. This book took my breath away.
I really thought going in that I'd love Nina Revoyr, but this book was beyond anything I expected. I'm so excited to read more from her. I would highly recommend this book.
I loved Nancy and her growth, or at times lack there of. She was such a compelling lead with so much depth, but also such a kid and so full of immaturity. She's wildly flawed in ways that are frustrating, but so so real. And her feelings and behavior are so relatable to the teenage years.
I was all set to give this four stars until the ending hit and I just couldn't anymore. The ending blew me away. It really changed the perspective of the book from a lovely story about a kid in love to something so much more meaningful.
I think as a debut, it is honestly a little bit rough around the edges. Nancy does a lot of eavesdropping, which is kind of a lazy way to insert information the POV character doesn't have legitimate access to. There were too many characters, not enough sense of place. There were a number of little things. But I don't care about any of them. This book took my breath away.
I really thought going in that I'd love Nina Revoyr, but this book was beyond anything I expected. I'm so excited to read more from her. I would highly recommend this book.
November 13, 2025
longest slowburn ever just for literally nothing to happen.
October 23, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed the book The Necessary Hunger written by Nina Revoir. The main topics in this book were basketball, jealousy, careers, and growing up in a dangerous town. I really enjoyed this book for multiple reasons. For one, basketball was a big focus in this book, and as a basketball player I really liked the detail that the author put into the basketball scenes. As I was reading I could tell that the author really knew what she was talking about and did her research about the game. Another reason I enjoyed this book is that it was really easy to get your head in the setting and get attached to the characters. I found myself getting mad at the father when he made a decision I thought was bad, or being sad when something didn’t go the main character’s way. The characters being so deep and complicated made the story believable and a lot easier to get invested in.
The point of view of this book comes from the main character, Nancy Takahiro. She lives in a house with her father, as well as another star basketball player, Raina, and Raina’s mother. The book took place in the mid 1980s, in Inglewood, California. It all started when Nancy’s dad started going out with Raina’s mom. This would normally be totally fine, but since Nancy was Asian and Raina was black, their parents were looked down on as a couple. Some of the problems in the book consist of Nancy trying to decide where she wants to go to college, Nancy having a “crush” on Raina but Raina already having a girlfriend, and Raina’s dad’s problems that he’s fighting through at work. Overall though, the biggest problem is Nancy dealing with growing up in a dangerous neighborhood, especially as an Asian. Due to this, the theme of the book is someone can never let their background and childhood destroy their future and potential, even when they don’t believe in themselves.
In this book, I really liked the way that the author made the characters so realistic. There were certainly points in the story when I felt like I could be reading a true story because of how the characters didn’t have perfect lives, or horrible lives, they had very realistic lives. For example, there were times when Nancy would be doing horribly, Raina wasn’t talking to her, her friend was in jail, another friend got kicked out of her house, and she wasn’t getting along with her dad. It was at a time like this when she would win a big game or her friend got the news that she got into Berkley. These moments made it believable, highlighting not just the negatives, but also the positives.
For me, the biggest weakness of this book involved some scenes that were really slow tempo and felt like they stretched out for too long. For the most part all the scenes that weren’t basketball games seemed to move slowly. For example, in one scene, Nancy and Raina were running and doing a late-night workout, during this it felt like the author spent an unnecessary amount of time explaining the air, and Nancy’s breathing. However, I can’t complain about this too much because it gave me a good idea of what the characters feel; it just slowed down the pace of the book. In the end, this wasn’t my favorite writing style, but it was something different, and I really enjoyed it. The author made it feel like I was in the story and gave me a story I could visualize really well. For this reason, I liked this book, and I’d recommend it to sports fans and athletes, as well as to anyone looking for a really realistic feeling story.
