All Joe Knight

Morris, author of the warmly received story collection White Man's Problems and coproducer of the Tony Award-winning musical The Book of Mormon, here offers an engaging debut novel. Joe Knight, who narrates in a gritty, defiant, sardonic voice that's one of the work's greatest strengths, was orphaned as a baby and raised by an aunt in a rough 1960s Philadelphia neighborhood. He finds a true sense of belonging on his high school basketball team, and in late middle age, having made and lost a fortune and recently separated from his wife and daughter, is still cutting deals for his old teammates. Now, though, he learns that one of his deals is being investigated. Walt Whitman is the presiding spirit here, cited strategically throughout, and the novel can be read as an updated, plaintive, dystopian Song of Myself. As he's had his full share of successes, Joe Knight can sing about himself and America, but he sings mostly about the loneliness and disillusionment he's brought on himself through bad choices, self-pity, and a sense of entitlement.