Marisa Crane’s second novel, A Sharp Endless Need, is a heart-wrenching exploration of teenage longing set against the backdrop of competitive high school basketball. After their acclaimed debut I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, Crane returns with a raw, visceral coming-of-age story that masterfully captures the agony and ecstasy of first love, the complex collision of grief and desire, and the search for identity beyond the confines of the basketball court.
The novel follows Mack Morris, a star point guard whose senior year unfolds amidst twin cataclysms: the sudden death of her father and the arrival of transfer student Liv Cooper. As they develop an electrifying chemistry playing basketball together, their relationship evolves into something more complex off the court—something that feels both inevitable and forbidden in their small Pennsylvania town.
Heartbeat of the Game: Basketball as Metaphor and Medium
Crane’s prose dribbles and pivots with the precision of the game itself. The language of basketball permeates the novel not just as setting but as metaphor, creating a rhythm that pulses through each chapter. From “Pregame Pump-Up” through “First Half,” “Halftime,” and “Second Half” to “The Final Score,” the structure mimics the flow of a basketball game, complete with time-outs, technical fouls, and fast breaks.
What makes this novel sing is Crane’s intimate knowledge of basketball culture. The author, a former college player, captures the physicality of the sport with stunning authenticity:
“We made canvases of our bodies. We sweat and we cried, rivulets flowing down face and chest and limb. We boasted bruises from hard-earned buckets, birthmarks we gave ourselves.”
The basketball scenes feel lived-in, with nuanced details that only someone who has felt the squeak of gym shoes against polished wood could capture. From the ritual of pregame preparation to the electric connection between a point guard and shooting guard who instinctively understand each other’s movements, Crane elevates basketball beyond mere sport into a language of its own.
Complex Characters Wrestling with Identity
Mack Morris emerges as one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve encountered recently—a character whose conflicted internal monologue reveals layers of complexity. Grieving her father’s death, navigating her sexuality, and obsessing over college recruitment, Mack’s narration shifts between swagger and insecurity, confidence and self-doubt.
Liv Cooper serves as both Mack’s object of desire and her catalyst for self-discovery. Their chemistry on the court translates to electric tension off-court, where their relationship exists in a liminal space—neither fully articulated nor denied. Liv’s character is somewhat more opaque than Mack’s, often seen through the filter of Mack’s desire rather than fully developed in her own right. This occasionally feels like a missed opportunity, though it effectively reinforces the novel’s exploration of how desire can both illuminate and obscure.
The supporting cast—from Coach Puck with his gruff wisdom to Mack’s grieving mother with her crystals and inconsistent parenting—create a textured backdrop against which the central relationship unfolds. Each character carries their own wounds and secrets, creating a community where everyone is hiding something, especially from themselves.
Strengths and Stand-Out Elements
Visceral Prose: Crane writes with unflinching physicality, whether describing basketball or desire. The language is muscular yet vulnerable, capable of shifting from crude teenage vernacular to moments of startling poetic clarity.
Authentic Teen Experience: The novel captures the heightened emotions of adolescence without condescension. The characters drink, experiment with drugs, and navigate sexual experiences with the messy intensity of real teenagers.
Grief Portrayal: Mack’s grief for her father manifests in complex ways—from keeping his photo in her pocket to driving his car, from visiting his favorite places to punishing herself on the court. This non-linear, contradictory experience of loss feels devastatingly real.
Basketball Sequences: The game scenes are kinetic and immersive, capturing both the technical aspects of basketball and its emotional highs.
Queer Awakening: Mack’s sexuality unfolds naturally within the story, neither oversimplified nor overexplained. Her attraction to Liv emerges as just one facet of her complex identity.
Where the Ball Occasionally Fumbles
Despite its considerable strengths, the novel does stumble in a few areas:
Pacing Issues: The middle section occasionally meanders, with some scenes feeling repetitive in their exploration of Mack and Liv’s tension-filled dynamic.
Secondary Character Development: While Coach Puck and Mack’s mother receive significant attention, other characters like Katrina and Grayson sometimes feel more like plot devices than fully realized people.
Resolution Speed: The climactic sequences and aftermath move at breakneck speed compared to the more leisurely pace of earlier chapters, creating a slight imbalance in the narrative’s rhythm.
Liv’s Interior Life: As mentioned earlier, we rarely get deep insight into Liv’s perspective beyond what Mack perceives, which sometimes makes her motivations seem inconsistent.
Language, Nostalgia, and Setting
Set in the early 2000s, the novel captures the era with perfect specificity—from AIM away messages to Smirnoff Ice and Four Loko, from Abercrombie sweatshirts to flip phones. These cultural touchstones never feel forced but instead create an authentic backdrop for the story.
Crane’s language shifts effortlessly between raw teenage speech and moments of lyrical insight. Consider this passage:
“We wanted legacy. Liv and I, we wanted our names in bright lights, our names in everyone’s mouths. Names people would remember. Not just on the tip of their tongues, no let me get back to yous; none of that shit.”
This linguistic dexterity allows the novel to capture both the crude energy of teenage interaction and the profound emotion that often lies beneath it.
Beyond the Final Buzzer: Themes and Impact
A Sharp Endless Need tackles ambitious themes that resonate far beyond its specific setting:
The search for identity beyond the talents that define us
The tension between ambition and self-destruction
The complex experience of grief and how we carry those we’ve lost
The courage required to acknowledge desire in a world that often punishes it
The burden of expectations, both those placed upon us and those we place on ourselves
What makes these explorations particularly compelling is that Crane offers no easy answers. Characters make mistakes, hurt each other, and struggle to articulate what they need. The novel’s conclusion avoids neat resolution, instead offering a bittersweet meditation on growing up and moving forward while carrying our past experiences with us.
Comparisons and Literary Context
While the publisher likens the novel to André Aciman’s Call Me by Your Name and Jean Kyoung Frazier’s Pizza Girl, I found stronger parallels with novels like Hannah Moskowitz’s Not Otherwise Specified and Andrew Smith’s Winger—works that capture the physical and emotional intensity of adolescence with unflinching honesty.
Fans of Crane’s previous novel, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself, will recognize the author’s talent for creating complex characters navigating restrictive environments, though A Sharp Endless Need feels more intimately focused than its predecessor’s broader societal critique.
Final Score: A Near Buzzer-Beater
A Sharp Endless Need showcases Marisa Crane’s considerable talents—their ability to create complex characters, their ear for authentic dialogue, and their skill at infusing everyday moments with profound significance. While not without flaws, the novel succeeds at capturing the particular ache of first love and the complicated process of becoming oneself.
Like the basketball games it depicts so vividly, the novel delivers moments of breathtaking brilliance alongside occasional missteps. Yet its emotional impact lingers long after the final page, leaving readers with that rare satisfaction of having experienced something both intensely specific and universally resonant.
For readers looking for queer coming-of-age stories with depth and authenticity, for anyone who has experienced the consuming nature of first love, or for those who understand how sports can become both language and religion, A Sharp Endless Need is a worthy addition to your reading list—a novel that reminds us how the most painful periods of our lives can also be the most formative.
This novel shoots and scores, even if it occasionally dribbles off the court.