The House of Moses All-Stars [Paperback]

Charley Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: March 1, 1998

An all-Jewish basketball team barnstorms across Depression-era americanca, confronting prejudice and point-shaving in this “some-times agonizing, frequently hilarious” novel (Chicago Tribune) by “the game’s foremost chronicler” (Wall Street Journal).

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

On January 7, 1927, the Harlem Globetrotters, a barnstorming basketball team, made their debut in Hinckley, Illinois, before an audience of 300. They were the vision of Abe Saperstein, a Jewish man who managed a touring team of African-American round-ballers. Now, 70 years later, the Globetrotters are known around the world and have played an intriguing role in the history of race in America. Charley Rosen's novel The House of Moses All-Stars is an intriguing spin on the Globetrotters' story. Set amid the Depression at home and the rise of Hitler in Germany, Rosen tells a story of Jewish hoopsters dribbling through middle America. For the team, the games are more a means of making a buck in hard times than breaking down barriers. But as they tour the country in a hearse with the Star of David emblazoned on the side, they uncover the realities of bigotry and racism that even American sport cannot suppress. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

With a premise that sounds like an urban legend, college basketball coach Rosen launches his seventh book on basketball (after the novel The Cockroach Basketball League), taking readers on a wild road trip in a renovated hearse with "seven jumbo Jews." In the midst of the Depression, Aaron Steiner joins a Jewish professional basketball team, the House of Moses All-Stars, on a cross-country tour from New York to California. In addition to Aaron, who joined the team after losing his baby, his wife and his dreams of basketball success, the players in the hearse include a Communist, a Zionist, a bank robber and a redheaded Irishman posing as a Jew. All are running from problems at home and hope to be "an example or something." But the boys get lost before they leave N.Y.C.?and, unfortunately, so does the reader. Set against the hardship and fear of the times, the novel seems to hope to explore what it means to be an outsider in America. Yet, while Rosen is long on road-trip atmosphere (bored waitresses, lukewarm bowls of oatmeal and dank locker rooms), he is short on character development and plot. A string of racial epithets and stereotypes, for example, is what constitutes an exploration of racism here. The narrative is littered with sophomoric sex jokes and lame vulgarities: "Looking back, I can hardly recall anything that I learned in my classroom. Oh yes... from my anatomy class?the handbone connected to the dick bone"?a joke that provides an apt, if unfortunate, metaphor for the spirit of this novel.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156005700
• ISBN-13: 978-0156005708
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,324,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Peripatetic Jewish Basketball Team, December 31, 2001

By 

Rick Hunter (Malone, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The House of Moses All-Stars (Paperback)

Charley Rosen's The House of Moses All-Stars is a most unusual "road trip" novel. Set in the depression, sportswriter Rosen takes a pick-up professional basketball team made up of six Jews and one goy cross-country in a renovated hearse as they play (and occasionally fix) games, run from the mob, and mature from boys to men. Mostly a comic novel, All-Stars consistently amuses, but is not particularly deep. To me, one of Rosen's attempts at "depth" falls particularly flat. The narrator, Aaron, joins the team essentially in flight from his wife who blames him for their stillborn child. Aaron, in his heart, can't help but blame itself. Rosen attempts to make the road trip cathartic, allowing Aaron to reach peace with himself. I'm sorry, but it just didn't work for me. Overall, though, this is mostly an entertaining work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Immensely entertaining, August 7, 2000

By 

Edward A. Olson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House of Moses All-Stars (Paperback)

True, it is bawdy--but so is Shakespeare. This is a hilarious book, a chance to ride with a barnstorming ballclub. Each page is drenched with humor, or with insight which transcends the game, and this group of men. Rosen's Cockroach Basketball League is also a terrrific read. He is clearly the best basketball novelist going.

4.0 out of 5 stars Not just about basketball., June 2, 1999

By 

William S. Shapiro (Brighton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The House of Moses All-Stars (Paperback)

"House of Moses All-Stars" does have, as can be expected terrifically written scens of the basketball games. But more than that, it tells a great story, with interesting characters and gives a great overview of all the various aspects of Depression-era America.