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Brothers on Three
From journalist Abe Streep, the story of coming of age on a reservation in the American West and a team uniting a community
March 11, 2017, was a night to remember. On that night, in front of the hopeful eyes of thousands of friends, family members, and fans, the Arlee Warriors would finally bring the high school basketball state championship title home to Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation. The game would become the stuff of legend, with the boys revered as local heroes. The team’s place in history was now cemented, but for starters Will Mesteth, Jr. and Phillip Malatare, life would keep moving on―senior year was only just beginning.
In Brothers on Three, we follow Phil and Will, along with their teammates, coaches, and families, as they balance the pressures of adolescence, shoulder the dreams of their community, and chart their own individual courses for the future. And in doing so, a picture emerges of modern Indigenous life and the challenges of growing up on a reservation in contemporary America.
Brothers on Three is not simply a story about high school basketball, about state championships and a winning team. It is a book about community, and it is about boys on the cusp of adulthood, finding their way through the intersecting worlds they inhabit and forging their own paths to personhood.
March 11, 2017, was a night to remember. On that night, in front of the hopeful eyes of thousands of friends, family members, and fans, the Arlee Warriors would finally bring the high school basketball state championship title home to Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation. The game would become the stuff of legend, with the boys revered as local heroes. The team’s place in history was now cemented, but for starters Will Mesteth, Jr. and Phillip Malatare, life would keep moving on―senior year was only just beginning.
In Brothers on Three, we follow Phil and Will, along with their teammates, coaches, and families, as they balance the pressures of adolescence, shoulder the dreams of their community, and chart their own individual courses for the future. And in doing so, a picture emerges of modern Indigenous life and the challenges of growing up on a reservation in contemporary America.
Brothers on Three is not simply a story about high school basketball, about state championships and a winning team. It is a book about community, and it is about boys on the cusp of adulthood, finding their way through the intersecting worlds they inhabit and forging their own paths to personhood.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published September 7, 2021
89 people are currently reading
3586 people want to read
About the author
Abe Streep
3 books27 followersAbe Streep has written for The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Outside, The California Sunday Magazine, WIRED, and Harper’s. His writing has been anthologized in Best American Sports Writing and noted by Best American Essays and Best American Science and Nature Writing. He is a recipient of the 2019 American Mosaic Journalism Prize for deep reporting on underrepresented communities.
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November 28, 2024
Mr. Streep came to Montana for the purpose of writing an article featuring the phenomenal Arlee Warriors. The story, though, is much bigger than the fierce high-school basketball team. It is really about the community. Life on the reservation, unfathomable denials of further education opportunities for Natives, blatant racists actions and slurs and how none of this is unique to this particular reservation.
In Mr. Streep’s immersion, (understandably not invited to wakes or horn hunting), he was given enough access to show the readers the academic hurdles that must be cleared, as well as the importance of confirming eligibility, for a high-school student to have a shot at college. Hard work can get us where we want to be, but sometimes, success can change us. Even when we’re old enough to know better. Adults with the best intentions can get caught up in the hype, erroneously putting themselves in front of the students that deserve undivided attention.
To me, these are the students that sincerely see the value in further education. Not in a ‘can’t wait to get outta here’ way, but more of ‘what can I study and learn about to help improve our lives on the reservations’. They’re already hard workers and by graduation, most of these kids have had to deal with more losses than I can even imagine.
What I know about basketball wouldn’t fill a thimble, but I do understand statistics and it seems inarguable that some of the Arlee players possessed something special. I believe their fans referred to it as “heart. The lives they’ve led thus far created strong characteristics that carry onto the court.
I could not get through this book without seeing similarities between the basketball team and so many of the students I’ve had the unparalleled pleasure of meeting. The maturity level is awe-inspiring and eye-opening. So many teens handle serious responsibilities in their home, often helping younger siblings, or cousins, nephews, nieces and neighbors with homework, supervising their free time and even preparing meals.
Generally speaking, when I’ve finished a non-fiction book, I am mentally sated. Brothers on Three, however, has me wanting more. I need to see highlights of these boys tearing up the court, making their opponents look foolish. I want to see the videos made for the Warrior Movement and most of all, I want to know that Will, Phil, Greg and their teammates are in a good place.
So, before I take this fascinating book to “my” students, I’m going to do a bit of looking online to see if I can’t supplement my Book Talk with some pictures or maybe a video clip.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge “Thank You!” to Celadon Books for the Advance Review Copy, which I will donate to my favorite high-school classroom library.
In Mr. Streep’s immersion, (understandably not invited to wakes or horn hunting), he was given enough access to show the readers the academic hurdles that must be cleared, as well as the importance of confirming eligibility, for a high-school student to have a shot at college. Hard work can get us where we want to be, but sometimes, success can change us. Even when we’re old enough to know better. Adults with the best intentions can get caught up in the hype, erroneously putting themselves in front of the students that deserve undivided attention.
To me, these are the students that sincerely see the value in further education. Not in a ‘can’t wait to get outta here’ way, but more of ‘what can I study and learn about to help improve our lives on the reservations’. They’re already hard workers and by graduation, most of these kids have had to deal with more losses than I can even imagine.
What I know about basketball wouldn’t fill a thimble, but I do understand statistics and it seems inarguable that some of the Arlee players possessed something special. I believe their fans referred to it as “heart. The lives they’ve led thus far created strong characteristics that carry onto the court.
I could not get through this book without seeing similarities between the basketball team and so many of the students I’ve had the unparalleled pleasure of meeting. The maturity level is awe-inspiring and eye-opening. So many teens handle serious responsibilities in their home, often helping younger siblings, or cousins, nephews, nieces and neighbors with homework, supervising their free time and even preparing meals.
Generally speaking, when I’ve finished a non-fiction book, I am mentally sated. Brothers on Three, however, has me wanting more. I need to see highlights of these boys tearing up the court, making their opponents look foolish. I want to see the videos made for the Warrior Movement and most of all, I want to know that Will, Phil, Greg and their teammates are in a good place.
So, before I take this fascinating book to “my” students, I’m going to do a bit of looking online to see if I can’t supplement my Book Talk with some pictures or maybe a video clip.
