Star point guard Mack Morris's senior year of high school begins with twin cataclysms: the death of her father and the arrival of transfer student Liv Cooper. On the court, Mack and Liv discover an exhilarating, game-winning chemistry; off the court, they fall into an equally intoxicating more-than-friendship that is out of bounds for their small Pennsylvania town in 2004, and especially, for Liv's conservative mother. As Mack's desire and grief collide with drugs, sex, and the looming college signing deadline, she is forced to reckon with the disconnects between her past and her future-and fight for the life she wants for herself, whether or not Liv will be on the court beside her.
In a tight 250 pages, Crane’s writing drives forward hard and fast. They mix their staccato sentences with strategic bursts of tender lyricism. Crane, who played college ball, describes Mack’s games with an insider’s fluency, bringing readers into the minute-by-minute drama on the court. ... In Crane’s hands, Mack’s account of this confusing period as a teenager is deeply affecting ... From the front row, we can’t tear our eyes from the vortex of passion between Mack and Liv.
Crane’s descriptions of Mack’s nearly feral joy, passion and physicality as she plays are as thrilling as their depiction of teenage life in a run-down Pennsylvania town (with its underage boozing and drugging, precariousness and cringey attempts at sex) is unsparing ... A Sharp Endless Need is a book you’ll remember.
With 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.
