I’m usually a fan of E Lynn Harris (RIP) books.
But this one fell short.… kinda.
I read this is a total of 2 weeks.
When I first got it, I’ll be honest it bored me and I stopped half way.
But I gave it another go round….
Here is my review….
Basketball Jones is a story about Jamari Fox…
Oops… wrong saga…
Basketball Jones is about an interior designer named Alridge James Richardson who is in a downlow relationship with Dray – an NBA player who plays for the Hornets. AJ, as he is nicknamed, and Dray met in college and carried on a hot affair all through college and the pros.
Happily ever after right?
Wrong! The book takes us through their romance and a little sabotage and drama.
The book takes us through what it would be like to be a kept man for a baller, all while keeping it a secret from the entire world. The joys of being able to have easy money at your disposal to fund your lifestyle, all while letting him love and fuck the shit out of you when requested. When your baller says “I want you to fly out to the city I’m playing at… no questions asked” on his dime….
… your ass better clean and on the next flight.
But it also shows us what can happen when your secret gets into the wrong hands. A queen with an agenda preferably.
MY BEEF WITH THE BOOK?
A spoiler ahead so stop reading if you have’t read it yet.
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ok… you been warned…
The main character was so bitch-like to me. Like, you got this great lifestyle that you know is a secret, but you are catching feelings of wanting to be out. As a discreet man myself, I felt like the character lost track of the situation he was in. Sure, you want this NBA baller to be out in the open with you but realistically, you know what would NEVER happen.
Then when all hell broke loose, he didn’t even tell baller that he was being blackmailed by his wife (for half a muhfuckin MIL!). He found out the baller’s wife was hoin’ around with his teammate and the baby wasn’t his. You been fucking with this dude since COLLEGE – but you keep a secret from him like that?
WTF?
The queen finding out the info was stupid. This dude was suppose to be your “friend” but he knew all his secrets because he kept his journals at his crib.
Ummmmm.
In the early stages of the book, it sounded like this dude was trife to begin with. He was a drama queen. He got mad because they got into an altercation over queen coming over announced, around the same time baller was going to be there. That, imo, was no solid reason for all this blackmail.
The wife of the baller was so irrelevant. She was such a forgettable character. I had to remind myself the baller was married.
The trainer who was hired by the baller to keep AJ in shape turned out to be gay for pay. I would have love to see them get into a revenge/vulnerable fuck.
Jade, homegirl who he met, was also forgettable. Her main objective was she wanted to meet Reggie Bush. She also found out the dirt on the wife before AJ did. She wasn’t really needed in the story, but I suppose AJ needed a friend.
Basil Henderson made his usual appearance. I have a lust on Basil. He sounds like my dream baller. You gotta read E Lynn’s earlier work to find out about Basil.
Either way: The whole book was messy.
It had its moments where I was like “oh ok I get this” and then others where I wanted to tell the main character to man the fuck up. This baller got you living comfortably and you just coming off all week.
Whatever. I guess.
It was an okay read.
The book fell flat towards the end, like it was a rush job.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants something good to occupy their time. I’m sure not all DL relationships with ballers are like this.
I did learn (from this book):
Broke queens are double messy
The gay lifestyle in Atlanta is triple messy
Don’t keep my personal life journals at a queen’s house
Don’t seduce my mama’s boyfriend cause it can be used as blackmail
Kept men can be bitch-made if they are fiending to be out
Ballers can be met in college over Math homework
Dray needed Jamari Fox in his life
NBA wives are crazy whores
Reggie Bush likes light brights
My trainer maybe “gay for pay” and watch out for massages after hours
Michael Vick was like product placement through this book
I want Basil Henderson
…. and thas about it.
The book raised my Foxtail slightly but, I quickly put it back down.
Later
im sooooo glad this book taught u not to seduce your momma’s boyfriend. & leave the basil types alone, they will have their crazy wanna-be singer ex wives, and some over emotional queen they seduced coming after you.
Basil Henderson does sound like a beast (in a good way) in the books I’ve read. LOL I skipped through because I’m currently reading all the books in a timeline n I know how you get at times. Yet I have to agree with Vain….E Lynn’s target audience was really women…something like JL KIng…These Queens will never realize that most women only befriend gay guys only to find out who is gay…or if their man is gay…it’s always false in the end.
@MrSoMagical: I was tempted to be like “that isn’t true” but i went over a lot of the friendships I’ve had with women and that is always their main concern if they aren’t complaining about boy problems that have very simple solutions. Whether its “Do you know so and so? Is he gay?” or “So this guy did this to me one time… is he gay?” It gets tiring after a while and most of the time the person is clearly straight. So they read these sorts of books and try and make connections in the real world when usually there aren’t any. Its more like a game to them. It’s why i continue to argue that most heterosexual women do not take us and our lifestyle seriously. To them, our lives consist of nothing more than encounters with DL men, fashion,gossip, and gay bars.
I concur! 250%…
the real “Dray” is currently single as well as the real “Basil Henderson” but according to his recent biography he is channeling his inner Sybil.
the trainer is doing well for himself here in Atlanta …….
Soooooooooooooooo…..me + u = PM.
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Never cared for his books. Especially the ones where he exploits the supposed DL phenomenon to heterosexual women (who were his target audience believe it or not). The idea of what goes on in those books is cute if you like the superficial and cliche. I never found any depth in them but then again i realize he was writing for entertainment. Like a straight to DVD movie. The lifestyle here in ATL is messy simply because the community is so small and interconnected. It takes a lot less then 6 degrees of separation to find out that someone you met has slept with a friend of a friend. LMAO @ Reggie Bush liking light brights… for some reason i think that’s a fact.