This review was written by jv poore for Buried Under Books, with huge “Thank You!” to Celadon Books for the Advance Review Copy, which I will donate to my favorite high-school classroom library.
September 30, 2021
“In the past year, he had transformed from a failing student and potential dropout to a star shooting guard on a dominant team. People now put him on posters and talked about him in barbershops.”
Sports can be transformative. It can give a young man or woman a purpose that lifts them above a stressful homelife, despondency, and whatever other challenges they are experiencing in life. When they walk on that 4, 520 feet of floor, they are transformed into not gods, but something larger than human.
“Sometimes I have to remind myself they’re just seventeen.” --John Malatare
There has always been a push and pull between teachers and coaches. Using sports as a carrot to inspire a young man or woman to care about their studies does work. I saw it work with a teammate. I watched an indifferent student become a dedicated student who would sometimes beg off from doing things with his friends because he had a paper due. Teachers are right to be wary though. The other side of the coin is a coach coming to see a teacher, asking for leniency so his star starting forward can play Friday night. In Europe, sports teams are separate from schools, but in the United States, sports have always been a defining part of our schools. How well the sports team does is a point of pride, even for those who never played.
When I discovered I could put an orange ball through a hoop, I went from being the weirdo who read too many books, undateable, to someone who girls were actually chasing after. On Friday night, I was one person and someone else the rest of the week, but I was defined by points, rebounds, and blocked shots. When I walked into high school gyms, I saw huge posters on the walls of athletes, but when I walked through the school hallways, I didn't see any posters for the brightest students. I know that we wouldn’t do gifted students any favors lauding their efforts because there is so much pressure from other students to make them conform to being...average, but I think we do need to find a way to promote the benefits of learning as much as we promote the successes of athletes.
So what Abe Streep is doing with this book is dropping the reader into the middle of a Native American Flathead Reservation high school basketball team season. The Arlee Warriors had miraculously managed to win a state championship the year before and are trying to do something few teams ever do: win back to back championships. The author does go back in time, giving us some of the thrills and chills from the year before, but also gives us the background of the players. Who are they off the court? Suicide is a big concern on the reservation, and very few people on the rez have not been touched personally by suicide. The coach of the Arlee Warriors decides to produce a series of suicide prevention videos with the team and...they...went.. viral.
As I was thinking about writing this review, I started contemplating how many people I know who have committed suicide. I stopped myself after I started running out of fingers, but I do want to mention one. Remember the indifferent student that basketball turned into a good student?...yeah...he didn’t make it. He did a stint in the army and made it to his fifties, but there wasn’t a 4,520 square foot arena for him to step foot on again.
Most basketball players never win a championship. Some even play all the way to the pros and never manage to snag a championship. When the best young players in college leave early, they also leave behind the best chance in their life to finally win a trophy. Most high school teams rely on that one star athlete to carry them to a marquee season, but the thing is, he almost always runs into a team that figures out a way to neutralize him, and the rest of the team, accustomed to feeding him the ball, struggle to score. The Arlee Warriors, though, have that lightning in a bottle scenario. Yeah, they have a star player, but they have four other players who are way better than average. Shut down the star and the rest of them will burn you up.
Most of the boys are tied to one another by blood. They are cousins, and that is an advantage few sports programs in the country experience.
Streep watched a lot of tape of the Arlee Warriors, but everyone kept telling him you got to go to a game. Video can’t capture the electricity. I can tell you there is nothing like a live basketball game. In the 1990s, I had a chance to see a few Phoenix Suns games with Barkley, Ainge, Johnson, and Thunder Dan Majerle. They were in the hunt for a championship, and every game was like attending a Mad Max Thunderdome event. The city of Phoenix would become a ghost town when a Suns game started. I also had a chance to see Wayne Gretsky skate live. I noticed a guy gliding on the ice before the game, the other players seeming to lumber in comparison. I knew it had to be him before I even looked at his number. I’d seen him skate on TV before, but it wasn’t until I watched him live that I knew why he was called The Great One. I also saw Michael Jordan play, and he had razzled and dazzled me many times on TV, but it wasn’t until I saw him in person that I fully grasped just how amazing he was, even when he didn’t have the ball.
So yeah, the video camera misses the nuances. It flattens the action and takes some of the heart and soul out of the game. There are all those things happening that the camera doesn’t capture. When Streep watched his first Arlee Warriors game, he knew he’d stumbled upon something special.
He felt lifted.
This book is about a lot more than basketball. It is about a community at risk. It is about Native American athletes routinely being overlooked by Division 1 schools, even in their home state. It is about the struggles that schools are facing to balance education and sports. It is about a group of boys whom you are going to learn to care about and wonder for days, months, and years if they are doing alright.
I want to thank Celadon for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Below is a link to their suicide prevention video. To me, what makes this video work so well is that the boys are obviously not professional actors.
https://youtu.be/HFxF2dWH-N4
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Sports can be transformative. It can give a young man or woman a purpose that lifts them above a stressful homelife, despondency, and whatever other challenges they are experiencing in life. When they walk on that 4, 520 feet of floor, they are transformed into not gods, but something larger than human.
“Sometimes I have to remind myself they’re just seventeen.” --John Malatare
There has always been a push and pull between teachers and coaches. Using sports as a carrot to inspire a young man or woman to care about their studies does work. I saw it work with a teammate. I watched an indifferent student become a dedicated student who would sometimes beg off from doing things with his friends because he had a paper due. Teachers are right to be wary though. The other side of the coin is a coach coming to see a teacher, asking for leniency so his star starting forward can play Friday night. In Europe, sports teams are separate from schools, but in the United States, sports have always been a defining part of our schools. How well the sports team does is a point of pride, even for those who never played.
When I discovered I could put an orange ball through a hoop, I went from being the weirdo who read too many books, undateable, to someone who girls were actually chasing after. On Friday night, I was one person and someone else the rest of the week, but I was defined by points, rebounds, and blocked shots. When I walked into high school gyms, I saw huge posters on the walls of athletes, but when I walked through the school hallways, I didn't see any posters for the brightest students. I know that we wouldn’t do gifted students any favors lauding their efforts because there is so much pressure from other students to make them conform to being...average, but I think we do need to find a way to promote the benefits of learning as much as we promote the successes of athletes.