The point of view of this book comes from the main character, Nancy Takahiro. She lives in a house with her father, as well as another star basketball player, Raina, and Raina’s mother. The book took place in the mid 1980s, in Inglewood, California. It all started when Nancy’s dad started going out with Raina’s mom. This would normally be totally fine, but since Nancy was Asian and Raina was black, their parents were looked down on as a couple. Some of the problems in the book consist of Nancy trying to decide where she wants to go to college, Nancy having a “crush” on Raina but Raina already having a girlfriend, and Raina’s dad’s problems that he’s fighting through at work. Overall though, the biggest problem is Nancy dealing with growing up in a dangerous neighborhood, especially as an Asian. Due to this, the theme of the book is someone can never let their background and childhood destroy their future and potential, even when they don’t believe in themselves.
In this book, I really liked the way that the author made the characters so realistic. There were certainly points in the story when I felt like I could be reading a true story because of how the characters didn’t have perfect lives, or horrible lives, they had very realistic lives. For example, there were times when Nancy would be doing horribly, Raina wasn’t talking to her, her friend was in jail, another friend got kicked out of her house, and she wasn’t getting along with her dad. It was at a time like this when she would win a big game or her friend got the news that she got into Berkley. These moments made it believable, highlighting not just the negatives, but also the positives.
For me, the biggest weakness of this book involved some scenes that were really slow tempo and felt like they stretched out for too long. For the most part all the scenes that weren’t basketball games seemed to move slowly. For example, in one scene, Nancy and Raina were running and doing a late-night workout, during this it felt like the author spent an unnecessary amount of time explaining the air, and Nancy’s breathing. However, I can’t complain about this too much because it gave me a good idea of what the characters feel; it just slowed down the pace of the book. In the end, this wasn’t my favorite writing style, but it was something different, and I really enjoyed it. The author made it feel like I was in the story and gave me a story I could visualize really well. For this reason, I liked this book, and I’d recommend it to sports fans and athletes, as well as to anyone looking for a really realistic feeling story.
October 31, 2011
this is the story of two female star high school basketball players. they are going to school in bad areas of LA. one of them, nancy, is asian, the other, raina, is black. their parents meet--the black mother and the asian father and get together. the two girls have known each other somewhat since they move in similar basketball circles, but now, for their senior year, they will live together in the same house, though they will stay with their original high schools and play for different teams. they are both queer; the asian woman has a crush on the black woman, the black woman has a girlfriend who sometimes doesn't treat her well. they are both being heavily recruited for basketball scholarships to colleges. their parents are facing disapproval from friends over their relationship. their friends are getting in and out of trouble.
the asian woman is our narrator--but she is telling us what happened from the perspective of looking back, so occasionally we jump forward in time to hear what happened to someone later in life. but mostly we hear about that year as it happens--as games are played and coaches come to recruit and fights happen and people make up. there is a lot of fear here--a lot about how nancy is afraid to make choices because making a choice can lead to making a mistake whereas as long as you hold off on your choice, something good or bad might happen--you don't know which.
one of the things that i loved was all the detail about the games, about being part of a team, about practicing, about being recruited for colleges. all experiences that i haven't really had but that seemed authentic to me. the parts about what it's like to be queer in high school--well, i wasn't, but they sure seemed about right to me. the book was written in 1997 (i've had it a long time but just stumbled across it a couple of months ago when i was putting together stuff to donate), but takes place in 1986-87--right after cheryl miller graduated from USC.
i don't think it's intended to be particularly YA but i think you could hand it to a teenager--if anyone reads it and thinks differently, i'd be interested in why. there are sexual implications, but no actual sex scenes, for example.
i'll remember parts of this book for a long time--i'm really glad that i stumbled across it.
the asian woman is our narrator--but she is telling us what happened from the perspective of looking back, so occasionally we jump forward in time to hear what happened to someone later in life. but mostly we hear about that year as it happens--as games are played and coaches come to recruit and fights happen and people make up. there is a lot of fear here--a lot about how nancy is afraid to make choices because making a choice can lead to making a mistake whereas as long as you hold off on your choice, something good or bad might happen--you don't know which.
one of the things that i loved was all the detail about the games, about being part of a team, about practicing, about being recruited for colleges. all experiences that i haven't really had but that seemed authentic to me. the parts about what it's like to be queer in high school--well, i wasn't, but they sure seemed about right to me. the book was written in 1997 (i've had it a long time but just stumbled across it a couple of months ago when i was putting together stuff to donate), but takes place in 1986-87--right after cheryl miller graduated from USC.
i don't think it's intended to be particularly YA but i think you could hand it to a teenager--if anyone reads it and thinks differently, i'd be interested in why. there are sexual implications, but no actual sex scenes, for example.
i'll remember parts of this book for a long time--i'm really glad that i stumbled across it.
