Fall River Dreams: A Team's Quest for Glory, A Town's Search for Its Soul

This was one of the best sports books I've read in a while. I really enjoyed Friday Night Lights, and think that this book is it's equal. Thought I am slightly biased, growing up in the Fall River area, and personally watching several Durfee games. But no one can deny the honest and genuine nature of the emotionally charged characters in this story. The relationship between Skippy Karam and Chris Herren is one of a kind. Skip being the living legend trying to go out on top one last time, and Chris trying to live up to all the expectations put on him by the media, colleges, and his family, even though he cleary isn't ready to grow up. The interaction between these two is usually confrontational, but often hilarious as Chris continues to push Skippy to his limit. Another great character that seems to almost get lost in the mix is Jeff Caron. Jeff is the second best player on the team, but would be a stand out at any other high school in the area. He seems a little jealous at times, but always remains a team player. He is a sort of an outsider among his teammates and the book does a fine job of telling his story.

This is the less-known but perhaps best of several books about the lure of basketball in the inner city. But where "Hoop Dreams" and "Last Shot: City Streets, Basketball Dreams" chronicled the dreams of African-Americans in the major cities of Chicago and New York, "Fall River Dreams" chronicles the dreams of lower-middle class whites in the nowhere city of Fall River, Massachusetts.I know Fall River, and its depiction in this book is unsentimental and unsettling. This is an author with an eye and an ear for the life of this city, and he writes with a journalist's precision and clarity. Yet what makes this book great is being able to read it now knowing what happened to the book's central subject, Chris Herren. Herren was a can't-miss prospect who ended up missing. Despite some modest success in college and in the pros, Herren did not become the major star everyone thought he would become. His struggles in the book are all the more poignant now that we know what became of his life.The lesson of all these books is that basketball is not the answer to all of life's problems, even if you are the best of the best. Larger forces can overtake you.

If you just want the thrills of a succession of basketball games, look elsewhere. But if you want to understand a driven, contemporary high school basketball team from an educationally and economically deprived city with an exceptional basketball tradition, this is a book not to be missed. The author was everywhere, from living rooms to locker rooms to practice courts to games, yet he succeeded in keeping himself invisible in the book. The result is, you are there--for the wise-cracks, the needling, the kids mouthing off to the coach, the college recruiters chasing one of the finest high school players in New England. For a former Fall Riverite, as I am, it's a must-read. For others, there's a lot to be learned here about the thinking and attitudes of the current generation and its interaction with the older generations. If you like to read a book and forget it, this isn't the one for you. Any thoughtful person who reads it will be pondering the problems it presents long after it's back in the bookcase.

When I read this book for the first time (I've read it many times, since it is so inspiring), I ended it in the middle of the night, and I still was so pumped up from the emotions of this story, that I wanted to go out and play right now. You may be wondering why I was up all night reading it. I simply couldn't put it down. Living within 20 minutes of Fall River, I have heard of Chris Herren many times. The passion and emotions that come alive in basketball put you in a trance, and this book epitomizes all those emotions and smoothly sweeps them together. I definitely recommend this for anyone who needs the motivation to get up and play. I guarantee it'll be hard not to after reading this book.

Fall River Dreams was one of those books you wished would never end! I became immersed in this book, as these characters become a part of you.The star player, living in his brothers'shadow, and the pressure of living up to his legacy of bringing home a state championship. The coach,a legend himself in his hometown, trying to go out with one more championship,and dealing with this 'new breed'of kids. The players, the benchwarmers, and those who seek their own moment of glory. And lastly, the town,that has once seen better days,as it struggles with it's existence all while pinning it's hopes on a High School basketball team, to make it feel that the town still has it's pride, along with their passion for the game! I compare this book to the excellent "Hoop Dreams",as that you both feel for their characters, and find yourself rooting for them. Much has happened to the main character, Chris Herren, from the time Fall River Dreams ends, to the start of his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets. I won't reveal them here. The are documented in excellent articles in author Bill Reynolds column in The Providence Journal. I'm hoping that Mr.Reynolds continues telling us more, with a sequel of the team and the town that captured my heart,soul and passion of hometown sports! This book won't disapoint you!