So what Abe Streep is doing with this book is dropping the reader into the middle of a Native American Flathead Reservation high school basketball team season. The Arlee Warriors had miraculously managed to win a state championship the year before and are trying to do something few teams ever do: win back to back championships. The author does go back in time, giving us some of the thrills and chills from the year before, but also gives us the background of the players. Who are they off the court? Suicide is a big concern on the reservation, and very few people on the rez have not been touched personally by suicide. The coach of the Arlee Warriors decides to produce a series of suicide prevention videos with the team and...they...went.. viral.
As I was thinking about writing this review, I started contemplating how many people I know who have committed suicide. I stopped myself after I started running out of fingers, but I do want to mention one. Remember the indifferent student that basketball turned into a good student?...yeah...he didn’t make it. He did a stint in the army and made it to his fifties, but there wasn’t a 4,520 square foot arena for him to step foot on again.
Most basketball players never win a championship. Some even play all the way to the pros and never manage to snag a championship. When the best young players in college leave early, they also leave behind the best chance in their life to finally win a trophy. Most high school teams rely on that one star athlete to carry them to a marquee season, but the thing is, he almost always runs into a team that figures out a way to neutralize him, and the rest of the team, accustomed to feeding him the ball, struggle to score. The Arlee Warriors, though, have that lightning in a bottle scenario. Yeah, they have a star player, but they have four other players who are way better than average. Shut down the star and the rest of them will burn you up.
Most of the boys are tied to one another by blood. They are cousins, and that is an advantage few sports programs in the country experience.
Streep watched a lot of tape of the Arlee Warriors, but everyone kept telling him you got to go to a game. Video can’t capture the electricity. I can tell you there is nothing like a live basketball game. In the 1990s, I had a chance to see a few Phoenix Suns games with Barkley, Ainge, Johnson, and Thunder Dan Majerle. They were in the hunt for a championship, and every game was like attending a Mad Max Thunderdome event. The city of Phoenix would become a ghost town when a Suns game started. I also had a chance to see Wayne Gretsky skate live. I noticed a guy gliding on the ice before the game, the other players seeming to lumber in comparison. I knew it had to be him before I even looked at his number. I’d seen him skate on TV before, but it wasn’t until I watched him live that I knew why he was called The Great One. I also saw Michael Jordan play, and he had razzled and dazzled me many times on TV, but it wasn’t until I saw him in person that I fully grasped just how amazing he was, even when he didn’t have the ball.
So yeah, the video camera misses the nuances. It flattens the action and takes some of the heart and soul out of the game. There are all those things happening that the camera doesn’t capture. When Streep watched his first Arlee Warriors game, he knew he’d stumbled upon something special.
He felt lifted.
This book is about a lot more than basketball. It is about a community at risk. It is about Native American athletes routinely being overlooked by Division 1 schools, even in their home state. It is about the struggles that schools are facing to balance education and sports. It is about a group of boys whom you are going to learn to care about and wonder for days, months, and years if they are doing alright.
I want to thank Celadon for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Below is a link to their suicide prevention video. To me, what makes this video work so well is that the boys are obviously not professional actors.
https://youtu.be/HFxF2dWH-N4
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
January 4, 2022
**Many thanks to @CeladonBooks and @abestreep for an ARC of this book! Now available as of 9.7!**
A band of brothers brought together by basketball, their reservation, and their joint cause take on the world...one championship at a time!
The Arlee Warriors are a basketball team out of Montana's Flathead reservation and their story starts small. We get a more in-depth look at stars Phil and Will as they lead the team and their various trials and tribulations as they grow in size and strength as a team, and defiance in the face of odds. Many of the men have been impacted by the effects of suicide in one way or another, as suicide clusters have sprung up in this and nearby communities. The team uses their collective voice to try to bring light to this issue, garnering national attention, and journalist Abe Streep is at the center of this storm, collecting data and giving a national megaphone to the inhabitants of this small indigenous community after many years spent with these boys, their coaches, and community members.
Abe Streep is a Journalist, first and foremost. You will never forget this while reading. This book is meticulously detailed, from each pass on the court from game after game, to pages and pages of in-depth commentary on the indigenous communities involved here, their history, references to bits of their language, etc. This made the first 40-50% read more like cross between a textbook and a play-by-play sportswriter's transcription with various bits of interviews thrown in. There are also probably about 50-60 people mentioned throughout the book, and keeping track of them was incredibly difficult. To make things even more ironic, Streep mentioned in his author's note that the people of the reservation didn't like when they felt the narrative focused on one person (like Will) over others...but this would have helped with investment on my part.
I am not really a sports fan on any level (save for hockey) but what drew me to this book was the mention of suicide clusters and how they affected the boys of the team. I was hoping Streep would pull back the layers and investigate the 'why' of the clusters...but that discussion was sorely lacking. It didn't even make much of an appearance until the boys hit the national stage and even then was mentioned in a 'this is tragic' sort of sense, without a full-blown exploration of the issue at hand. Sure, it was nice to hear about every pass and blurb after blurb from everyone under the sun about these boys, the team, their community, etc., but it didn't move me emotionally at all. I wanted to know more about their hearts and minds rather than their 'game' and at the end of this book, I don't feel like I do.
This project started as an article, and although there was certainly enough potential and research done by Streep over the years to MAKE this into a book, I could see this subject material sitting more comfortably in the realm of a weekly series in a magazine such as the New Yorker, or perhaps as a series on a news-magazine show such as Sunday Morning or 60 Minutes, where you could SEE the action. Reading about it just didn't grab my attention or hold it for long. I have nothing but admiration for this community and the Arlee Warriors themselves, but I think a short and sweet version of their journey and mission would have suited me better as a reader. However, if you are a sports buff, into Native history, or looking for a unique tale from the West, I would certainly recommend this read!
#BrothersOnThree @CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner
A band of brothers brought together by basketball, their reservation, and their joint cause take on the world...one championship at a time!
