Rating: 
Summary: A unique and sensitive literary accomplishment.
Review: 1997 was an exceptional year for first novels, and Nina Revoyr's "The Necessary Hunger" is right at the top. This gem of a "coming of age" novel holds it's own and deserves to be in the company of J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." The story line involves Nancy Takahiro's reflection on her high school basketball team going into the play-offs during her senior year in 1987. My hat off to Ms. Revoyr for such a unique accomplishment and sensitive story. You won't want the book to end.
Rating:
Summary: A unique and sensitive literary accomplishment.
Review: 1997 was an exceptional year for first novels, and Nina Revoyr's "The Necessary Hunger" is right at the top. This gem of a "coming of age" novel holds it's own and deserves to be in the company of J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" and Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." The story line involves Nancy Takahiro's reflection on her high school basketball team going into the play-offs during her senior year in 1987. My hat off to Ms. Revoyr for such a unique accomplishment and sensitive story. You won't want the book to end.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa that was intense
Review: I just finished reading this book which I couldn't put down for 3 days. If you read purely to be amused and entertained, I wouldn't say this is the book for you. But if you read, to understand more clearly different lives, and cultures or just to get you thinking, this is perfect. Although intially dissapointed with the ending, I still can't stop thinking about the book so I know it did it's job as far as getting in my head.This is a simple book about life. It's not about specifically geared towards only lesbians or basketball players. As a straight woman, I found myself relating with Nancy so much. I felt her love, pain, and happiness. The writing was purely genius in that sense. Maybe I wished there was more drama or more of a happy ending, but I think that would have taken away from the simple yet intense theme that Revoyr got across. Overall, I think it's the best thing I've read in quite a while
Rating:
Summary: Whoa that was intense
Review: It was written with a timid hue and full of young, fresh words. Easy reading-almost to easy. Good coming out story
Rating: 
Summary: A young writer shares a tale
Review: It was written with a timid hue and full of young, fresh words. Easy reading-almost to easy. Good coming out story
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised
Review: Once I started reading this book I just couldn't put it down. A very tender, but emotionally intensive book. Where silences are just as or even more meaningful than what is said with words. Putting one's emotions and feelings into words is very difficult if not almost impossible. But Revoyr has succeeded in doing it so convincingly it left me almost breathless. The Necessary Hunger offers much much more than the synopsis reveals.
Rating: 
Summary: Many themes receive insightful comment in an emotional novel
Review: One of many virtues in Nina Revoyr's "The Necessary Hunger", a novel about (among other things) women's high school basketball, is the juxtaposition of a portrayal of adolescents' intelligence and interpersonal sensitivity with their failures of imagination amidst the bitterness of their treatment in the surrounding culture. Their chief mistake is often a failure to conceptualize an identity outside the poignant context of the intensity, camaraderie and nurturance they find with their teammates on the basketball court. These relationships are portrayed with an authenticity evoked through remarkable attention to the details of characters' speech and athletic rituals. It is beautiful to sense the players' trust and warmth behind their banter. Revoyr's attention to detail also gives her numerous insights into human character a value that would be lacking in a more grandiose, less grounded work of fiction. One of the things that haunts me about "The Necessary Hunger" is how it juggled a detailed story of sports and emotional intimacy with the existential and cultural conflicts that lie hidden for these characters, subtly drawing closer as the novel progressed. I haven't been close to comprehensive in evoking the novel's range. Suffice it to say that this is the finest novel I have read in memory, and that I can't wait to hear more from Revoyr.
Rating:
Summary: well-written
Review: Revoyr's writing is fantastic. She places the reader in Nancy's shoes, effectively forcing the reader to experience the rough teenage emotions that she's subjected to. The book seems to lag at points, but at other times the pace is almost too fast to keep up with. Intense and realistic (in the sense that not everything in life can be fast-paced) are good adjectives to describe the book. In my opinion, Revoyr dealt with the issue of racism more than the issue or homosexuality which surprised me. It was definately a well-written novel that deserves to be read at least once.
Rating:
Summary: book of the year! sure knockout.
Review: Revyor writes a great book all around. Should get an award for this.She touches home talkin about the getto and ----. Personally I dont like the lesbian s---, but it's a down right cool book overall.
Rating:
Summary: Love and Basketball.
Review: THE NESESSARY HUNGER is a very introspective novel that deals with one teen's passion for basketball as well as her step-sister, and just how similar they both are. Nancy's father has remarried to an african-american mother of a high school premier player, Raina. It's already tense enough sharing a house with different nationalities, Nancy and her father being asian-americans, as well as both girls being about the same age and both playing for opposing high schools, but Nancy deep devotion for Raina puts her in an awkward position. How does one love someone that does not love her back? The situation become even more sticky when Nancy must deal with Raina's on-again, off-again love affair with Toni. She doesn't want to interfere, making sure to keep her sexuality safely in the closet, yet wanting to desperately show Raina that she is the better girl for her. The author truly knows her basketball techniques, because the written scenes of the games played, as well as the final tournament for their season, are very descriptive, making you feel like you're there on the benches, cheering them on to victory. The one-on-one moments with Nancy and Raina are very personal and well written, delving into Nancy mind and heart with her regard toward her secret love and what their lives would be if they were together. A lengthy and wordy piece or work, I took a chance with this novel, and it was worth the effort.
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