essay on the wave novel

by Todd Strasser

The wave essay questions.

Discuss the role of organization in The Wave.

David, Laurie, and Mr. Ross all lament the students' lack of organization at the beginning of the novel. Each of these characters has a goal--be it winning the football game, printing The Gordon Grapevine on time, or teaching twelfth-graders about history--that can only be achieved if all of the students work together in an organized and cooperative fashion. The Wave seems to offer a solution to this problem because of its emphasis on discipline and community.

Why doesn’t Strasser specify what city or region The Wave occurs in?

Strasser is very vague about The Wave 's setting. References to Wheaties cereal and The Night of the Living Dead suggest that the book is definitely set in the United States. However, there is little regional color and the place names––such as Clarkstown and Gordon High––are generically American, and offer no hints as to where the story is set. Strasser's decision not to specify the setting suggests the book's allegorical purpose. Readers are supposed to be able to relate it easily to their own lives. It also demonstrates Strasser's point that atrocities can happen anywhere, regardless of the place or time.

Discuss the role of sports in the novel.

Many of the characters in The Wave play sports. Besides the football team, which plays an important role in the plot, Christy Ross plays tennis and Mr. Saunders plays golf to relieve his stress from work. The characters' enthusiasm for athletics suggests that there are other ways that people can bring discipline and organization into their lives. According to Strasser, a healthy hobby like a sport or the school newspaper is a good alternative to movements like The Wave.

How does Mr. Ross manipulate his students into accepting The Wave? Why are they so enthusiastic about it?

Mr. Ross manipulates his students into embracing The Wave by emphasizing values that the students genuinely need help with––like organization and equality. The Wave appeals to students because it seems to offer a fast and easy way for them to solve problems in their personal lives and in the community. However, Mr. Ross also acknowledges that the movement is also successful because the students do not know they are participating in an experiment––something he admits is unethical to Principal Owens.

Compare and contrast Laurie’s and David’s reactions to The Wave.

Laurie and David are both enthusiastic about The Wave at first. In fact, they embrace it more than the other students; Laurie defends it to her mother and David introduces it to the football team even though Eric warns him that he might be laughed at. Laurie's appreciation of The Wave is altruistic––she likes that it makes life better for people like Robert, who used to be bullied and excluded. She is more suspicious of The Wave; she rejects it as soon as she sees evidence that it is not actually making life better for Gordon High's vulnerable students. David is more self-centered in his motivations; he believes The Wave will help the football team to win. He is also less willing to abandon The Wave when it gets out of hand, although he eventually comes to his senses when it leads him to hurt Laurie.

What are the pros and cons of The Wave?

Some of the positive elements of The Wave are its inclusivity and its emphasis on community. Students are kinder to Robert and more willing to have each other's backs––for example, Amy and David stand up to support George Snyder so he won't be embarrassed in class. The most important problem with The Wave is that it hurts the students' ability to think critically, something Mr. Ross notices in both their essays and their real-life behavior.

How does The Wave change Mr. Ross’s personality? Does it make him a better teacher or a worse one?

The Wave initially makes Mr. Ross a worse teacher and a worse husband. He becomes self-centered, focused only on the glory he will achieve when he sees how The Wave improves his students' academic performance. However, the experiment ultimately humbles him and leaves him with important insights about human psychology. After The Wave, he makes a stronger effort to help Robert Billings, and he recognizes how easily and uncritically students will accept a leader.

What is the difference between adults and teenagers in the novel? Are teenagers more vulnerable to The Wave because they are young?

Some psychologists have suggested that the real-life students who participated in The Wave were more vulnerable to its influence because they were young (Gibson). However, Strasser rejects this idea. He emphasizes that adults and teenagers deal with many of the same problems––Mr. Saunders's problems at work are similar to the ones Laurie faces managing her lazy staff at the school newspaper. And Mr. Ross learns as much about human psychology from The Wave as the students do––even he is unable to predict how far the experiment will go.

Why is Laurie successful in standing up to The Wave?

Strasser suggests that Laurie is able to stand up to The Wave because of her connection to the school newspaper and because of support from her friends. The school newspaper allows her to criticize The Wave with more authority than she would be able to otherwise; no one listens to her when she questions The Wave at the lunch table, but people take her seriously when her criticisms appear in print. She is also able to do this because she remains friends with Carl and Alex, who have always disliked The Wave.

Was The Wave successful? If so, why doesn’t Mr. Ross want to repeat it next year?

In terms of sheer emotional impact, The Wave is highly successful, and many of the students seem to have taken to heart the lesson about why people participate in fascism. However, Mr. Ross decides that this benefit is not worth the cost to students like Robert, whose feelings were hurt terribly when he was rejected after The Wave ended, and the sophomore who was attacked.

The Wave Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Wave is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

In this chapter Christy has a flashback. What do we learn about Ben in this flashback?

Christy has a flashback in Chapter Four of a previous project her husband was involved in. She remembers how the project became his whole world at the expense of everything else. Mr. Ross becomes easily obsessed with ideas.

How does the class change because of strength in community?

The discipline created by the concept of strength in community decreased chaos and allowed the students who were previously isolated to be a part of the team.

Who is Carl Block?

Carl Block is the investigative reporter for The Gordon Grapevine. He is good friends with Alex and is among the first students to become uncomfortable with The Wave.