The Arlee Warriors are a basketball team out of Montana's Flathead reservation and their story starts small. We get a more in-depth look at stars Phil and Will as they lead the team and their various trials and tribulations as they grow in size and strength as a team, and defiance in the face of odds. Many of the men have been impacted by the effects of suicide in one way or another, as suicide clusters have sprung up in this and nearby communities. The team uses their collective voice to try to bring light to this issue, garnering national attention, and journalist Abe Streep is at the center of this storm, collecting data and giving a national megaphone to the inhabitants of this small indigenous community after many years spent with these boys, their coaches, and community members.
Abe Streep is a Journalist, first and foremost. You will never forget this while reading. This book is meticulously detailed, from each pass on the court from game after game, to pages and pages of in-depth commentary on the indigenous communities involved here, their history, references to bits of their language, etc. This made the first 40-50% read more like cross between a textbook and a play-by-play sportswriter's transcription with various bits of interviews thrown in. There are also probably about 50-60 people mentioned throughout the book, and keeping track of them was incredibly difficult. To make things even more ironic, Streep mentioned in his author's note that the people of the reservation didn't like when they felt the narrative focused on one person (like Will) over others...but this would have helped with investment on my part.
I am not really a sports fan on any level (save for hockey) but what drew me to this book was the mention of suicide clusters and how they affected the boys of the team. I was hoping Streep would pull back the layers and investigate the 'why' of the clusters...but that discussion was sorely lacking. It didn't even make much of an appearance until the boys hit the national stage and even then was mentioned in a 'this is tragic' sort of sense, without a full-blown exploration of the issue at hand. Sure, it was nice to hear about every pass and blurb after blurb from everyone under the sun about these boys, the team, their community, etc., but it didn't move me emotionally at all. I wanted to know more about their hearts and minds rather than their 'game' and at the end of this book, I don't feel like I do.
This project started as an article, and although there was certainly enough potential and research done by Streep over the years to MAKE this into a book, I could see this subject material sitting more comfortably in the realm of a weekly series in a magazine such as the New Yorker, or perhaps as a series on a news-magazine show such as Sunday Morning or 60 Minutes, where you could SEE the action. Reading about it just didn't grab my attention or hold it for long. I have nothing but admiration for this community and the Arlee Warriors themselves, but I think a short and sweet version of their journey and mission would have suited me better as a reader. However, if you are a sports buff, into Native history, or looking for a unique tale from the West, I would certainly recommend this read!
#BrothersOnThree @CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner
December 10, 2021
Again, so far behind on my reviews. My bad. This account of a Native American basketball team that wins a state championship (two, in fact) in the midst of a suicide epidemic on the reservation is deeply inspiring. The players share their stories which are revealing and, in some cases, haunting, and Abe Streep deftly conveys both the drama on the court and off it -- as well as the myriad injustices the players and their families endure.
November 24, 2021
I was drawn to this book as I thought it would be a good buddy read with my basketball-loving son. But for me, it had way too much basketball - including game coverage with play-by-play detail! I did appreciate learning about the struggles of the young men from the Flathead Indian Reservation and the barriers they encountered in their quest for a title. The book also illuminated the prevalence of suicide in this community.
June 5, 2021
I found BROTHERS ON THREE by talented author Abe Streep to be a gripping account of how the high school team Arlee Warriors won the state basketball championship title for the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Beautifully written, with a cast of characters you truly grow to care about, including team members, coaches, teachers, and the wider community. A must-read for those inspired not only by sports, but by challenged teens with heart, guts and dreams. Highly recommended!
Pub Date 07 Sep 2021
Thanks to the author and Celadon Books for the gifted ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#BrothersOnThree @CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner
Pub Date 07 Sep 2021
Thanks to the author and Celadon Books for the gifted ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
#BrothersOnThree @CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner
August 23, 2021
Brothers on three is a nonfiction story about the Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team on Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation, and their championship win. We get to meet the players, their families, and the coaches. These young players have to overcome so many challenges and obstacles on their way to victory. Since depression and suicide rates are alarmingly high in this community, the players launched a suicide prevention initiative.
I loved getting to know all of the characters in this book. I loved the honesty and respectful way that the author approached the story. Abe Streep talks about how Native Americans are still discriminated against today.
I hope this book informs readers of the issues modern-day Native American’s face, and the discrimination that they still have to deal with. Overall this was a phenomenal book that I highly recommend to all readers!
Many thanks to Celadon books for the gifted copy!
I loved getting to know all of the characters in this book. I loved the honesty and respectful way that the author approached the story. Abe Streep talks about how Native Americans are still discriminated against today.
I hope this book informs readers of the issues modern-day Native American’s face, and the discrimination that they still have to deal with. Overall this was a phenomenal book that I highly recommend to all readers!
Many thanks to Celadon books for the gifted copy!
May 27, 2021
Journalist Abe Streep follows some young men as they come of age, and who play basketball on their reservation in Montana. We get to know them and their families, their coaches and teachers. The author provides a fascinating window into their lives, and how basketball plays a pivotal role. (Basketball fans would be especially interested, but there's definitely more to the story.) There are challenges, but the young men learn to accept them and work together as a team. Thanks to Celadon books for providing me with an advance review copy in exchange for an honest review.
September 25, 2021
Inspired by true stories, Brothers on Three tells the tale of how a team of Native American Indians accomplished the improbable feat of becoming two-time State basketball champions.
Faced with almost impossible odds, the Arlee Warriors of Montana defied the naysayers, playing the game using skill, strategy, and teamwork. But the team and their families also faced a hidden threat. A threat that tore families apart, a threat that could break the spirit of any man. That threat was suicide.
As a Nation, the Native American Indians have the highest suicide rate of any other nationality. Out of concern for that ominous statistic, the Arlee Warriors cohesively started the Warrior Movement. The Warrior Movement’s focus was to bring hope to the downfallen, and to cultivate a warrior mentality of courage. Among other things, the Warrior Movement made the Arlee basketball team stronger. The Movement brought families together; and it gave the community a sense of belonging.
