[A] frank, disarming autobiographical novel…In scenes that are striking both for their insight and for the chasteness of their characters’ behavior, Markovits effectively portrays Benjamin’s stumbling entry into the adult world…the affecting story of a young man starting to find his way in the world through basketball.” — Shelf Awareness
“Excellent.” — The Times (London)
“Markovits is an exceptionally adept chronicler of human interaction… in this elegant, thoughtful novel.” — New Statesman
“Markovits draws himself with exceptional delicacy…This is the territory of the rites-of-passage novel, but it is territory that the author navigates with subtlety and poignancy.” — The Guardian
“PLAYING DAYS delivers a sharply honest account of the mostly selfish impulses of a young man…astutely rendering the restlessness of that ill-fitting period between schooling and manhood, in which mettle needs to be found before it can be tested.” — The Independent
“PLAYING DAYS…succeeds in combining an emotionally honest coming-of-age narrative with a convincing evocation of the artificial, cynical, yet curiously idealistic, world of preofessional sport.” — The Times Literary Supplement
“Playing Days is a humble and sensitive portrayal of a young adult trying to find his feet on the basketball court and in the world…The subtlety of Playing Days is that though the subjects for interpretation are teased out, the ultimate meaning is left poised for our own consideration.” — The Financial Times
“Markovits’s plot is as smoothly nonchalant as a sea breeze in summer, yet the reader is enticed by his subtle yet powerful characterization and a wonderfully lucid writing style…His story becomes almost unbearably appealing as it ratches up towards a magnificently suspenseful and apt conclusion.” — The Sunday Business Post
“This unusual autobiographical episode is lit up by Markovits’ eye for psychological and social detail…Both matter of fact and acutely observant, it wears its wisdom with a shrug.” — The Independent
