[A] splenetic wonder…For all of its rousing, air-clearing invective, The Whore of Akron is strangely celebratory, making a particuclarly Jewish-American case for family and place, and for waiting and hoping past the point of reason.
The book is both poem and polemic, a lyrical inventory of rage and appetite and loss.
A (very heated) Fan’s Notes . . . . . Rollicking and profane. . . . . Raab’s sustained attack on James is diverting, [but] it is the author’s self-portrait of a man and a fan of serious extremes, one who loves his wife and son as fiercely as he hates most of the rest of the world, that engrosses.
There is more passion, anger and sublime writing in Scott Raab’s The Whore of Akron than any 50 other books you’ll read this (or any other year) combined.
In pursuing James pre- and post-‘Decision’ . . . . the author never does complete the subtitle’s mission to find James’ soul. Instead, Raab . . . . discovers his own. And, in some twisted sense, maybe ours, too.
A powerful storyteller in full command of his game...wonderfully immoderate.
[The Whore of Akron] is very funny. It is also wise...If you’ve a taste for the sort of overstatement Raab shares with the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, this is perhaps the sports book for you. Keep it on a shelf the kids can’t reach.
With all due respect to Frederick Exley, Scott Raab has just written the smartest, funniest, most passionate, loving, hateful, bathetic, honest, and deeply personal sports jeremiad slash memoir of our time…The Whore of Akron is about a basketball player the way Moby-Dick is about a whale.
[A] pleasure to read. Raab is an inspired, energetic writer. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a poignant exploration of sports fandom. It’s insane. . . . . And it’s also redeeming. . . . . After reading The Whore of Akron , you’ll be hard pressed to think sports don’t matter.
[A] pleasure to read. Raab is an inspired, energetic writer. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a poignant exploration of sports fandom. It’s insane. . . . . And it’s also redeeming. . . . . After reading The Whore of Akron , you’ll be hard pressed to think sports don’t matter.
There is more passion, anger and sublime writing in Scott Raab’s The Whore of Akron than any 50 other books you’ll read this (or any other year) combined.
A searing manifesto that is impressively pointed and, in the end, even feels fair—not balanced, of course, but justified. . . . . Whether you’re convinced [of LeBron’s treachery] depends not on whether you care about Cleveland sports, but if you care about sports at all. . . . . Hilarious invective and smart commentary.
Hilarious.
Christian Science Monitor
Indelicate and unhinged...The Whore of Akron soars because Raab is unflinchingly honest, naked with emotions and embarrassments most of us keep penned inside.....at its heart, this is a book about loyalty, and why attachments count. Basketball could use a little more of Raab’s disorderly passion.
Mr. Raab sure-footedly turns his monolithic hatred for Mr. James and devotion to Cleveland into a vehicle for exploring his struggles with drugs and alcohol, the mental illness and abandonment that have haunted his family, questions of faith and Jewish identity and the joy of fatherhood.
A modern-day Portnoy’s Complaint . Standing in for the piece of liver is LeBron James.
The Whore of Akron reads like Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes on brown acid. Raab is a bastard, but he’s a funny bastard.
The Whore of Akron isn’t really about basketball. It’s about addiction and sobriety, marriage and divorce, childhood and parenthood, loyalty and autonomy.
As far as I know, a LeBron James is a hat worn by men in the 1920s.
A hilarious and profane love letter to fandom, faith, loyalty, and sports in America.
Genius. . . . . Raab is Hunter S. Thompson, Wolfe, and Breslin; every bit as messed up, alienated, angry, bitchy, cruel, and angelic. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a masterpiece.
Mr. Raab sure-footedly turns his monolithic hatred for Mr. James and devotion to Cleveland into a vehicle for exploring his struggles with drugs and alcohol, the mental illness and abandonment that have haunted his family, questions of faith and Jewish identity and the joy of fatherhood.
A modern-day Portnoy’s Complaint . Standing in for the piece of liver is LeBron James.