Brothers on Three is not jut another book about sporting accomplishments. It is also a book about the families, the ties that bind them together, and how adversity can be overcome.
Author Abe Streep did an excellent job of compiling all of the stories into a comprehensive novel. However, I found that I appreciated his writing more in the articles that he wrote for Esquire and the New York Times. It was in those magazine articles that I learned so much about the players and the Movement they started.
Street is a sports journalist. So his writing style is reflective of that vocation. Not to say that his book wasn’t interesting. It was. However, it is somewhat of a tedious read with statistical information, Division information, and all of that basketball technicalities. But if you’re into all of the gritty details, Brother on Three is the perfect read for the sport’s enthusiasts. Three impressive stars.
I received a digital ARC from Celadon Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
Faced with almost impossible odds, the Arlee Warriors of Montana defied the naysayers, playing the game using skill, strategy, and teamwork. But the team and their families also faced a hidden threat. A threat that tore families apart, a threat that could break the spirit of any man. That threat was suicide.
As a Nation, the Native American Indians have the highest suicide rate of any other nationality. Out of concern for that ominous statistic, the Arlee Warriors cohesively started the Warrior Movement. The Warrior Movement’s focus was to bring hope to the downfallen, and to cultivate a warrior mentality of courage. Among other things, the Warrior Movement made the Arlee basketball team stronger. The Movement brought families together; and it gave the community a sense of belonging.
Brothers on Three is not jut another book about sporting accomplishments. It is also a book about the families, the ties that bind them together, and how adversity can be overcome.
Author Abe Streep did an excellent job of compiling all of the stories into a comprehensive novel. However, I found that I appreciated his writing more in the articles that he wrote for Esquire and the New York Times. It was in those magazine articles that I learned so much about the players and the Movement they started.
Street is a sports journalist. So his writing style is reflective of that vocation. Not to say that his book wasn’t interesting. It was. However, it is somewhat of a tedious read with statistical information, Division information, and all of that basketball technicalities. But if you’re into all of the gritty details, Brother on Three is the perfect read for the sport’s enthusiasts. Three impressive stars.
I received a digital ARC from Celadon Books through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
September 17, 2021
I have to say that this is not necessarily the kind of book I read, but I was glad I found it as it was a worthwhile read. This book follows a high school basketball team from the Flathead Indian Reservation, but this story is about more than basketball. Sports are not my go to, but this book highlighted important racial disparities in the sport. I also loved the glimpses into the culture as the author really spent a lot of time with the people he was writing about to better understand them and their culture. The cast of characters really drew me in and I found myself needing to know what happened next.
August 28, 2021
Phil and Will, cousins with "rhyming names," come of age in this very immersive account of a family of native Americans and the role basketball plays in their lives. Abe Streep has called on his experience as a reporter, as reflected in his clear, concise style. The tragedies that play out, the suicides and personal losses experienced by the tribe, bring a heartbreaking quality. Highly recommended.
June 4, 2021
Disclaimer: ARC via published in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
I am not a basketball fan. I really am not. It’s not anything about the players; it’s the game itself. I find it al little boring. I’m sorry, I just do. So why did I read this book? Well, books that are about sports are not always about sports.
Brothers on Three details a season of the Arlee Warriors as they go on a quest to repeat as champions. The focus is mainly on Will Mesteth Jr and Phil Malatare and their families, though other players and the coaches as well as larger issues. However, the focus is largely on the team and the transitions that the two stars are making upon leaving high school.
It is to Streep’s credit as a writing that he writes about the games in such a way that even someone like me who has no interest in the actual game of basketball and knows the outcome of the season, could get caught up in the action. The book, however, is not just solely about a basketball season.
Streep is an outsider both in a geographical sense and a cultural sense. To his credit, he is aware of this. He is careful and clear in why he uses certain names and terms. He does not anglicize terms that have no clear English equivalent. He also aptly illustrates the conflicts of cultural politeness and job morality in one section of the book.
More importantly, Streep keeps his presence in the book to a minimum. It is a reporter’s account. On the whole, balanced and engrossing. His focus also shifts to the world that does not support the young man on the team. This world is not the reservation but the policies, racism, community expectations and generational issues that are a result of colonialism – all this effects the boys, who as one father points out to Streep, carry too much on their shoulders.
There are places where I wanted a little more – like a more detailed comparison between the girls’ team and the boys – but in terms of the book’s focus and length, this might have been difficult to work in.
What Streep does focus on is the team’s response to the suicides and health issues in their community, including when it directly effects those on the team. His reporting on the player Greg, in particular, highlight these various issues and the responses to them. He also directly addresses the lack of opportunity due to racism and cultural differences. Are the players less avidly recruited than other non-Indigenous players because of lack of skill, racism, or lack of understanding about the culture that the players come from – all are questions that Streep addresses with a deft hand. He also addresses educational issues that also hinder the players in sometime unexcepted ways. It is an in depth look at a serious of issues that go, largely ignored about the majority of the American population.
I am not a basketball fan. I really am not. It’s not anything about the players; it’s the game itself. I find it al little boring. I’m sorry, I just do. So why did I read this book? Well, books that are about sports are not always about sports.
Brothers on Three details a season of the Arlee Warriors as they go on a quest to repeat as champions. The focus is mainly on Will Mesteth Jr and Phil Malatare and their families, though other players and the coaches as well as larger issues. However, the focus is largely on the team and the transitions that the two stars are making upon leaving high school.
It is to Streep’s credit as a writing that he writes about the games in such a way that even someone like me who has no interest in the actual game of basketball and knows the outcome of the season, could get caught up in the action. The book, however, is not just solely about a basketball season.
Streep is an outsider both in a geographical sense and a cultural sense. To his credit, he is aware of this. He is careful and clear in why he uses certain names and terms. He does not anglicize terms that have no clear English equivalent. He also aptly illustrates the conflicts of cultural politeness and job morality in one section of the book.
More importantly, Streep keeps his presence in the book to a minimum. It is a reporter’s account. On the whole, balanced and engrossing. His focus also shifts to the world that does not support the young man on the team. This world is not the reservation but the policies, racism, community expectations and generational issues that are a result of colonialism – all this effects the boys, who as one father points out to Streep, carry too much on their shoulders.