Study Guide for The Wave

The Wave study guide contains a biography of Morton Rhue, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Wave
• The Wave Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Wave

The Wave essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Wave by Morton Rhue.

• How Isolation Can Influence Rash Decisions: Character Analysis of Robert Billings
• Internal and External conflict in The Wave

Lesson Plan for The Wave

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Wave
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Wave Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Wave

• Introduction
• Recognition

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• The Wave: Chapter 1,2
• The Wave: Chapter 3,4
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The Wave: Essay Questions

1. Explain why Ben conducts the classroom experiment of The Wave.

The Wave is set up initially as a response to students’ questions about how German people responded to the National Socialist Party and why they did not challenge the regime more. By setting up this movement, Ben hopes to illustrate by lived example how easily one may succumb to the overt and covert pressures of a fascist organization.

The Wave is also a reaction against those who say, as David does, that it could never happen again and Nazi rule is part of history and therefore not relevant to the present. By setting this experiment up, Ben aims to demonstrate how the past never entirely disappears and cannot be discounted. He also clearly shows that one must be vigilant against fascism in whatever form it takes.

2. Give an analysis of how The Wave influences so many students.

Ben employs the tactics of other fascist groups to entice his students into feeling that they are part of a united movement. He gives them mottos to chant and a salute to perform. He even hands out membership cards and a select few are given the role of monitor. The class is unified by its membership to The Wave, but also dominated in a hierarchy of thinking that has the teacher as the leader and the monitors as deputies (of sorts). The students are made to feel special in that they are included in the group, but this sense of inclusion comes at the price of giving up their freedom and independent thinking.

It should also be noted that one of the reasons cited for its initial success is that ordinarily in school there are cliques and some students are isolated. With The Wave, all students are given the opportunity to join. This perhaps highlights the inadequacies of a school society in that a fascist group is deemed preferable to the usual hierarchical structure.

3. Examine Ben’s role in the experiment.

As the conductor of the experiment, Ben leads the students into learning about how influential fascism can be. One of the unexpected outcomes (unexpected for Ben, that is), is that he also becomes embroiled in the experiment to the point that he begins to enjoy the power he exerts.

This involvement to the point of being caught up in his own experiment highlights the dangers of fascism and shows how intoxicating power can be. It takes pressure from others, such as Christy, Laurie and David, to alert him to the way The Wave has ceased being a game or experiment and is turning into a reality for some. By exposing his attraction to the power he holds, the effect of The Wave is seen to be all the more overwhelming. This is because prior to the experiment Ben is characterized by his casual style and liberal attitude to discipline and learning.

4. Analyze Robert’s role in The Wave.

Before The Wave, Robert is depicted as an outsider in the class. He is bullied and isolated and has little input in the classroom. Once The Wave is introduced, he is seen to benefit from the inclusive aspects of the movement. He finds a place for himself when previously he had been ignored and goes on to be the self-appointed bodyguard of Ben.

Through the character of Robert it is possible to see how the sidelining of individuals in mainstream society, by bullying and social exclusion, may leave them open to extreme groups that profess to be inclusive. Robert is drawn as a vulnerable young man and it is not until the introduction of The Wave that even Ben, the liberal-minded teacher, begins to give him responsibility and value.

5. Consider the outcome of the experiment and how useful this is to students of history.

The Wave is introduced in a history class as a means to teach the students how the past is always relevant to the present. More precisely, it is also used to show by example how easily susceptible we may be to fascist groups such as the National Socialist Party.

By taking part in an experiment, the students are forced to learn the message they questioned at the beginning of the class. Ben trawls through history books looking for answers to the questions they pose, about why the German people reacted to the National Socialists as they did, and decides it is only by replicating an aspect of the culture that he can teach them the answers they are looking for.

The dangers of this experiment are that it is not possible to recreate the exact conditions that led to the rise of the National Socialists, and therefore the experiment could have failed. As it is, the students are soon in thrall to The Wave, and so become another representative sample of how we must learn to question the politics of fascism.

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44 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-17

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The Wave is a 1981 young adult novel by Todd Strasser (originally written under the pseudonym Morton Rhue). A novelization of a teleplay by Johnny Dawkins for the 1981 made-for-TV movie of the same name, the story is a fictionalized account of a 1967 social experiment called “The Third Wave,” which took place at a high school in Palo Alto, California. In the novel, the experiment unfolds at the fictional Gordon High School. The story has dark implications about human nature and examines the themes of The Momentum of Dangerous Ideas , The Lessons of the Past , and The Importance of Individuality as well as other aspects of human social behavior.

This guide refers to the Kindle edition.

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Plot Summary

As the novel begins, Ben Ross , a history teacher at Gordon High, screens a documentary about Nazi Germany and the concentration camps for his class. The torture, degradation, and mass murder of the Jews horrifies the students. However, some of them, like David Collins , move on more quickly than others. David is comfortable assuming that the Holocaust could never happen again but agrees that it should be studied as one of history’s most terrible events. His girlfriend, Laurie Sanders , is less sure. Laurie is the editor-in-chief of The Grapevine , and the documentary lingers in her thoughts. She eventually comes to symbolize the necessity of the free press and people who will voice their dissent despite the risks of challenging fascism.