Sports fandom is hard, especially in a perennially losing city like Cleveland. For a lifelong Clevelander like Raab (Real Hollywood Stories), the only hope of becoming a championship city again fell to local lad Lebron James. Raab planned to profile the superstar as he led the Cavs to an NBA Championship. Instead, the Cavs fizzled in the playoffs and James took advantage of his free agency to announce "The Decision" (a one-hour ESPN event) to play for the Miami Heat. While James was given a bigger contract and a better chance of winning rings, Cleveland fans were outraged-with Raab their loudest voice. Rather than the intended glowing profile, the book becomes a rant against greed and disloyalty as Raab follows the "soul-dead bumpkin" in his first season with Miami. Between denouncing James and cursing other Cleveland sports villains like Art Modell, Raab shares memories of childhood and battles with drug addiction. While his fanaticism is often hard to swallow, Raab raises important questions about the prerogatives of those in modern sports.
A powerful storyteller in full command of his game...wonderfully immoderate.” — New York Times
“There is more passion, anger and sublime writing in Scott Raab’s The Whore of Akron than any 50 other books you’ll read this (or any other year) combined.” — New York Post
“The book is both poem and polemic, a lyrical inventory of rage and appetite and loss.” — Jeff MacGregor, ESPN.com
“[A] pleasure to read. Raab is an inspired, energetic writer. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a poignant exploration of sports fandom. It’s insane. . . . . And it’s also redeeming. . . . . After reading The Whore of Akron , you’ll be hard pressed to think sports don’t matter.” — Time
“[The Whore of Akron] is very funny. It is also wise...If you’ve a taste for the sort of overstatement Raab shares with the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, this is perhaps the sports book for you. Keep it on a shelf the kids can’t reach.” — NPR
“A (very heated) Fan’s Notes . . . . . Rollicking and profane. . . . . Raab’s sustained attack on James is diverting, [but] it is the author’s self-portrait of a man and a fan of serious extremes, one who loves his wife and son as fiercely as he hates most of the rest of the world, that engrosses.” — Sports Illustrated
“[A] splenetic wonder…For all of its rousing, air-clearing invective, The Whore of Akron is strangely celebratory, making a particuclarly Jewish-American case for family and place, and for waiting and hoping past the point of reason.” — Will Blythe, New York Magazine
“In pursuing James pre- and post-‘Decision’ . . . . the author never does complete the subtitle’s mission to find James’ soul. Instead, Raab . . . . discovers his own. And, in some twisted sense, maybe ours, too.” — Cleveland Plain Dealer
“The Whore of Akron is hilarious, heartfelt and wincingly honest. This is the best kind of book, one that surprises.” — Buzz Bissinger
“With all due respect to Frederick Exley, Scott Raab has just written the smartest, funniest, most passionate, loving, hateful, bathetic, honest, and deeply personal sports jeremiad slash memoir of our time…The Whore of Akron is about a basketball player the way Moby-Dick is about a whale.” — Stefan Fatsis, author of Wordfreak and A Few Seconds of Panic
“Mr. Raab sure-footedly turns his monolithic hatred for Mr. James and devotion to Cleveland into a vehicle for exploring his struggles with drugs and alcohol, the mental illness and abandonment that have haunted his family, questions of faith and Jewish identity and the joy of fatherhood.” — Wall Street Journal
“The Whore of Akron isn’t really about basketball. It’s about addiction and sobriety, marriage and divorce, childhood and parenthood, loyalty and autonomy.” — The Awl.com
“A searing manifesto that is impressively pointed and, in the end, even feels fair—not balanced, of course, but justified. . . . . Whether you’re convinced [of LeBron’s treachery] depends not on whether you care about Cleveland sports, but if you care about sports at all. . . . . Hilarious invective and smart commentary.” — Fortune
“Hilarious.” — Christian Science Monitor
“A hilarious and profane love letter to fandom, faith, loyalty, and sports in America.” — Parade
“Genius. . . . . Raab is Hunter S. Thompson, Wolfe, and Breslin; every bit as messed up, alienated, angry, bitchy, cruel, and angelic. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a masterpiece.” — Dan Klores, Huffington Post
“A modern-day Portnoy’s Complaint . Standing in for the piece of liver is LeBron James.” — Slate
“As far as I know, a LeBron James is a hat worn by men in the 1920s.” — Philip Roth
“Indelicate and unhinged...The Whore of Akron soars because Raab is unflinchingly honest, naked with emotions and embarrassments most of us keep penned inside.....at its heart, this is a book about loyalty, and why attachments count. Basketball could use a little more of Raab’s disorderly passion.” — Jason Gay, Wall Street Journal
“The Whore of Akron reads like Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes on brown acid. Raab is a bastard, but he’s a funny bastard.” — The Onion
"[A] pleasure to read. Raab is an inspired, energetic writer. . . . . The Whore of Akron is a poignant exploration of sports fandom. It’s insane. . . . . And it’s also redeeming. . . . . After reading The Whore of Akron, you’ll be hard pressed to think sports don’t matter."