There are places where I wanted a little more – like a more detailed comparison between the girls’ team and the boys – but in terms of the book’s focus and length, this might have been difficult to work in.
What Streep does focus on is the team’s response to the suicides and health issues in their community, including when it directly effects those on the team. His reporting on the player Greg, in particular, highlight these various issues and the responses to them. He also directly addresses the lack of opportunity due to racism and cultural differences. Are the players less avidly recruited than other non-Indigenous players because of lack of skill, racism, or lack of understanding about the culture that the players come from – all are questions that Streep addresses with a deft hand. He also addresses educational issues that also hinder the players in sometime unexcepted ways. It is an in depth look at a serious of issues that go, largely ignored about the majority of the American population.
September 13, 2021
Five things about Brothers on Three by Ave Streep 3/5 ⭐️s
1. This is a coming of age journalistic non-fiction account of basketball in the lives of a group of Native American youth in Montana.
2. While it’s well written it did feel dry with the exception of a few moments when Streep let his carefully constructed guard down to show how much his life on this reservation and these kids and families have impacted him.
3. Overall, the book is telling an emotional set of interconnected stories but lacks emotion. It was a very odd tone. Almost clinical.
4. The tale itself however is by turns shocking, inspiring, heartbreaking, and triumphant. But you’re going to have to supply your own emotion here. Have I made it clear that that’s lacking (I think by design) in Streep’s narrative.
5. I’m not sorry I read this but I’m also not certain I’ll remember it. Time will tell.
1. This is a coming of age journalistic non-fiction account of basketball in the lives of a group of Native American youth in Montana.
2. While it’s well written it did feel dry with the exception of a few moments when Streep let his carefully constructed guard down to show how much his life on this reservation and these kids and families have impacted him.
3. Overall, the book is telling an emotional set of interconnected stories but lacks emotion. It was a very odd tone. Almost clinical.
4. The tale itself however is by turns shocking, inspiring, heartbreaking, and triumphant. But you’re going to have to supply your own emotion here. Have I made it clear that that’s lacking (I think by design) in Streep’s narrative.
5. I’m not sorry I read this but I’m also not certain I’ll remember it. Time will tell.
September 24, 2021
This book was much heavier than I expected and took me a while to get through. It covers very important topics that are just every day life for some basketball kids on a reservation in Montana. I learned a lot and I'm glad I read it.
While I found it very educational and heartwarming, I could also feel the deep anguish that these triumphs are coming out of. The author does his best to portray the strong sense of home and family/community connectedness (11 players on one High School basketball team are all blood related!) among the Séliš people.
He articulates his fears of describing the community and culture in a way that would be detrimental or condescending. He has seen and heard about negative portrayals by others and he doesn't want to make the same mistake and risk hurting these people that he has come to know over the course of 2 years.
“We’re so resilient. But the resiliency throws a blanket over all these problems that are unresolved.” These are wise words from a young man in the community who ended up in trouble in college and then came home and turned his life back around. I think it sums up the story this book tells very well.
I had a bit of trouble with the writing style as there were some bits and details that seemed to be sprinkled into paragraphs where they didn't fit but in the grand scheme, this is still a very influential story that needs to be heard.
CW ⚠️
racism and discrimination, mentions of suicide (including death of loved ones), suicidal ideation, gun violence, residential schools
Thanks to @netgalley and @celadonbooks for the eARC on exchange for my honest review
While I found it very educational and heartwarming, I could also feel the deep anguish that these triumphs are coming out of. The author does his best to portray the strong sense of home and family/community connectedness (11 players on one High School basketball team are all blood related!) among the Séliš people.
He articulates his fears of describing the community and culture in a way that would be detrimental or condescending. He has seen and heard about negative portrayals by others and he doesn't want to make the same mistake and risk hurting these people that he has come to know over the course of 2 years.
“We’re so resilient. But the resiliency throws a blanket over all these problems that are unresolved.” These are wise words from a young man in the community who ended up in trouble in college and then came home and turned his life back around. I think it sums up the story this book tells very well.
I had a bit of trouble with the writing style as there were some bits and details that seemed to be sprinkled into paragraphs where they didn't fit but in the grand scheme, this is still a very influential story that needs to be heard.
CW ⚠️
racism and discrimination, mentions of suicide (including death of loved ones), suicidal ideation, gun violence, residential schools
Thanks to @netgalley and @celadonbooks for the eARC on exchange for my honest review
March 20, 2022
I am a sucker for a great sports story, and this one definitely fit the bill, but ended up being about so much more than the state championship game played on 3/11/17. Brothers on Three centers on two brothers, Phil and Will, and their community on Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation, which includes their coaches, friends, and family.
I was captivated by this story as well as these two boys, and thought Streep perfectly captured the environment on the reservation. Environmental deterrents to success for these boys (and others their age) included a rise in suicides, the path to higher education for Natives is basically nonexistent, racism is rampant, and these are just a few of the barriers that these kids faced as they started their senior year of high school.
This was educational, inspiring, well written, and all culminated with the historic game in March that had me flipping pages until the end. I highly recommend this one, it is an important and incredible read.
Thank you to Celadon Books for the ARC to review.
I was captivated by this story as well as these two boys, and thought Streep perfectly captured the environment on the reservation. Environmental deterrents to success for these boys (and others their age) included a rise in suicides, the path to higher education for Natives is basically nonexistent, racism is rampant, and these are just a few of the barriers that these kids faced as they started their senior year of high school.
This was educational, inspiring, well written, and all culminated with the historic game in March that had me flipping pages until the end. I highly recommend this one, it is an important and incredible read.
Thank you to Celadon Books for the ARC to review.
Read
May 25, 2021#BrothersOnThree read by myself and my closest friend. We both agreed that it is a truly inspiring book, It gives all of us hope that we can excel - even if it is just in a little way.