April 15, 2013
The Necessary Hunger is narrated by Nancy, and is an account of her love for her rival and (eventual) step-sister Raina, as well as of her senior year as a high school basketball star. As other reviewers note, there are many issues going on here (race, class, education), but I thought the importance of courage – and the consequences of failing to be courageous – was the topic Revoyr developed best. This is highlighted in the story of how Nancy’s father deals with the ethical compromises he is being asked to make at work, in how Raina’s mother deals with the disapproval she faces regarding her interracial relationship with Nancy’s father, and in how Raina and Nancy relate to each other. Even as an adult looking back on her teens, Nancy seems to think that her love for Raina was unrequited. Yet the evidence she present suggests otherwise. By not having the courage to talk to each other, Nancy and Raina fail both themselves and each other.
May 1, 2017
I've never cared about basketball, but this book had me hooked.
Is is a Young Adult novel? a coming-of-age novel? a romance? a war story?
Maybe all of the above, but i think at it's core, it is an excruciatingly drawn-out suspense, asking the essential question of survival.
Few authors (and almost zero YA authors) attempt to fully address the realities and implications of poverty in the US and how it affects adolescents. Revoyr watches it play out with devastating and final consequences, as if one year in the life of Nancy Takahiro is a crucial battle against Fate, the superhuman attempt of two teenagers to change the world in the way they know how, before they lose their one shot.
Is is a Young Adult novel? a coming-of-age novel? a romance? a war story?
Maybe all of the above, but i think at it's core, it is an excruciatingly drawn-out suspense, asking the essential question of survival.
Few authors (and almost zero YA authors) attempt to fully address the realities and implications of poverty in the US and how it affects adolescents. Revoyr watches it play out with devastating and final consequences, as if one year in the life of Nancy Takahiro is a crucial battle against Fate, the superhuman attempt of two teenagers to change the world in the way they know how, before they lose their one shot.
June 8, 2012
Even in spite of my unstoppable crush on Nina Revoyr, I will acknowledge that it's her stories, and not her writing itself, that make her books such winners. But that's good enough for me. There are few authors who I would let seduce me into reading so much technical play-by-play about girls' high school basketball, but in spite of it all being wasted on me (I wish you could have seen the mental basketball movie that my brain tried desperately to translate all her descriptions into...) I was still totally along for the ride. Queer teens of color! Who are REAL PEOPLE and also JUST LIVING THEIR LIVES. Oh yes.
February 8, 2014
1. if I had known about this when it came out, 1997, I think I would have understood myself so much sooner than I did.
2. I wish we got some of what Raina was thinking. I wonder how accurate Nancy's perceptions were but it is what is.
3. there's a lot to like here even if the identity of the protagonist doesn't shout to you like it did for me.
4. actually I am dropping a star because I'm dissatisfied with the ending.
2. I wish we got some of what Raina was thinking. I wonder how accurate Nancy's perceptions were but it is what is.
3. there's a lot to like here even if the identity of the protagonist doesn't shout to you like it did for me.
4. actually I am dropping a star because I'm dissatisfied with the ending.
January 28, 2019
THE NECESSARY HUNGER is written by Nina Revoyr. The book consists of 20 chapters; an introduction by Lynell George - an award-winning Los Angeles-based journalist and essayist; an afterword (new) by Nina Revoyr and Acknowledgements.
This book is Ms. Revoyr’s debut novel and was first published in 1997. Akashic Books reissued THE NECESSARY HUNGER to correspond with the 2019 publication of Ms. Revoyr’s newest novel, A STUDENT OF HISTORY. I was privileged to receive both books to read and review. Thank you.
