THE LONG RUN

A coming-of-age romance between two high school athletes in New Jersey.

Sebastian Villeda, known as Bash the Flash, and Sandro Miceli, called the Italian Yeti, know of each other from school; they move in different circles even if they’re both athletes. Black and Mexican Bash is a track captain, and Italian American Sandro is a field captain, but they couldn’t be more different—at least in the ways they’re perceived by most people. In fact, Bash has lost his mother, and since he started exploring the Spanish language, he has a word for how he feels: cansado, or tired, weary, and miserable. His White stepfather works nights, and the two don’t spend much time together. Sandro, on the other hand, has a large family, but amid the crowded, noisy chaos of eight family members sharing a single bathroom, his overworked parents don’t really talk to him. As the two seniors come together, they realize they have more in common than they’d thought, and an unlikely friendship starts turning into something more. Although the boys’ backgrounds and upbringings are fresh and intriguing, the chapters that alternate between their first-person perspectives are derailed by the stream-of-consciousness narration and characterization that lacks depth. Their explicitly described sexual explorations and awakenings notwithstanding, their relationship is lacking in genuine chemistry, making the slow prose drag.

Unsatisfying.