Review by Booklist Review
If not the greatest basketball player of all time, Julius Erving was the first and best at bringing the playground to the pro game. In the early 1970s, when Erving burst onto the national scene with the American Basketball Association Virginia Squires, he was a revelation. Every game was its own Dr. J highlight reel of swooping dunks and twisting layups. After the ABA merged with the NBA, Erving secured a larger audience with the Philadelphia 76ers and eventually a spot in the Hall of Fame. In between the dunks, life happened, and that's what Erving has put down on paper in this revealing, insightful autobiography. He states early and often that he is a flawed man. The sexual temptations of fame were irresistible to him, damaging the serious relationships in his life and even producing a child, tennis player Alexandra Stevenson. Personal tragedy exacted a toll, too, with early death taking several family members. There's enough basketball here to keeps fans interested, but the book isn't really about what happens on the court. It's about a thoughtful man who, for a time in his youth, was a famous athlete. A rewarding reading experience.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
On the playgrounds of New York City, at the University of Massachusetts, in the fledgling American Basketball Association, and ultimately with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, Dr. J became one of pro sports' first true superstars-paving the way for future celebrity hoopsters like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Charles Barkley. Born Julius Erving in 1950 and raised by a devout deaconess in East Meadow, N.Y., Dr. J both electrified and revolutionized basketball with his leaping offensive play and daredevil improvisation above the rim. In this compelling and surprisingly emotional autobiography that often reads like a novel, the man who passed the 30,000-point threshold in his last professional game in 1987 details growing up with an absent father, a sickly little brother, and a pregnant older sister; his steadfast refusal to join street gangs and disdain for prejudice; the haunting death of his 20-year-old son in 2000; and his commitment to building a fiscally comfortable post-basketball life. Along the way, Dr. J also reveals the origins of his nickname, his obsessive tendencies toward order, and-despite a self-acknowledged weakness for women-his decency as a human being. Co-author Greenfeld (Triburbia) makes his novel-writing presence known with slam-dunk storytelling that, of course, includes vivid descriptions of Erving's notorious slam dunks, as well as creative liberties with dialogue. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
Erving's autobiography is an uncommonly insightful sports memoir. The first half of the book, covering up until Erving joins the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1971, is particularly moving. Most impressive of all is Erving's ability to evoke through language the changing perspective of his young self as he grows up. Here commendations must surely be given to collaborator Greenfeld (Boy Alone), a gifted writer of both fiction and nonfiction, for understanding how to elicit and convey these feelings. Unfortunately, once Erving moves to the NBA, around three quarters of the way through, the book begins to grate at times. The personal insights and stories take a back seat to needless boasting, listing of personal statistics, and tedious summaries of seasons and games. Still, one is left admiring Erving tremendously. Sports fans will be reminded that he really is the innovator of the modern game that we associate with Michael Jordan and LeBron James, and everyone will be struck by Erving's ability to own up to his mistakes, even when he seems unsure about whether he could have done things differently. VERDICT This work is essential for all basketball fans and should prove entertaining to all sports fans. It may even appeal to some general readers who wouldn't ordinarily read about sports.-Derek Sanderson, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The NBA's most transformative player submits an unusually revealing autobiography. During the 1970s, when officials still bothered to call traveling and palming violations, the high-flying Erving arrived and, nevertheless, managed to do things with a basketball no one had ever seen. For years, basketball's best-kept secret, "Dr. J" ("more moves than Dr. Carter has liver pills") played his college ball at low-profile UMass and then for five years with the fledgling ABA, a league with no national TV contract. When the ABA merged with the NBA, Erving signed with the Philadelphia 76ers and played another 11. With Greenfeld's aid (Triburbia, 2012, etc.), he covers the basketball triumphs, the especially crazy days of the ABA, the All-Star games, the MVP awards and the championships, and he comments throughout on some of his better-known mentors (Bill Russell, Walt Frazier, John Havlicek), teammates (Daryl Dawkins, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks) and opponents (Larry Bird, Magic Johnson). Fans will appreciate his surprising takes on players like Pete Maravich, Bernard King and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Erving's own assessment of the evolution of his game, and his tales of mixing with a black elite that included the likes of Bill Cosby, Arthur Ashe and Miles Davis. They might not expect the attention he devotes to struggle and loss: the premature death of an already absentee father; the spare poverty of his Long Island childhood; the early death of a younger brother to asthma and, later, of an older sister to cancer; the family visits to the Jim Crow South and the adult encounters with the modern civil rights movement; the delinquency of his children and the death of a son; his lifelong struggle with fidelity. Erving's reverence for rules and order and his simultaneous passion for improvisation have played out in his private life as well, not always to good effect. A good enough treatment of the phenomenon called "Dr. J" and an especially thoughtful account of the man, Julius Erving.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