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After the screening, the students question Ben, many wanting to know how the German people could have gone along with the Nazis, who were a minority party. Ben tries to answer their question but is forced to admit that even professional historians have failed to provide a satisfactory answer. However, he soon gets the idea for an experiment to help the students understand the need for vigilance through experiencing a semblance of the disorienting, terrifying reality of life in Nazi Germany.

When the students come to class the next day, Ben has written a motto on the board: STRENGTH THROUGH DISCIPLINE. He assumes a militaristic air and tells the students that they’ll now follow a new set of rules, including the manner in which they’ll take and leave their seats. Over the next couple days, he introduces new rules and adds the words “Community” and “Action” to the motto. He encourages the students to think of themselves as a cohesive unit in which everyone is equal. This allows students like Robert Billings—a bullied boy whom other students always single out because of his quirks—to belong to a group for the first time. Ben names the movement The Wave and soon has the students perform a wave salute resembling the Nazi salute. In addition, they receive membership cards, and certain students are assigned monitor status, meaning that they must inform on, or report, other Wave members who disobey the rules.

The Wave spreads and begins to take on a life and momentum of its own. Students from other classes and other grades join the movement. Laurie is intrigued at first but grows slightly uneasy when her mother, a formidable intellectual who frequently consults with politicians because they value her insight, compares The Wave to fascist brainwashing. Soon, David spreads The Wave to the football team, which has a big game coming up.

Ben finds himself beginning to enjoy his role as their leader. He’s alarmed when his wife implies that he has created a monster but continually reassures anyone who questions him that he’s in control and can stop The Wave whenever he chooses. However, he’s aware that he hasn’t predicted anything that’s happening, that his wife thinks he has an unhealthy obsession, and that the students are more like his followers than his pupils.

Laurie receives an anonymous letter at the Grapevine office, allegedly written by a high school junior. The author claims to have been threatened for resisting Wave recruiters who were pressuring him to join. Laurie is further disturbed when her father says that a Jewish boy has been beaten for not attending The Wave Rally, which replaced the school’s pep rally. The beating occurred during the same time as a fight between two members of the football team, one of whom refused to shout The Wave’s motto in the quad.

At the football game, a Wave member named Brad tells Laurie she must perform The Wave salute to enter a section of the stands. When she says he’s being ridiculous, he relents. However, when she changes her mind and starts to leave the stands, he tells her that people have noticed that she missed the rally.

Laurie decides to publish a special edition of The Grapevine in which she prints the anonymous letter, as well as interviews with concerned adults, and accuses The Wave of being a fanatical organization that suppresses free speech and individuality. This decision leads to her temporary with breakup with David and the dissolution of her friendship with Amy. Regardless, she publishes the issue, which becomes the most popular edition the newspaper has ever had.

This leads to two Wave members—Robert and Ammon—telling David that Laurie must stop spreading anti-Wave sentiment. Robert is also now serving as Ben’s bodyguard.

Laurie leaves the offices, alone, and worries that she’s being followed. During an argument with David, in which he orders her to stop opposing The Wave, he throws her to the ground. This helps him see how extreme the situation has become. He and Laurie visit Ben’s house. He asks them to trust him because he has a plan to bring an end to The Wave. Additionally, Ben meets with Principal Owens, who (up to this point) has given him the benefit of the doubt. Owens tells him that he has until the end of the day to stop The Wave for good.

Ben summons The Wave members to the auditorium for a Wave-only meeting in which he promises that the leader of The Wave will speak to them. He also says that they were a testing ground for the organization, which will soon enjoy a nationwide expansion, thanks to their successful efforts. This is a ruse. In the auditorium, Ben shows them the Nazi documentary again and declares that the image of Adolf Hitler is the image of their leader. He says that The Wave’s members—including himself—could have made good Nazis, given how quickly and easily they surrendered their individual rights and personal accountability. He urges them to remember this lesson and apologizes for his role in the experiment, even though he considers it a success.

As the shaken students leave the auditorium, Amy, Laurie, and other friends reconcile. When Ben hears Robert crying in the auditorium, he realizes that Robert lost something special when The Wave ended. He invites Robert to lunch and says they have a lot to talk about, hinting at a newfound commitment to Robert and an optimism for his future.

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The Wave Introduction

It's a movie! It's a short story! It's a book! It's a scary classroom experiment! It's The Wave! Todd Strasser's 1981 novel The Wave didn't start off as a book. It began as a way for real-life teacher Ron Jones to try to teach his history class about one of the most hideous events in human history: the Holocaust . 

Like most people who hear about the Holocaust, Jones' students had lots of questions: how could such a thing have happened? Why didn't anyone stop it? Well, Teacher Jones couldn't explain it, so he decided to try out a little experiment which he called "The Third Wave." He wanted to create an environment in his classroom that would help his students understand what was going on in Germany under Nazi Rule. Sound dangerous? Well, it was.

His experiment was a little too successful and some two hundred students at Elwood P. Cubberley Senior High joined The Third Wave with disastrous effects. Jones describes the experiment as "one of the most frightening events experienced in the classroom" ( source ).

The story of this experiment was first detailed by Jones in a short story called "The Third Wave."Notice we say "short story" and not "essay." The short story is a fictionalized account of what went on in Jones' classroom, and in fact, there isn't a lot of evidence to support Jones' story. Something definitely went down, but there seems to be some exaggeration and maybe some fabrication going on, too.

