Read more
From the critically acclaimed author of White Man's Problems, a muscular debut novel set in hardscrabble Philadelphia about an orphan named Joe and the basketball team that raised him-a team that also has the power to be his undoing
About the author
Kevin Morris is the author of the acclaimed story collection
White Man's Problems and has written for the
Wall Street Journal,
Los Angeles Times, and
Filmmaker magazine. He produced the highly regarded documentary
Hands on a Hardbody and was a coproducer and Tony Award winner for
The Book of Mormon.
Summary
From the critically acclaimed author of White Man's Problems, a muscular debut novel set in hardscrabble Philadelphia about an orphan named Joe and the basketball team that raised him—a team that also has the power to be his undoing
Additional text
Praise for All Joe Knight:
Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize
An Amazon Best Book of the Month in Literature & Fiction for December 2016
“Morris is a natural storyteller . . . the line-by-line humanness is the absolute killer heart of this brilliant first novel.”—Terry McDonell, author of The Accidental Life“A remarkable and agonizing portrayal of a middle-aged man who doesn't know what's become of his life, and doesn't seem to care.”—Esquire
“[A] two-fisted debut novel . . . Joe is John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom revised for the Trump era—more profane and straight-talking . . . Like a corner-bar Montaigne, Joe has an opinion on just about everything, from the wealthy to Bob Dylan to the 1974 Philadelphia Flyers to women’s breasts . . . Joe is a boor, but Morris gives him an awareness of that boorishness, a complex past, and a gift for sturdy, well-turned observations . . . And Morris . . . has put a spotlight on a lower middle class that gets little attention in contemporary fiction, regardless of race . . .One of the graces of fiction is that an effective character doesn’t have to be likable. Morris’ novel is a surprisingly full portrait of one man who exemplifies the notion.”—USA Today, 3/4 stars
“An engaging debut novel. Joe Knight . . . narrates in a gritty, defiant, sardonic voice that’s one of the work’s greatest strengths . . . A moving portrait of a lost soul in modern America, for all readers of literary fiction.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“Suspenseful . . . Morris vividly evokes the dynamics among the boys—and later the disillusioned men—who came of age on the margins of a city in decline, and in the shadow of great colonial founding fathers.”—National Book Review
“Kevin Morris goes for a slam dunk in his debut novel, All Joe Knight.”—Vanity Fair Hot Type
“Morris’s novel deftly shows that the frustrations of a stunted middle-aged man are evocative terrain.”Publishers Weekly
“An in your face account of friends, family, and Philly that I enjoyed all Knight long.”—My Dad Reads Too Many Books