“THE NECESSARY HUNGER follows two basketball stars - Japanese American Nancy Takahiro and African American Raina Webber - and several of their friends through their last year of high school. For some of them, their senior year will be full of glory, and the anticipation of college. For others, however, stranded in an inner-city Los Angeles neighborhood that promises little in the way of opportunity, it will mark not only the end of their time in school but also the end of their hope.”
“It is about sports as a means of salvation, about the nature of competition, and ultimately about various kinds of love.”
This book is raw, gritty at times, shocking at times, emotional, tender, and inspiring.
It is many-layered with interwoven complexities, attitudes and emotions.
There is intense love and admiration (what Nancy feels for her friend, Raina). There is the complex, dangerous and ever-present Los Angeles neighborhood culture. Gay relationships are revealed, documented and explored. There are high school situations - with Nancy, with Raina, with Nancy’s father, Wendell. There is basketball, basketball, basketball - school rivalries, the playing of, the gamesmanship of, college recruiting and scholarships, game day emotions, practice of, pick-up games, sportsmanship. There is friendship. There is coming-of-age. There is community. There is location, a sense of place. There are family relationships. There are racial tensions and identity.
The narrative, the writing was superb. I liked reading this book so much. It wasn’t sensationalist or political. It did not ‘pull at one’s heartstrings’. It did not dwell on drinking, drugs, car jackings as ‘problems’ or ‘issues’. It did not ‘judge’; it merely described and allowed everything pertinent to Nancy, Raina, their friends, families and situations to be documented and narrated.
I enjoyed the ‘readability’ of this book. I liked the oversized paperback format. I liked the title.
I liked the following quotes:
p.28 “If there is something to be known about a person, it will become evident on the court, or on the field.”
p.29 “Anyone who thinks traders on Wall Street are under pressure should try shooting a free throw in a packed gym with the game on the line.”
p.42 “Adolescence in LA was like Russian roulette, and the game would not be over until we were gone.”
p.126 “ School was security. School was home.”
p.212 Nancy’s comments about playing ‘In The Zone’.
I would heartily recommend this book.
This book is Ms. Revoyr’s debut novel and was first published in 1997. Akashic Books reissued THE NECESSARY HUNGER to correspond with the 2019 publication of Ms. Revoyr’s newest novel, A STUDENT OF HISTORY. I was privileged to receive both books to read and review. Thank you.
“THE NECESSARY HUNGER follows two basketball stars - Japanese American Nancy Takahiro and African American Raina Webber - and several of their friends through their last year of high school. For some of them, their senior year will be full of glory, and the anticipation of college. For others, however, stranded in an inner-city Los Angeles neighborhood that promises little in the way of opportunity, it will mark not only the end of their time in school but also the end of their hope.”
“It is about sports as a means of salvation, about the nature of competition, and ultimately about various kinds of love.”
This book is raw, gritty at times, shocking at times, emotional, tender, and inspiring.
It is many-layered with interwoven complexities, attitudes and emotions.
There is intense love and admiration (what Nancy feels for her friend, Raina). There is the complex, dangerous and ever-present Los Angeles neighborhood culture. Gay relationships are revealed, documented and explored. There are high school situations - with Nancy, with Raina, with Nancy’s father, Wendell. There is basketball, basketball, basketball - school rivalries, the playing of, the gamesmanship of, college recruiting and scholarships, game day emotions, practice of, pick-up games, sportsmanship. There is friendship. There is coming-of-age. There is community. There is location, a sense of place. There are family relationships. There are racial tensions and identity.
The narrative, the writing was superb. I liked reading this book so much. It wasn’t sensationalist or political. It did not ‘pull at one’s heartstrings’. It did not dwell on drinking, drugs, car jackings as ‘problems’ or ‘issues’. It did not ‘judge’; it merely described and allowed everything pertinent to Nancy, Raina, their friends, families and situations to be documented and narrated.
I enjoyed the ‘readability’ of this book. I liked the oversized paperback format. I liked the title.
