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The Assist: Hoops, Hope, and the Game of Their Lives | 
 enlarge | Author: Neil Swidey
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $2.85
You Save: $23.15 (89%)
New (40) Used (24) Collectible (1) from $2.85
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 84320
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 376
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 1586484699
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323620974461
EAN: 9781586484699
ASIN: 1586484699
Publication Date: January 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
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Product Description
Jack O'Brien is a high school basketball coach extreme in both his demands and his devotion. With monastic discipline, he has built a powerhouse program that wins state championships year after year while helping boys rise above the neighborhood forces pulling them down, and get to college. He does this as a white suburban guy working exclusively with black city boys who make the daily trek across Boston to attend Charlestown High School, where the last battles of the city's school desegregation wars were fought a generation ago. The Assist is a gripping, surprising story about fathers, sons, and surrogates, all confronting the narrow margins of urban life. At its center are the interwoven lives of O'Brien and two of his stars, easygoing Ridley Johnson and fierce Jason "Hood" White. The book follows Ridley and Hood on their hunt for a state title. But it also stays with them, to see how young men who seldom get second chances survive without their coach hovering over them--and how he survives without them. A minister friend once said O'Brien does the Lord's work "filling the space in these boys' lives." But O'Brien is no saint. Saints give without expecting anything in return. O'Brien needs his players and their problems as much as they need him.
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| Customer Reviews:
I was up until 3:30 this morning reading this book! May 22, 2008
Jonathan Bowen (Quincy, MA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I almost couldn't put the book down. Finished it in three nights. Anyhow, the writing style is fantastic and the story is compelling. Lots of ups and downs. The best part is that the book is about real people. Definately read this book.
Not Just a Basketball Book April 19, 2008
M Williams (Whitestone, NY United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is not just a book about basketball. Ask anyone who ever played a sport, and they can probably tell you how much their coach influenced their life. At a time in life when boys are becoming men, a positive male role model, whether it be a parent, coach or a teacher, can make all the difference. Neil Swidey's insider's view of the lives of the players, their families and Coach O'Brien was both heartwarming and disturbing. But this is not unique to Boston. All over the country, we continue to spend money building more jails instead of improving our schools, after school programs and parks. This is a good read for young or old. And not just men.
This is not good book - it is a great book March 26, 2008
B. Barker (Boston, MA USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book juxtaposes basketball and real life. In doing so Swidey provides a multiple perspectives.
Sometimes the reader is present almost as a fellow team member during very private times in the coaches and player's lives; both on and off the court. You know what music they are listening to - the complex dynamics that are playing out under the surface - what they are thinking during emotionally charged situations. The author has an uncanny ability to bring the reader into these young adult's lives.
Other times Swidey provides a 360 helicopter vantage point that allows the reader to see all character's points of view at the same time; and an ability to see how relatively small events in the present; have big consequences as events unfold.
From either point of view the story is compelling. While based around a basketball coach and his team's on and off court struggles - it is more accurately about a good but flawed man's attempt to help good but flawed kids navigate their urban maze.
incredible story perfectly captured January 26, 2008
jaytee (Boston, MA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I am not usually a reader, but I had a hard time putting this book down. Swidey does an excellent job capturing what has been an incredible story in Boston over the past few years. It's about basketball but, it is also about so much more. He describes how the aftermath of school desgregation in Boston has left the public schools in crisis, and how having someone who cares can make such a huge diffrence.
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