In any case, in 1981, Jones' story was adapted into a made-for-TV movie called The Wave . And – wait for it! – what you are reading is a novelization of the movie. Our novelizer (that's a real word and we love it!) Todd Strasser says, "To be honest, I have always wondered if the 'real life' experiment conducted by Mr. Jones actually went as far as his essay alleges" ( source ).

Still, Strasser believes that this novel has some important lessons for readers. Plus, it's a good way for teachers to start conversations with students about the Holocaust. We agree with you, Todd. In fact, The Wave was published in Europe under the name Morton Rhue, and it's taught in German public schools ( source ).

This can be a tough one to stomach, but it's totally worth it. And when you finish reading, ask yourself this: would you have joined The Wave?

What is The Wave About and Why Should I Care?

Here's a list of groups that we at Shmoop belonged to in high school:

• Cheerleading Squad
• Substance Free Students
• Tennis Team
• A Cappella Group (seriously!)
• Student Council
• Science Olympiad
• Technology Club

And here's the kicker: we still turned out okay. (A little wacky sometimes, but okay.) When we read The Wave , we're almost led to believe that being part of a group is a bad thing. But if we look closer, we'll see that there's more to it than that.

Shmoop thinks the takeaway here is this: when you're part of a group, you shouldn't give up your individuality. It's important to develop your own ideas about what is right and wrong, and if a group asks you to go against something you believe in, it's better to leave the group than to go along with it just to fit in.

Okay, slow down. This is all well and good, but… it's easier said than done, right? What if not going along with the group means losing your job, or your family, or your friends? What then?

This is the kind of tricky territory we get into in The Wave. So prepare to be challenged by some of what you are about to read. And while you're at it, prepare to challenge. The message behind this book is to question things, and a good place to start is by questioning the book itself. So, don't be afraid to disagree with ideas you find in the novel, or hey, even in Shmoop's brilliant take on it.

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Look Inside

By Todd Strasser

Category: teen & young adult fiction | teen & young adult science fiction | teen & young adult social issues.

Jan 08, 2013 | ISBN 9780307979124 | 5-1/2 x 8-1/4 --> | Young Adult | ISBN 9780307979124 --> Buy

Sep 15, 1981 | ISBN 9780440993711 | 4-3/16 x 6-7/8 --> | Young Adult | ISBN 9780440993711 --> Buy

Jan 08, 2013 | ISBN 9780307979131 | Young Adult | ISBN 9780307979131 --> Buy

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Jan 08, 2013 | ISBN 9780307979124 | Young Adult

Sep 15, 1981 | ISBN 9780440993711 | Young Adult

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About The Wave

This novel dramatizes an incident that took place in a California school in 1969. A teacher creates an experimental movement in his class to help students understand how people could have followed Hitler. The results are astounding. The highly disciplined group, modeled on the principles of the Hilter Youth, has its own salute, chants, and special ways of acting as a unit and sweeps beyond the class and throughout the school, evolving into a society willing to give up freedom for regimentation and blind obedience to their leader. All will learn a lesson that will never be forgotten.

The Wave is based on a true incident that occured in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a “new” system to his students. And before long “The Wave,” with its rules of “strength through discipline, community, and action, ” sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of “The Wave” and realize they must stop it before it’s too late.

Also by Todd Strasser

About Todd Strasser

In his past life, Todd Strasser has been a street musician, composer, reporter, and a fortune-cookie mogul. Now an author of books for teens and middle-graders, he has written more than 140 books, including the bestselling Help! I’m Trapped In… More about Todd Strasser

Product Details

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What is Atlas Shrugged?

The astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world—and did.

Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read. It is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man’s body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man’s spirit.

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Every three months there is a new seasonal entry round, with its own unique essay prompt. You may compete in any or all of these entry rounds.

The top three essays from each season will be awarded a cash prize. The first-place essay from each season will advance to compete for the annual grand prize.

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Each entry round features a unique topic designed to provoke a deeper understanding of the book’s central themes and characters.

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Annapolis, Maryland

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Author Interviews

A conversation with the author of 'there's always this year'.

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks to Hanif Abdurraqib about the new book There's Always This Year . It's a mix of memoir, essays, and poems, looking at the role basketball played in Abdurraqib's life.

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The new book "There's Always This Year" opens with an invitation. Here's a quote - "if you please imagine with me, you are putting your hand into my open palm, and I am resting one free hand atop yours. And I am saying to you that I would like to commiserate here and now about our enemies. We know our enemies by how foolishly they trample upon what we know as affection, how quickly they find another language for what they cannot translate as love." And what follows from that is a lyrical book about basketball but also about geography, luck, fate and many other things, too. It's also about how the career arc of basketball great LeBron James is woven through the life of the book's author, Hanif Abdurraqib, who joins us now. Welcome back to the show.

HANIF ABDURRAQIB: Thank you for having me again, Scott. It's really wonderful to be here.

DETROW: You know, I love this book so much, but I'm not entirely sure how to describe it. It's part memoir, part meditation, part poetry collection, part essay collection. How do you think about this book?

ABDURRAQIB: You know, it's funny. I've been running into that too early on in the process and now - still, when I'm asked to kind of give an elevator pitch. And I think really, if I'm being honest, that feels like an achievement to me because so much of...

DETROW: Yeah.

