Book Review

MVP (2007)

Details Release Date: May 08, 2007; Writer: James Boice; Genres: Drama, Fiction; Publisher: Scribner

Basketball star Gilbert Marcus, the refined son of an ex-jock, enters the pros straight from high school, gets a rival teammate traded after three straight titles, and is accused of a violent crime while committing adultery. Sound familiar? James Boice's MVP is a brutally incisive roman à clef. Boice may not be an insider, but he seems to have opinions about Kobe Bryant. His jarring stream-of-consciousness prose clicks once you realize he's given his narcissistic protagonist the deranged neuroses of a Bret Easton Ellis character. His portrait of Marcus is a frightening trip through the misogynistic, homophobic mind of a professional athlete. A-

Originally posted May 11, 2007 Published in issue #934 May 18, 2007 Order article reprints

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