I liked the following quotes:
p.28 “If there is something to be known about a person, it will become evident on the court, or on the field.”
p.29 “Anyone who thinks traders on Wall Street are under pressure should try shooting a free throw in a packed gym with the game on the line.”
p.42 “Adolescence in LA was like Russian roulette, and the game would not be over until we were gone.”
p.126 “ School was security. School was home.”
p.212 Nancy’s comments about playing ‘In The Zone’.
I would heartily recommend this book.
August 28, 2025
Revoyr pulls at the all-too-familiar chords of longing, zeal, and that great, heavy sadness which comes with being Seventeen (capitalised because holyyy don't we all remember the angst of being that big, terrible, wondrous age?). In doing so, she made me homesick for a time and an era that is so far from my lived world - and perhaps also so far from what our world should be striving towards.
Our protagonist, Nancy, describes the volatile landscape of late-1980s LA with heartbreaking tenderness. Though many poor reviews of this novel are a result of Nancy's supposed lack of character development, I found her to be full of heart from start to end. Her voice is real. For me, this was redemption enough. There was not the romantic development or grand gesture we were hoping for (and so often anticipate in bildungsroman fiction), but I don't think that this detracted from the power of the story whatsoever.
The Necessary Hunger is a narrative about singularities - that one person (Raina) and that one place (Inglewood) - that can only exist in the fairy-dust clarity of our teenhood.
For those readers who are on the precipice of this time, maybe this novel will provide a necessary shake: Hold On Tight To This. Don't Hold Back. Don't Hold Back. Don't Hold Back.
For those of us who're passing through this time - or have passed it - this novel is a comfort. It is an old friend from back home, sharing in our quiet pain of having grown up. Perhaps it is still a shake. After all, Nancy is only narrating from her thirty-something year old wisdom... she still has Life ahead of her.
I will miss this narrator, the place around her, and the people in it. Don't Hold Back, Nancy.
Our protagonist, Nancy, describes the volatile landscape of late-1980s LA with heartbreaking tenderness. Though many poor reviews of this novel are a result of Nancy's supposed lack of character development, I found her to be full of heart from start to end. Her voice is real. For me, this was redemption enough. There was not the romantic development or grand gesture we were hoping for (and so often anticipate in bildungsroman fiction), but I don't think that this detracted from the power of the story whatsoever.
The Necessary Hunger is a narrative about singularities - that one person (Raina) and that one place (Inglewood) - that can only exist in the fairy-dust clarity of our teenhood.
For those readers who are on the precipice of this time, maybe this novel will provide a necessary shake: Hold On Tight To This. Don't Hold Back. Don't Hold Back. Don't Hold Back.
For those of us who're passing through this time - or have passed it - this novel is a comfort. It is an old friend from back home, sharing in our quiet pain of having grown up. Perhaps it is still a shake. After all, Nancy is only narrating from her thirty-something year old wisdom... she still has Life ahead of her.
I will miss this narrator, the place around her, and the people in it. Don't Hold Back, Nancy.
September 20, 2025
As a basketball player and a queer person, this novel hit me in a way few sports stories ever have. Most books or movies about basketball focus on the game itself—the grind, the glory, the buzzer-beaters. Revoyr knows the game, but she’s after something bigger: how the court becomes a place where identities, loyalties, and desires collide.
The basketball scenes are electric and real. You can feel the sweat, the rhythm, the way a good pass or a clutch rebound can say more than words. But what really stayed with me was how Revoyr captures the emotional intensity of being young, gifted, and pulled in different directions by family, friends, and the weight of expectation. As someone who has lived in gyms, it felt so authentic—the love of the game, but also the way basketball becomes the language through which you relate to the world.
Then there’s the queer side of the story. The crushes, the silences, the glances across a locker room—Revoyr writes them with such honesty that I found myself wincing in recognition. It’s not a glossy, simplified coming-out tale. It’s messy and complicated, just like it really is when your identity is forming in a space that doesn’t always know how to hold it.
What I appreciated most is that the novel never treats Nancy and her world as a tragedy. It’s tough, yes, and full of hard choices, but it’s also about resilience, loyalty, and the hunger that drives us forward—whether it’s for the ball, for belonging, or for love.