ABDURRAQIB: ...My intent with the book was working against a singular aboutness (ph) or positioning the book as something that could be operating against neat description because I think I was trying to tie together multiple ideas, sure, through the single - singular and single lens of basketball. But I kind of wanted to make basketball almost a - just a canvas atop which I was laying a lot of other concerns, be it mortality or place or fatherhood and sonhood (ph) in my case. I think mostly it's a book about mortality. It's a book about the passage of time and attempting to be honest with myself about the realities of time's passing.

DETROW: Yeah, it seems to me like it could also be a book about geography, about being shaped by the place you grew up in and that moment where you choose to stay or leave, or maybe leave and come back. And I was hoping you could read a passage that that deals directly with that for us.

ABDURRAQIB: Of course. Yeah. This is from the third quarter or the third act of the of the book.

(Reading) It bears mentioning that I come from a place people leave. Yes, when LeBron left, the reactions made enough sense to me, I suppose. But there was a part of me that felt entirely unsurprised. People leave this place. There are Midwestern states that are far less discernible on a blank map, sure. Even with an understanding of direction, I am known to mess up the order of the Dakotas. I've been known to point at a great many square-like landscapes while weakly mumbling Nebraska. And so I get it. We don't have it too bad. People at least claim to know that Ohio is shaped like a heart - a jagged heart, a heart with sharp edges, a heart as a weapon. That's why so many people make their way elsewhere.

DETROW: What does Ohio, and specifically, what does Columbus mean to you and who you are?

ABDURRAQIB: I think at this stage in my life, it's the one constant that keeps me tethered to a version of myself that is most recognizable. You know, you don't choose place. Place is something that happens to you. Place is maybe the second choice that is made for you after the choice of who your parents are. But if you have the means and ability, there are those of us who at some point in our lives get to choose a place back. And I think choosing that place back doesn't happen once. I mean, it happens several times. It's like any other relationship. You are choosing to love a place or a person as they are, and then checking in with if you are capable of continuing to love that place or person as they evolve, sometimes as they evolve without you or sometimes as you evolve without them. And so it's a real - a math problem that is always unfolding, someone asking the question of - what have I left behind in my growth, or what has left me behind in a growth that I don't recognize?

So, you know, Columbus doesn't look the way - just from an architectural standpoint - does not look the way it looked when I was young. It doesn't even look the way it looked when I moved back in 2017. And I have to kind of keep asking myself what I can live with. Now that, for me, often means that I turn more inward to the people. And I began to think of the people I love as their own architecture, a much more reliable and much more sturdy architecture than the architecture that is constantly under the siege of gentrification. And that has been grounding for me. It's been grounding for me to say, OK, I can't trust that this building will stay. I can't trust that this basketball court will stay. I can't trust that this mural or any of it will stay. But what I do know is that for now, in a corner of the city or in many corners of the city, there are people who know me in a very specific way, and we have a language that is only ours. And through that language, we render each other as full cities unto ourselves.

DETROW: Yeah. Can you tell me how you thought about basketball more broadly, and LeBron James specifically, weaving in and out of these big questions you're asking? - because in the first - I guess the second and third quarter, really, of the book - and I should say, you organize the book like a basketball game in quarters. You know, you're being really - you're writing these evocative, sad scenes of how, like you said, your life was not unfolding the way you wanted it in a variety of ways. And it's almost like LeBron James is kind of floating through as a specter on the TV screen in the background, keeping you company in a moment where it seems to me like you really needed company. Like, how did you think about your relationship with basketball and the broader moments and the broader thoughts in those moments?

ABDURRAQIB: Oh, man, that's not only such a good question, but that's actually - that's such a good image of LeBron James on the TV in the background because it was that. In a way, it was that in a very plainly material, realistic, literal sense because when I was, say, unhoused - right? - I...

ABDURRAQIB: ...Would kind of - you know, sometimes at night you kind of just wander. You find a place, and you walk through downtown. And I remember very clearly walking through downtown Columbus and just hearing the Cavs games blaring out of open doors to bars or restaurants and things like that, and not having - you know, I couldn't go in there because I had no money to buy anything, and I would eventually get thrown out of those places.

So, you know, I think playing and watching basketball - you know, even though this book is not, like, a heavy, in-depth basketball biography or a basketball memoir, I did spend a lot of time watching old - gosh, so much of the research for this book was me watching clips from the early - mid-2000s of...

ABDURRAQIB: ...LeBron James playing basketball because my headspace while living through that was entirely different. It's like you said, like LeBron was on a screen in the background of a life that was unsatisfying to me. So they were almost, like, being watched through static. And now when I watch them, the static clears, and they're a little bit more pleasureful (ph). And that was really joyful.

DETROW: LeBron James, of course, left the Cavs for a while. He took his talents to South Beach, went to the Miami Heat. You write - and I was a little surprised - that you have a really special place in your heart for, as you call them, the LeBronless (ph) years and the way that you...

ABDURRAQIB: Oh, yeah.

DETROW: ...Interacted with the team. What do you think that says? And why do you think you felt that way and feel that way about the LeBronless Cavs?

ABDURRAQIB: I - you know, I'm trying to think of a softer word than awful. But you know what? They were awful.

DETROW: (Laughter).

