RaveBooklistA novel that explores grief, legacy, and the complicated inheritance of art, asking what it means to belong to a story that has shaped countless lives. Using glimpses of the past intermingled with the present-day narrative, Albert, in her adult debut, creates a haunting, dream-like story that pulls readers through open doorways and past dark rooms into the glittering Ninth City.
PositiveBooklistWith chapters arranged like a basketball game, Crane’s terse but lyrical style lends itself well to the frenetic nature of the sport. Mack’s teenage spiral of experimentation, which heavily features drug and alcohol use, will relate to some but alienate others. Best described as a new-adult, contemporary sports romance, A Sharp Endless Need is a jagged story of queer exploration, yearning, and the desperation to find oneself, wrapped in early-2000s nostalgia.