For me, The Necessary Hunger wasn’t just a sports novel or a queer novel. It was a mirror: of the way basketball shapes who you are, of the way queerness reshapes how you see yourself and your community, and of how both can coexist in one messy, beautiful, necessary life.
The basketball scenes are electric and real. You can feel the sweat, the rhythm, the way a good pass or a clutch rebound can say more than words. But what really stayed with me was how Revoyr captures the emotional intensity of being young, gifted, and pulled in different directions by family, friends, and the weight of expectation. As someone who has lived in gyms, it felt so authentic—the love of the game, but also the way basketball becomes the language through which you relate to the world.
Then there’s the queer side of the story. The crushes, the silences, the glances across a locker room—Revoyr writes them with such honesty that I found myself wincing in recognition. It’s not a glossy, simplified coming-out tale. It’s messy and complicated, just like it really is when your identity is forming in a space that doesn’t always know how to hold it.
What I appreciated most is that the novel never treats Nancy and her world as a tragedy. It’s tough, yes, and full of hard choices, but it’s also about resilience, loyalty, and the hunger that drives us forward—whether it’s for the ball, for belonging, or for love.
For me, The Necessary Hunger wasn’t just a sports novel or a queer novel. It was a mirror: of the way basketball shapes who you are, of the way queerness reshapes how you see yourself and your community, and of how both can coexist in one messy, beautiful, necessary life.
March 13, 2019
The Necessary Hunger from Nina Revoyr is the kind of story that slowly pulls you in but once you're in, you are in for the duration.
The writing is good but is probably the weakest aspect of the book but remember that this was Revoyr's first novel (1997). The writing is strong enough for the reader to become invested in Nancy, which is all it takes for the story to become self-propelled. Yes, it can seem slow going at times but that is how real life is. Things don't happen at a breakneck pace for most of us. We see things, understand them, realize we actually misunderstood them, then repeat.
While basketball plays a huge role here, and the descriptions may push some readers to their limits, the sport is instrumental in how these characters understand their world. Does competition have to be oneupmanship? Can there be both fierce competition and camaraderie? And these questions are considered by young people still growing into their young adulthood. What we are sure is an answer at one moment we realize is all wrong at another. These conflicts make this a compelling read.
I would highly recommend this with the one warning that if you know you prefer something that is more like a rocket ride than real life this may be too slow for you. This is paced like life, not a thriller, so adjust expectations accordingly. If you want characters you root for and empathize with, this will be a wonderful read for you.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
The writing is good but is probably the weakest aspect of the book but remember that this was Revoyr's first novel (1997). The writing is strong enough for the reader to become invested in Nancy, which is all it takes for the story to become self-propelled. Yes, it can seem slow going at times but that is how real life is. Things don't happen at a breakneck pace for most of us. We see things, understand them, realize we actually misunderstood them, then repeat.
While basketball plays a huge role here, and the descriptions may push some readers to their limits, the sport is instrumental in how these characters understand their world. Does competition have to be oneupmanship? Can there be both fierce competition and camaraderie? And these questions are considered by young people still growing into their young adulthood. What we are sure is an answer at one moment we realize is all wrong at another. These conflicts make this a compelling read.
I would highly recommend this with the one warning that if you know you prefer something that is more like a rocket ride than real life this may be too slow for you. This is paced like life, not a thriller, so adjust expectations accordingly. If you want characters you root for and empathize with, this will be a wonderful read for you.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
January 2, 2019
I found this charming and understated. In a sense it was lacking in plot - Nancy ends up living with her crush and they develop somewhat of a friendship, but she never really opens up to Raina. In another sense a lot happened - there are subplots involving the pressure on Nancy's dad to let the star quarterback pass his class, the difficulties and choices of her friends who are poor and are not being recruited by college coaches like she is, the conflict a black woman has with her friends over dating someone who isn't black. It's like there are a lot of subplots, but the main plot is just how Nancy lets her insecurity and shyness prevent her from really getting close to her crush. It kind of reads like the author had an intense senior year of high school and wants to re-live it. It felt a little dissatisfying that there wasn't more of a story, yet I was drawn in anyway.
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