ABDURRAQIB: I mean they were (laughter) - but that did not stop them from playing this kind of strange level of hard, at times, because I think it hit a point, particularly in the late season, where it was clear they were giving in and tanking. But some of those guys were, like, old professionals. There's, like, an older Baron Davis on that team. You know, some of these guys, like, did not want to be embarrassed. And...

ABDURRAQIB: ...That, to me, was miraculous to watch where - because they're still professionals. They're still NBA players. And to know that these guys were playing on a team that just could not win games - they just didn't have the talent - but they individually did not want to - at least did not want to give up the appearance that they weren't fighting, there's something beautiful and romantic about that to me.

DETROW: It makes a lot of sense why you end the book around 2016 when the Cavs triumph and bring the championship to Cleveland. But when it comes to the passage of time - and I'll say I'm the exact same age as you, and we're both about the same age as LeBron. When it comes to the passage of time, how do you present-day feel about LeBron James watching the graying LeBron James who's paying so much attention to his lower back? - because I don't have anywhere near the intense relationship with him that you do. But, I mean, I remember reading that Sports Illustrated when it came out. I remember watching him in high school on ESPN, and I feel like going on this - my entire adult life journey with him. And I feel like weirdly protective of LeBron James now, right? Like, you be careful with him.

ABDURRAQIB: Yeah.

DETROW: And I'm wondering how you think about him today and what that leads your brain to, given this long, long, long relationship you have with him.

ABDURRAQIB: I find myself mostly anxious now about LeBron James, even though he is still - I think he's still playing at a high level. I mean, I - you know, I think that's not a controversial statement. But I - while he is still playing at a high level, I do - I'm like everyone else. So I'm kind of aware that it does seem like parts of him - or at least he's paying a bit more attention to the aches that just come with aging, right?

ABDURRAQIB: I have great empathy and sympathy for an athlete who's dedicated their life to a sport, who is maybe even aware that their skills are not what they once were, but still are playing because that's just what they've done. And they are...

ABDURRAQIB: ...In some cases, maybe still in pursuit of one more ring or one more legacy-building exploit that they can attach to their career before moving on to whatever is next. And so I don't know. And I don't think LeBron is at risk of a sharp and brutal decline, but I do worry a bit about him playing past his prime, only because I've never seen him be anything but miraculous on the court. And to witness that, I think, would be devastating in some ways.

And selfishly, I think it would signal some things to me personally about the limits of my own miracle making, not as a basketball player, of course, but as - you know, because a big conceit of the book is LeBron and I are similar in age, and we have - you know, around the same age and all this. And I think a deep flaw is that I've perhaps attached a part of his kind of miraculous playing beyond what people thought to my own idea about what miracle is as you age.

And so, you know, to be witness to a decline, a sharp decline would be fascinating and strange and a bit disorienting. But I hope it doesn't get there. You know, I hope - I would like to see him get one more ring. I don't know when it's going to come or how it's going to come, but I would like to see him get one more. I really would. My dream, selfishly, is that it happens again in Cleveland. He'll come back here and team up with, you know, some good young players and get one more ring for Cleveland because I think Cavs fans, you know, deserve that to the degree that anyone deserves anything in sports. That would be a great storybook ending.

DETROW: The last thing I want to ask about are these vignettes and poems that dot the book in praise of legendary Ohio aviators. Can you tell me what you were trying to do there? And then I'd love to end with you reading a few of them for me.

ABDURRAQIB: Yeah. I'm so glad you asked about that. I haven't gotten to talk about that as much, and that - those were the first things I wrote for the book. I wrote 30 of them...

DETROW: Really?

ABDURRAQIB: ...I think. And of course, they all didn't make it. But that was kind of an exercise, like a brain exercise. And I was trying to play with this idea of starting out with folks who were literally aviators. So it begins with John Glenn and Lonnie Carmen, and then working further and further away from aviation in a literal sense, much like the book is working further and further away from, say, basketball in this concrete sense - because ascension in my mind isn't just moving upward, it is expansion, too. It is, I think, any directional movement away from where your position is. And so I got to be kind of flexible with ideas of ascent and growth and moving upward.

DETROW: And the last aviator you did this for was you. And I'm hoping you can read what you wrote about yourself to end this.

ABDURRAQIB: Oh, gosh. OK, yeah. This is Hanif Abdurraqib, Columbus, Ohio, 1983 to present. (Reading) Never dies in his dreams. In his dreams, he is infinite, has wings, feathers that block the sun. And yet in the real living world, the kid has seen every apocalypse before it arrives, has been the architect of a few bad ones. Still wants to be alive most days. Been resurrected so many damn times, no one is surprised by the magic trick anymore.

DETROW: That's Hanif Abdurraqib, author of the new book "There's Always This Year: On Basketball And Ascension." Thank you so much.

ABDURRAQIB: Thank you, Scott. I really appreciate it.

(SOUNDBITE OF FLEETWOOD MAC SONG, "ALBATROSS")

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8 New Books We Recommend This Week

Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.

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Our fiction recommendations this week include a “gleeful romp” of a series mystery, along with three novels by some heavy-hitting young writers: Téa Obreht, Helen Oyeyemi and Tommy Orange. (How heavy-hitting, and how young? Consider that Obreht was included in The New Yorker’s “20 Under 40” issue in 2010 — and she’s still under 40 today. So is Oyeyemi, who was one of Granta’s “Best Young British Novelists” in 2013, while Orange, at 42, has won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the John Leonard Prize and the American Book Award. The future is in good hands.)