A (very heated) Fan’s Notes...Rollicking and profane...Raab’s sustained attack on James is diverting, [but] it is the author’s self-portrait of a man and a fan of serious extremes, one who loves his wife and son as fiercely as he hates most of the rest of the world, that engrosses.
LeBron James, basketball player nonpareil and a native of Akron, OH, signed an NBA contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, offering promise to a Rust Belt city not known for successful sports teams (its baseball, basketball, and football teams have had no world championships since a 1964 NFL championship that Raab attended). After seven seasons with no NBA titles for James, he "took his talents" to Miami in 2010 to pursue a championship with Chris Bosh, defecting from the Toronto Raptors, and Dwyane Wade. The television special in which he revealed "The Decision," and the move itself, were widely seen as flagrantly self-serving, and James's popularity took a hit in both Cleveland and throughout NBA Nation. This book is a primal scream against James, during the course of which we also learn a lot about the author—more than we learn about the player. Raab (writer at large, Esquire) writes about his morbid obesity, family difficulties, and substance abuse problems, wearing it all on his sleeve, along with his love for Cleveland, and keeping the narrative going. VERDICT Sports fans with an inclination for the offbeat will enjoy this, and the title alone should make it in demand in northern Ohio and beyond. [See Prepub Alert, 5/16/11.]—Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL
An embittered, lifelong Cleveland fan chronicles the painful departure of LeBron James from the Cavaliers, taking stock of his own life in the process. Among long-suffering fan bases, Cleveland sports fans can make a legitimate claim to the top spot. With no championships to celebrate since the Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964 (in the pre–Super Bowl era), they have suffered an ignominious procession of near misses and heartbreaking defeats in football, baseball and basketball. When James, perhaps the most physically gifted basketball player ever to grace the hardwood--and a native son from nearby Akron to boot--was drafted by the Cavaliers in 2003, all of that miserable history seemed likely to end. Unfortunately for Esquire writer Raab (Real Hollywood Stories: Inside the Minds of 20 Celebrities, With One A-list Writer , 2008) and his tortured brethren, the next seven years would bring only more pain, with James leading the Cavs to only one NBA Finals appearance, where they came up short. In the summer of 2010, the King took his talents to South Beach, and the author decided to take matters into his own hands, chronicling the now-hated icon's quest to win a championship with the Miami Heat. Raab hurls intricate helixes of epithet-laden invective at James, though each profane outburst feels less cathartic than it should (the book's title comes from one such verbal haymaker launched on Twitter). Instead, it's the author's blunt evaluation of his own life--including his battles with alcohol, drugs, weight and relationship problems--that resonates as a mirror for Cleveland's own festering decay and constant struggle. Unlike Cleveland, though, Raab can take solace in the fact that he finally found a good woman and fathered a son, championship victories denied his beloved Cleveland--that, and the fact that James failed in his first attempt to win a championship in Miami. The vitriol wears thin, but sharp writing makes this a worthwhile read for fans who know Cleveland's pain.