March 26, 2022
I heard about this book through the Longform podcast's interview with the author, Abe Streep, who immediately won me over with his humility and thoughtfulness. Then I listened to "Brothers on Three" over the course of several months, which means that the Arlee Warriors have been on my mind most days this year. I find myself thinking about Phil and Will and Zanen and all the other members of this Montana community. The experience of reading about their travails and their grit was one without easy "takeaways," but rather an immersion that affected me in ways I'm not sure I could name.
In the Longform interview Streep talks about how he first conceived of this story as a feature about the Warriors' star player, Phillip Malatar, but over time he began to recognize that he was imposing a lens on the story that was not shared by the Warriors themselves. He began to change his reporting to align more with their worldview, turning his keen eye as much to the life of the community as to the life of any one individual. I wish more journalists were willing to change their reporting so radically in service of a people.
Streep's care in communicating the stories of Arlee is felt in every chapter, and I was impressed by his willingness to own his position as an outsider, while still being bold enough to give the reader a sense of what it might be like to belong to such a community.
My only complaint (and the reason for four stars instead of five) is that some of the writing is repetitive. At various points I felt like Streep was giving more of the same and could have tightened up the story some. But overall, a worthwhile read that I expect will stay with me.
In the Longform interview Streep talks about how he first conceived of this story as a feature about the Warriors' star player, Phillip Malatar, but over time he began to recognize that he was imposing a lens on the story that was not shared by the Warriors themselves. He began to change his reporting to align more with their worldview, turning his keen eye as much to the life of the community as to the life of any one individual. I wish more journalists were willing to change their reporting so radically in service of a people.
Streep's care in communicating the stories of Arlee is felt in every chapter, and I was impressed by his willingness to own his position as an outsider, while still being bold enough to give the reader a sense of what it might be like to belong to such a community.
My only complaint (and the reason for four stars instead of five) is that some of the writing is repetitive. At various points I felt like Streep was giving more of the same and could have tightened up the story some. But overall, a worthwhile read that I expect will stay with me.
October 28, 2021
I spotted this new, nonfiction book by Abe Streep highlighted as an editor’s pick in the New York Times. Since I love nonfiction and sports-themed books, especially basketball, I thought I would give it a go.
In Brothers on Three, Streep tells the story of the Arlee Warriors basketball team’s pursuit of a championship, straight off a loss in the championship game the year before. The story takes place on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Although the story focuses on the lives of two leading players during and after high school, Streep includes several other characters at the school, in the players’ family and in the community.
Adolescent challenges and basketball glory are not the only events readers get exposed to in Streep’s book. The story takes place with a backdrop of a community struggling with the high suicide rate in their community. “In 2016, Montana had the highest suicide rate. Native youth was by far the most vulnerable demographic. ‘It’s a lot to place on the shoulders of a bunch of adolescent boys,’ David Whitesell, the superintendent said.
For me, the book left me with a lot to consider, including:
How Native Americans are regularly overlooked by Division I schools.
How do young men handle the shift from the commercialization of themselves during the highpoint of their high school basketball to real life after high school?
Does acting on social issues have room in sports, which many consider should only be entertainment?
How can you prevent suicide and what factors promote suicide in this community and in Montana?
It’s hard not to love a good championship-pursuit basketball story set in a small town. However, Streep is a journalist, so most of the book is told in a fact-forward fashion. I would have loved for Streep to make this book more narrative and dive into the issues regarding suicide more deeply.
You can tell how much time and detail Streep spent immersing himself respectively in the lives of the two main characters, the team and community. But, as detailed as the book is, I’m sure there is a treasure of notes and interviews that he had to leave out.
A massive shout out to the editor Ryan Doherty who was trusted in keeping the story on track and flowing well. This book covers so many characters, events and issues, any reader will find something intriguing in this book.
In Brothers on Three, Streep tells the story of the Arlee Warriors basketball team’s pursuit of a championship, straight off a loss in the championship game the year before. The story takes place on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Although the story focuses on the lives of two leading players during and after high school, Streep includes several other characters at the school, in the players’ family and in the community.
Adolescent challenges and basketball glory are not the only events readers get exposed to in Streep’s book. The story takes place with a backdrop of a community struggling with the high suicide rate in their community. “In 2016, Montana had the highest suicide rate. Native youth was by far the most vulnerable demographic. ‘It’s a lot to place on the shoulders of a bunch of adolescent boys,’ David Whitesell, the superintendent said.
For me, the book left me with a lot to consider, including:
How Native Americans are regularly overlooked by Division I schools.
How do young men handle the shift from the commercialization of themselves during the highpoint of their high school basketball to real life after high school?
Does acting on social issues have room in sports, which many consider should only be entertainment?
How can you prevent suicide and what factors promote suicide in this community and in Montana?
It’s hard not to love a good championship-pursuit basketball story set in a small town. However, Streep is a journalist, so most of the book is told in a fact-forward fashion. I would have loved for Streep to make this book more narrative and dive into the issues regarding suicide more deeply.
You can tell how much time and detail Streep spent immersing himself respectively in the lives of the two main characters, the team and community. But, as detailed as the book is, I’m sure there is a treasure of notes and interviews that he had to leave out.
A massive shout out to the editor Ryan Doherty who was trusted in keeping the story on track and flowing well. This book covers so many characters, events and issues, any reader will find something intriguing in this book.
August 27, 2022
On the outside, this is a story about a high school basketball team in small town Montana and the impact it has on its community. On the inside, it’s a team made up of mostly of Native Americans facing racism, the suicide epidemic, lack of opportunities to go to college, poverty, and drugs.
As an avid sports fan, this wasn’t my kind of story. Not that the writing or content was uninteresting, it was more so the structure of how it was written. Streep is very talented, but he’s a sports journalist. So this story very much read like a very long sports article with a lot of tedious facts that kind of bogged my interest.
The story of the Arlee Warriors is so important and should be a topic of conversation for a long time, but I needed to consume it with less basketball facts and more about the members of this community.
Big thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted copy.
As an avid sports fan, this wasn’t my kind of story. Not that the writing or content was uninteresting, it was more so the structure of how it was written. Streep is very talented, but he’s a sports journalist. So this story very much read like a very long sports article with a lot of tedious facts that kind of bogged my interest.