In nonfiction, we recommend a painter’s memoir, a group biography of three jazz giants, a posthumous essay collection by the great critic Joan Acocella and a journalist’s look at American citizens trying to come to terms with a divided country. Happy reading. — Gregory Cowles

THE MORNINGSIDE Téa Obreht

After being displaced from their homeland, Silvia and her mother move into the Morningside, a weather-beaten luxury apartment building in “Island City,” a sinking version of New York in the middle of all-out climate collapse. Silvia learns about her heritage through the folk tales her aunt Ena tells her, and becomes fascinated with the mysterious woman who lives in the penthouse apartment.

“I marveled at the subtle beauty and precision of Obreht’s prose. … Even in the face of catastrophe, there’s solace to be found in art.”

From Jessamine Chan’s review

Random House | $29

A GRAVE ROBBERY Deanna Raybourn

In their ninth crime-solving tale, the Victorian-era adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell and her partner discover that a wax mannequin is actually a dead young woman, expertly preserved.

“Throw in an assortment of delightful side characters and an engaging tamarin monkey, and what you have is the very definition of a gleeful romp.”

From Sarah Weinman’s crime column

Berkley | $28

THE BLOODIED NIGHTGOWN: And Other Essays Joan Acocella

Acocella, who died in January, may have been best known as one of our finest dance critics. But as this posthumous collection shows, she brought the same rigor, passion and insight to all the art she consumed. Whether her subject is genre fiction, “Beowulf” or Marilynne Robinson, Acocella’s knowledge and enthusiasm are hard to match. We will not see her like again.

"Some critics are haters, but Acocella began writing criticism because she loved — first dance, and then much of the best of Western culture. She let life bring her closer to art."

From Joanna Biggs’s review

Farrar, Straus & Giroux | $35

WANDERING STARS Tommy Orange

This follow-up to Orange’s debut, “There There,” is part prequel and part sequel; it trails the young survivor of a 19th-century massacre of Native Americans, chronicling not just his harsh fate but those of his descendants. In its second half, the novel enters 21st-century Oakland, following the family in the aftermath of a shooting.

“Orange’s ability to highlight the contradictory forces that coexist within friendships, familial relationships and the characters themselves ... makes ‘Wandering Stars’ a towering achievement.”

From Jonathan Escoffery’s review

Knopf | $29

PARASOL AGAINST THE AXE Helen Oyeyemi

In Oyeyemi’s latest magical realist adventure, our hero is a woman named Hero, and she is hurtling through the city of Prague, with a shape-shifting book about Prague, during a bachelorette weekend. But Hero doesn’t seem to be directing the novel’s action; the story itself seems to be calling the shots.

“Her stock-in-trade has always been tales at their least domesticated. … In this novel, they have all the autonomy, charisma and messiness of living beings — and demand the same respect.”

From Chelsea Leu’s review

Riverhead | $28

3 SHADES OF BLUE: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool James Kaplan

On one memorable occasion in 1959, three outstanding musicians came together for what may be the greatest jazz record ever, Davis’s “Kind of Blue.” Kaplan, the author of a Frank Sinatra biography, traces the lives of his protagonists in compelling fashion; he may not be a jazz expert but he knows how to tell a good story.

“Kaplan has framed '3 Shades of Blue' as both a chronicle of a golden age and a lament for its decline and fall. One doesn’t have to accept the decline-and-fall part to acknowledge that he has done a lovely job of evoking the golden age.”

From Peter Keepnews’s review

Penguin Press | $35

WITH DARKNESS CAME STARS: A Memoir Audrey Flack

From her early days as an Abstract Expressionist who hung out with Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning at the Cedar Bar to her later success as a pioneering photorealist, Flack worked and lived at the center of New York’s art world over her long career; here she chronicles the triumphs, the slights, the sexism and the gossip, all with equal relish.

“Flack is a natural, unfiltered storyteller. … The person who emerges from her pages is someone who never doubts she has somewhere to go.”

From Prudence Peiffer’s review

Penn State University Press | $37.50

AN AMERICAN DREAMER: Life in a Divided Country David Finkel

Agile and bracing, Finkel’s book trails a small network of people struggling in the tumultuous period between the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections. At the center is Brent Cummings, a white Iraq war veteran who is trying to cope with a country he no longer recognizes.

“Adroitly assembles these stories into a poignant account of the social and political mood in the United States. … A timely and compelling argument for tolerance and moral character in times of extreme antagonism.”

From John Knight’s review

Random House | $32

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Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

James McBride’s novel sold a million copies, and he isn’t sure how he feels about that, as he considers the critical and commercial success  of “The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.”

How did gender become a scary word? Judith Butler, the theorist who got us talking about the subject , has answers.

You never know what’s going to go wrong in these graphic novels, where Circus tigers, giant spiders, shifting borders and motherhood all threaten to end life as we know it .

When the author Tommy Orange received an impassioned email from a teacher in the Bronx, he dropped everything to visit the students  who inspired it.

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

10 books to add to your reading list in April

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Critic Bethanne Patrick recommends 10 promising titles, fiction and nonfiction, to consider for your April reading list.

