The House of Moses All-Stars (review)

Book Reviews '",r_ ': 147 the world. Yet there is one literary prize he has not yetbeen awarded, the Nobel Prize, which was offered to some for much less and unrecognized work. It is time for the world to recognize his importance and his powerful contribution to world literature. Mishael M. Caspi Bates College The House of Moses All-Stars, by Charley Rosen. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1996. 480 pp. $24.95. Author Charley Rosen is a leading expert on basketball and an accomplished novelist, well prepared to write the novel The House ofMoses All-Stars. He has previously written six novels, including books with such intriguing titles as Have Jump Shot Will Travel and The Cockroach Basketball League. He has also written one work of nonfiction , the authoritative Scandals of '51: How the Gamblers Almost Killed College Basketball that I strongly recommend. Rosen was himself a very fme basketball player at Hunter College (1959-52), three-year MVP, and record holder in scoring and rebounding. He played on the Maccabee team in 1961 and also played minor league basketball after college. He apparently still has a soft jump shot and mean elbows, having been a member of the third-place team in the World Senior Games in 1994. In addition, he is a college coach, and coached for nine years in the Continental Basketball Association, including service with the Albany Patroons, where he assisted Phil Jackson. The House ofMoses All-Stars is an ambitious historical novel about a traveling team of Jewish American basketball players during the heart of the Depression. The players cross the country in a hearse hoping to make big bucks and achieve personal redemption. The publisher's blurb suggests that Rosen is presenting basketball as a metaphor for life, which I think is a bit of a stretch. The individual team members are somewhat stereotypical characters who are all trying to escape their tormented pasts. The chief figure (I trust not a stand-in for the author) is Aaron Steiner, a former college basketball star. Steiner starred for Metropolitan University (CCNY?) and then played professionally. But now at 32, his skills have declined, although he is still a smart player who deftly uses his 6'3.5" to good advantage . However, Steiner's days of glory are now past. He is running away from a secure job as a high school teacher (an unlikely decision in the heart of the Depression) and personal disappointments with the death of his deformed baby, the collapse of his marriage, and a sexual relationship with an uninspiring student. The tour was thought up by Leo Gilbert, a diminutive playmaker, about 25 years 148 SHOFAR Fall 1997 Vol. 16, No.1 old. Leo is in hot water with some wise guys for bad bets, and wants to flee New York. He is a flamboyant individual, both on and offthe court, who starred for the College of St. Bridget's Fabulous Five (St. Johns?), the fIrst team to win thirty games in a single season. Like other city schools, this Catholic school's team was nearly all Jewish. More than his peers, Leo is known to have "influenced" scores to control the outcome of games, both at college and in the summer Catskill leagues. The third and fourth cogs are Mitchell Sloan (NYU), a passionate Zionist, and the Communist Brooks Moser (Metro D.), both former pro players. Brooks had been the leader and best athlete among Aaron's crowd when they were youngsters. He grew to be 6'7" and was one of the fmest players in America, setting national standards in rebounding and foul shooting, and leading the team in shaving points. The team also includes 20-year-old Saul Jacobson, a giant of a lad, at 6' I0", 245 pounds, raw but gifted, a former top freshman at Metro who came from a Hasidic background. But Saul's father died, and the youth dropped out ofschool to make money playing basketball. Ron Rubin joined up because he had just fouled up a robbery and needed to get out oftown. He is an immigrant from Russia who has been living on the street from age 14. The only gentile on...