{"id":4592,"date":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T22:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8000\/?page_id=4226"},"modified":"2023-03-22T00:46:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T07:46:27","slug":"review-of-the-basketball-diaries-by-mary-anne-st-onge-jim-carroll-book-review-catholicboy-com","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-the-basketball-diaries-by-mary-anne-st-onge-jim-carroll-book-review-catholicboy-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Basketball Diaries by Mary-Anne St-Onge – Jim Carroll Book Review – CatholicBoy.com"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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\nHome<\/a> > Research<\/a> > Book Reviews<\/a> > Review of The Basketball Diaries<\/i> by Mary-Anne St-Onge<\/span><\/p>\n

The Basketball Diaries<\/i><\/h2>\n

Review by Mary-Anne St-Onge<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Basketball Diaries<\/i> is a true story about a young boy growing up on the
\n streets of New York City. He’s bright, he’s hip, he’s talented and he has a chance to
\n become a basketball star. As the story unfolds we begin to realize that Jim is losing
\n sight, losing control and losing focus on his goals in life. The drugs that he played and
\n experimented with have begun to take control and lead him down a dark path of self
\n destruction. Fortunately Jim has a second talent:\u00a0the ability and desire to write. He
\n holds on to that talent with a firm grip as he begins to drown in a swirling and unending
\n nightmare. <\/p>\n

But Jim is no angel; he never was, and he does not claim to be. He started this path
\n with a curiosity and desire to be cool, to escape, to be accepted. He hangs out with the
\n punks, makes friends with skid row bums and rebels against most of society. He begins to
\n lie, steal, cheat and deal. So why does the reader care? Why does the reader relate so
\n well to what Jim is doing and saying when he robs helpless old ladies, when he laughs at
\n the danger of sniffing glue, shooting dope, and scoffs at anything that might be
\n considered decent? <\/p>\n

There’s one good reason. Although the book is about his life it could just as well have
\n been about anything and still been just as intriguing. Jim has the rare ability to take
\n his readers by the hand and pull them in. From the very start you are not on the outside
\n looking in. You are there, walking down the streets of New York, smelling the stench,
\n tasting the garbage and feeling the pain. He invites us in, as a friend, and talks to us
\n as though we already understand. He does not use words like, “I did this and then I
\n did that.” Instead he chooses a closer relationship with his audience; “have I
\n ever told you about the first time I did heroin?” Jim asks. And we want to know, we
\n need to know. We feel for him. We cry when he cries, we hurt when he is hurting and when
\n he gains some hope, we hope for him. He knows he is more than this hell he has put himself
\n in, and we are more than this hell we have made. He is drowning in a cespool and yet, he
\n still sees past the filth, he still has a shred of decency that tells him that he is
\n beyond this. He is more, he wants more, he is searching for more; “I just want to be
\n pure.” By the end we too are getting exhausted, we too want to give up, we too begin
\n to wonder where he is heading, and we also want him to escape. <\/p>\n

This book is an amazingly well written story of one person’s life and struggle. Carroll
\n reveals so much of himself and life itself that it is no wonder that his fans want to hold
\n his hand and comfort him. The book has so many levels to research and study, yet as a fan
\n I feel that I am doing him wrong by analyzing every chapter. I feel as though I have
\n betrayed a friend. I believe that Jim took a chance on publishing something so real and
\n revealing about himself and I believe he took a chance on me as a reader–the chance that
\n I would learn and relate in some way to what he is saying. And I do. Because he took me
\n gently by the hand and said, “come, my friend, and I will show you what happened and
\n how it felt to be there, how it feels to be human.” He does not preach and he does
\n not blame his many downfalls for his pain. He just tells it like it is. Because of this
\n book I became a fan, because of this book I know this man, because of this book . . . I
\n understand. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\n\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of The Basketball Diaries by Mary-Anne St-Onge The Basketball Diaries Review by Mary-Anne St-Onge The Basketball Diaries is a true story about a young boy growing up on the streets of New York City. He’s bright, he’s hip, he’s talented and he has a chance to become … Continue reading Review of The Basketball Diaries by Mary-Anne St-Onge – Jim Carroll Book Review – CatholicBoy.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3988,"menu_order":13,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[41],"class_list":["post-4592","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-1c4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10269,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/jim-carroll-and-richard-hell-with-groovy-religion-the-opera-house-toronto-on-20-june-1997-review-by-mary-anne-st-onge\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":0},"title":"The Opera House, Toronto, ON (1997)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll and Richard Hell with Groovy ReligionThe Opera HouseToronto, ON, 20 June 1997\u00a0Review by\u00a0Mary-Anne St-Onge I read over again\u00a0Cassie Carter's article\u00a0regarding the first time she saw Carroll live (can't believe she was that close to him! aaaaahhh!!) and found her writing somewhat astounding in its description. Her final statement\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3988,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":1},"title":"Book Reviews","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here you will find a few of the many reviews of Jim Carroll's books. Eventually I will add more, but for now you can check out the Bibliographies page for many others I have not yet added to the website. Reviews of The Petting Zoo (2010) View reader comments on\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4595,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/book-reviews\/review-of-the-basketball-diaries-and-foreced-entries-by-christopher-lehmann-haupt-jim-carroll-book-reviews-catholicboy-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":2},"title":"Review of The Basketball Diaries and Foreced Entries by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt – Jim Carroll Book Reviews – CatholicBoy.com","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Research > Book Reviews > Review of The Basketball Diaries and Foreced Entries by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt Books of the Times The Basketball Diaries & Forced Entries Review by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt The New York Times July 9, 1987 Late City Final Edition, C23 JIM CARROLL is a poet and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4046,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/masters-thesis-1990-basketball-diaries-and-forced-entries\/a-jim-carroll-chronology\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":3},"title":"A Jim Carroll Chronology","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Appendix A Jim Carroll Chronology Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries By Cassie Carter Title Page \u00a0 Table of Contents \u00a0 Abstract \u00a0 Chapter One \u00a0 Chapter Two \u00a0 Chapter Three \u00a0 Chapter Four \u00a0 Appendix \u00a0 Notes \u00a0 Works Cited This chronology was compiled in 1990. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4286,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/stage-adaptations\/the-basketball-diaries-hits-off-off-off-broadway\/a-curtainup-report-2001-new-york-international-fringe-festival\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":4},"title":"A CurtainUp Report 2001: New York International Fringe Festival","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries by Pascal UlliReview by Les GutmanCurtainUp 27 August 2001 Pascal Ulli inhabits the body of diarist Jim Carroll about as thoroughly as we could hope for. With Ulli onstage alone Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries takes us along on Carroll's journey from twelve year old\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4664,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/jim-carrolls-work-in-anthologies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4592,"position":5},"title":"Jim Carroll’s Work in Anthologies","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Portable Sixties ReaderPublished: January 2003Ed. Ann ChartersPublisher: Penguin Classics Get this book on Amazon Includes selections from The Basketball Diaries. \"From civil rights to free love, JFK to LSD, Woodstock to the Moonwalk, the Sixties was a time of change, political unrest, and radical experiments in the arts, sexuality,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fourth-sex.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6025,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4592\/revisions\/6025"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=4592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}