April’s book releases cover some difficult topics, including Salman Rushdie discussing his 2022 maiming, Leigh Bardugo’s fiction about the dark arts and Ada Limón’s poetry anthology about our fragile world. However, like April, there is also sunshine: Leif Enger’s wild Great Lakes love story, Helen Tworkov’s beautiful memoir of Buddhism and a collection of the inimitable Maggie Nelson’s essays. Happy reading, happy spring!

I Cheerfully Refuse: A Novel By Leif Enger Grove Press: 336 pages, $28 (April 2)

An unusual and meaningful surprise awaits readers of Enger’s latest, which takes place largely on Lake Superior, as a man named Rainy tries to reunite with his beloved wife, Lark. While the world around this couple, a dystopian near-future American where billionaires control everything, could not be bleaker, the author’s retelling of the myth of Orpheus (who went to the underworld to rescue his wife) contains the authentic hope of a born optimist.

The Familiar: A Novel By Leigh Bardugo Flatiron Books: 400 pages, $30 (April 9)

Bardugo departs from novels of dark academia in a standalone to make the hairs on your neck stand up, set in 16th century Spain. A hidden Sephardic Jew and scullery maid named Luzia Cotado matches wits with fellow servant Guillén Santángel. Luzia discovers a secret of Guillén’s, but she’s already fallen in love with him. And because he knows hers, too, they might both avoid the Spanish Inquisition. It’s a gorgeous tale of enchantments both supernatural and earthly.

The Sleepwalkers: A Novel By Scarlett Thomas Simon & Schuster: 304 pages, $28 (April 9)

A couple honeymoons at a Greek resort. What could go wrong? In Thomas’ hands, plenty – especially as the author has never written a comfortable story; her books, from “PopCo ” to “Oligarchy,” crackle with unreliable characters, as well as big philosophical ideas. In this case, the new marriage’s breakdown is chronicled through letters between the spouses, and sometimes bits of ephemera, that ultimately untangle a dark mystery relating to the title.

The Garden: A Novel By Clare Beams Doubleday: 304 pages, $28 (April 10)

Few novels of literary fiction are written as well as “The Garden,” let alone given its sadly relevant retro setting, a 1940s country-estate obstetrical program. Irene Willard walks through its gates having endured five miscarriages; pregnant again, she and her war-veteran husband George desperately hope for a live birth. But as Irene discovers more about the woman who controls all here, Dr. Bishop, she fears carrying to term as much as she once feared pregnancy loss.

Reboot: A Novel By Justin Taylor Pantheon: 304 pages, $28 (April 23)

David Crader, former teen TV heartthrob, just wants to reboot his career when his old show “Rev Beach” has a moment. His life has devolved through substance abuse, divorce and underemployment. But when he and colleagues launch a remake, devolution continues: The protagonist’s struggles are mirrored by climate-change issues, from flooding to wildfires. Despite that darkness, Taylor’s gift for satire might make this a must-read for 2024 beach bags.

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World By Ada Limón (Editor) Milkweed Editions: 176 pages, $25 (April 2)

A wondrous artist herself, Limón is currently poet laureate of the United States, and this anthology is part of her signature project, “You Are Here,” which will also feature poetry as public art in seven national parks. Released in conjunction with the Library of Congress, the collection features 50 previously unpublished poems by luminaries including Jericho Brown, Joy Harjo, Carl Phillips and Diane Seuss, each focusing on a piece of regional landscape.

Like Love: Essays and Conversations By Maggie Nelson Graywolf Press: 336 pages, $32 (April 2)

While all of the pieces in Nelson’s new book have previously been published elsewhere, they’re made fresh here both through being collected and through their chronological placement. Readers can practically watch Nelson’s incisive mind growing and changing as she speaks with colleagues such as Hilton Als and Judith Butler, or as she writes about queerness, motherhood, violence, the lyrics of Prince and the devastating loss of a friend.

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder By Salman Rushdie Random House: 204 pages, $28 (April 16)

On Aug. 12, 2022, the author Salman Rushdie was speaking at upstate New York’s Chautauqua festival when a man rushed the stage and attempted to murder him. Rushdie, a target of Iranian religious leaders since 1989, was permanently injured. In this book, he shares his experience for the first time, having said that this was essential for him to write. In this way, he answers violence with art, once again reminding us all that freedom of expression must be protected.

Lotus Girl: My Life at the Crossroads of Buddhism and America By Helen Tworkov St. Martin’s Essentials: 336 pages, $29 (April 16)

Dworkov, founder of the magazine Tricycle, chronicles her move from a 1960s young-adult interest in Buddhism to travels through Asia and deep study in the United States of the different strands that follow the Buddha’s teachings. Tworkov mentions luminaries such as the artist Richard Serra, the composer Charles Mingus and the Dalai Lama, but she’s not name dropping. Instead, she’s strewing fragrant petals from her singular path to mindfulness that may help us find ours.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War By Erik Larson Crown: 592 pages, $35 (April 30)

Even diehard Civil War aficionados will learn from Larson’s look at the six months between Lincoln’s 1860 election and the surrender of Union troops under Maj. Robert Anderson at Charleston’s Ft. Sumter. Larson details Anderson’s secret Christmas redeployment and explores this individual’s contradictions as a former slave owner who loyally follows Lincoln’s orders. The author also shares first-person perspective from the famous diaries of the upper-class Southerner Mary Chesnut. All together, the book provides a riveting reexamination of a nation in tumult.

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