The story of the Arlee Warriors is so important and should be a topic of conversation for a long time, but I needed to consume it with less basketball facts and more about the members of this community.
Big thank you to Celadon Books for the gifted copy.
January 14, 2022
The story and characters (all real) had such potential, but the storytelling was fragmented and jumped around too much. I couldn't keep track of key characters or many of the storylines the author was trying to tell.
[Audiobook]
[Audiobook]
January 24, 2022
A really great story. It’s more than just basketball. More community than sport, more triumphs than tragedy, more reverence than fleeting celebrity. The Native perspective is preserved so respectfully by Streep.
August 14, 2021
“Ball is life. And life is worth living.”
December 2, 2021
This book catered to three of my interests: a.inspirational story about an underdog sports team with basketball plays and strategies included, b. an analysis of the educational hurdles to supporting kids of color, and c. an insight into living on a reservation and the Native culture. If you like these three things, I highly recommend this book!
September 9, 2022
A little too close to its subject(s), but a valuable listen if only for a realistic depiction of life on the reservation.
February 8, 2022
Though the story kind of bounces around like a basketball, this was a very good book. My father graduated from high school in the Arlee area so I liked learning more of the history there, rough as it is.
As a Montana resident, I’ve seen first hand the passion the “reservation schools” put into their sports- XC runners crawling across the finish line after running to their capacity, non-competitive church ball games drawing a big line up and spectators. Moms at state tournament leading the town in cheers when the cheerleaders didn’t get on it fast enough.
The awareness to suicide prevention is so important, as the book addresses it. Prejudice and stereotypes are also addressed and how it affects the youth.
As a Montana resident, I’ve seen first hand the passion the “reservation schools” put into their sports- XC runners crawling across the finish line after running to their capacity, non-competitive church ball games drawing a big line up and spectators. Moms at state tournament leading the town in cheers when the cheerleaders didn’t get on it fast enough.
The awareness to suicide prevention is so important, as the book addresses it. Prejudice and stereotypes are also addressed and how it affects the youth.
May 30, 2021
* I received a free copy in a Goodreads giveaway.
The first third of the book is just a hot mess, almost stopped reading and it took a long time to plough through that part. It gets a bit more focused after that. There is also no one that you really want to root for.
The first third of the book is just a hot mess, almost stopped reading and it took a long time to plough through that part. It gets a bit more focused after that. There is also no one that you really want to root for.
July 17, 2021
4,5
Brothers on Three follows an incredible basketball team from a reservation school in Arlee, Montana to multiple state high school championships. They survive in the face of hardship, generational trauma, cluster suicide and discrimination because they gather their strength from love of family and community, an intense connection to the land, and their devotion to native values and culture. Thrilling basketball scenes and tournament battles, a vivid sense of place, and the authentic portrayal of complex individuals pull this story together. Abe Streep has crafted a moving and powerful book of heartbreak, inspiration and hope.
Thanks to the Celadon Books for an advance copy.
Brothers on Three follows an incredible basketball team from a reservation school in Arlee, Montana to multiple state high school championships. They survive in the face of hardship, generational trauma, cluster suicide and discrimination because they gather their strength from love of family and community, an intense connection to the land, and their devotion to native values and culture. Thrilling basketball scenes and tournament battles, a vivid sense of place, and the authentic portrayal of complex individuals pull this story together. Abe Streep has crafted a moving and powerful book of heartbreak, inspiration and hope.
Thanks to the Celadon Books for an advance copy.
July 11, 2021
I received Brothers on Three as an arc, much to my surprise and delight. I dove right in to the story and though its not a story I would have thought I would like, as many other readers may not think they like sports stories and may be tempted to pass this by; A word of advice, DONT. Pick it up, fall in to the story and follow the amazingly inspirational true story of a native basketball team rising up from always losing to winning the championship, bringing immense joy and pride to their community.
This story mainly focuses on two players, cousins Will and Phil along with their families as they face and overcome several barriers. Abe Streep was lucky to become trusted by the people he writes about, doing his best to shine the spotlight just right on their prided community. Streep writes about family, connections, loss, finding your strength and finding your place. The detail of the games is wonderfully written but its the stories of the community woven in between games that truly make this book special.
This book is for you if you're a sports fan, if you're not a sports fan but: you're looking for an uplifting read, needing hope, inspiration, a feeling of love. This book is also for those (such as myself) who feel native's do not get enough representation in popular literature today. As part native myself, reading about a small reservation with big dreams was something of pride for myself as well as for the team.
This will be released Sept. 07 2021 from @CeldonBooks so mark your calendars!
This story mainly focuses on two players, cousins Will and Phil along with their families as they face and overcome several barriers. Abe Streep was lucky to become trusted by the people he writes about, doing his best to shine the spotlight just right on their prided community. Streep writes about family, connections, loss, finding your strength and finding your place. The detail of the games is wonderfully written but its the stories of the community woven in between games that truly make this book special.
This book is for you if you're a sports fan, if you're not a sports fan but: you're looking for an uplifting read, needing hope, inspiration, a feeling of love. This book is also for those (such as myself) who feel native's do not get enough representation in popular literature today. As part native myself, reading about a small reservation with big dreams was something of pride for myself as well as for the team.
This will be released Sept. 07 2021 from @CeldonBooks so mark your calendars!
May 21, 2021
You could say that this is a book about sports. That is correct. But, it is so much more. I found the Flathead Reservation fascinating.
September 30, 2021
I was lucky enough to win an ARC through a Goodreads giveaway.
I enjoyed this book as a whole. The story is compelling and there were parts that had me tearing up. I did find the amount of people being covered in the book confusing at times and there were some places where the story dragged. What kept me reading was the candidness of the players and how willing they were to share all aspects of their lives. I also wanted to see how the season after winning a championship would go.
I enjoyed this book as a whole. The story is compelling and there were parts that had me tearing up. I did find the amount of people being covered in the book confusing at times and there were some places where the story dragged. What kept me reading was the candidness of the players and how willing they were to share all aspects of their lives. I also wanted to see how the season after winning a championship would go.
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