The Basketball Diaries

I'm pretty damn sure most... scratch that, nearly all diaries you read would bore you to death. And I'm including The Princess Diaries in that estimate! Not so here. Here you have a guy talking about boy whoring (53rd & 3rd territory), copping H and shooting up, stealing, fucking a lot, and a whole mess of things all under the age of 16. I mean fuck, this kid has lived more before 16 than I lived in all my 30 years of life. What does that say about me? Well, don't get me wrong, I don't think I'd trade with him considering where he ends up by the end of the book. By the way it shouldn't be a spoiler to anyone who reads the first few entries. It's clear.

I don't know, the prose is clean and filled with the kind of slang that makes the show more episodes whip right by in a frenzy, which is probably the effect he's looking for. He just lays it out all on the line and gives it to you for exactly what it's worth. It happens to be worth a lot, but don't go expecting literature or the typical linear story curve. It's dirty fun for those curious about what another life might be like. show less

I read The Basketball Diaries as a teenager and was impressed by Carroll's level of self-destruction that made my teenage years seem very lightweight. Then as a freshman in college I met him. He had a certain aura not only of fame and talent, but hard living. Rereading again as a father and in my forties, I still like his sense of humor and turn of phrase, but I mostly feel grateful that I read about his path rather than follow it.

Like On the Road by Jack Kerouac, I feel like the Basketball Diaries is a book that needs to be read the first time when you're in your early twenties. You can go back to it later, but that first experience needs to take place in the wild and insecure moments of twenty-something life. Jim Carroll is a outstanding poet and memoir writer. The book follows Jim through his teen years as he parties with the avant garde, battles heroin addiction, and struggles to become a great writer.

I read this when I was way too young. Way way before the movie, when, afik, nobody else was reading it. My mom would have had a fit.

And then I reread it. At least twice. Intense, yes, and poetic, but also totally accessible. Tragic, in a way, but also hopeful, and even, at times, funny.

I don't want to re-read it or read other reviews. I don't want to spoil my memory.

Carroll's got a great voice. The book is flawless, ironic, understated. And incremental: the lesson to take from "Diaries" is that addiction is something that is fueled by rationalization, and sneaks up on even the strongest and most intelligent people unexpectedly.

Don't be put off by the dodgy Di Caprio vehicle from a few years back...This book has to be one of the finest debut novels around from the last 50 years or so. Heavily autobiographical, The Basketball Diaries is written with verve and authenticity. It's a rough story of growing up in early 70s New York City, told beautifully.

It was a fascinating read and insight into a life and lifestyle that I have never experienced or read before. There were moments I had a hard time believing that the book was real and that these things really happen, but it does and it was refreshing to see the point of view of an addict and not just the stereotyping that most people give to addicts. Carroll is a very talented writer and it was heartbreaking to see how he portrayed the people around him as well as himself and his own life events.