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reviewed by Denise Flint
Chasing a Dream: The Carl English Story Carl English with Blake Murphy Flanker Press $19.95
“I had to do a lot of rebounding to get touches and go Coast to Coast or hunt my own shots.” If that sentence makes any sense to you, then you’re going to enjoy Chasing a Dream: The Carl English Story. However, for people who aren’t basketball fans, Carl English’s biography is going to be a little more difficult to read. That’s not necessarily a problem, but it is a warning. Despite a limited glossary at the back (which I didn’t find until deep into the book), if you’re not familiar with sports terms you’re going to need to bookmark an online dictionary and keep it at your fingertips. However, once you get over that hurdle, English’s book is a very interesting read. Most Newfoundlanders seem to know his story. He lost his parents in a house fire when he was five, casting a shadow across the rest of his life even after he grew up to become a professional basketball player. What people might not know, however, is how often English just couldn’t get a break. Over and over again, just when things seemed to be looking up, something would spoil it. His biggest professional disappointment, of course, was never getting into the NBA despite how good a player he was. The book was coauthored by Blake Murphy, a sports writer who did a good job capturing English’s voice, and there’s a collection of curious testimonials at the back that fans of English will appreciate. It would have been nice to hear more about the good things that happened to English, but perhaps that’s not what sells these kinds of memoirs. 34
March 2020
1-888-588-6353
