The Hoopster

Hi, my name is Patrick Keating and I will occasionally be reviewing the novel, the Hoopster, by Alan Sitomer over the course of the next 14 days.

The book starts out reviewing the main character, which most novels do, but this one was different. Our story starts on a basketball court with a bunch of older high schoolers playing a pickup game. Here we learn some of our main character Andre, who is a young black man who is a great basketball player and has even better writing skills. Also, we learn about Shawn, Andre's white, cocky, best friend. At the end of the game, Andre's cousin Cedric, who is not very serious, yet very confident, tries to win it on a bad shot and blows the game.

When the game is over, Shawn and Andre are listening to Cedric's speech about the broken water fountain and listens to how Cedric thinks it is because they are in a "black neighborhood". Andre and Shawn get in Andre's car and Andre drives Shawn home. They stop in at Shawn's house and have a fun, yet weird time and then Andre leaves. 

The next day, Andre goes to his job at the Affairs magazine company, where he is an intern who sits next to the printer and copier and never gets a real story to work on. We hear about his boss, Mr. Jarvin, and a few of his coworkers. Andre overhears a conversation with one of his coworkers, Ed, and Mr. Jarvin, in which Ed makes a bunch of racist remarks about the writing industry and black people in general. Mr. Jarvin notices that Andre has overheard the conversation and then confronts him about the conversation, and this is where our reading ends.

So far, this book is shaping to have a good plot. Andre is becoming a well-developed character in the story who could have a huge impact on the community around him, especially through writing. I love sports books like these and I have never seen one so deep as the Hoopster. This is Patrick Keating, signing off.