Magic

August 21, 2023
Sportswriter Lazenby (Showboat) disappoints in this bloated biography of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar. Born in Lansing, Mich., in 1959, Johnson earned the nickname “Magic” for his prowess on the basketball court when he was 15. After a successful college career at Michigan State, Johnson led the Lakers to a championship title in 1980, his first year in the NBA. He became a celebrity, giving him the clout to force out coach Paul Westhead, with whom he had butted heads, in a 1981 power play that put a dent in his affable public image. Johnson helped the Lakers win a total of five championships in the 1980s, but his career was cut short in 1991 when he tested positive for HIV, after which he devoted himself to educating the public about AIDS and safe sex. Following unsuccessful returns to the hardwood in 1992 and 1996, and a failed stint coaching the Lakers in 1994, Johnson became a successful businessman, opening coffeehouses and movie theaters throughout the U.S. Unfortunately, the scrupulous detail Lazenby lavishes on Johnson’s childhood and NBA career grows tiresome (a lengthy account of Johnson’s lineage back to the 18th century comes across as filler), yet the book’s ending feels rushed, covering the 27 years since Johnson last retired from the NBA in under 20 pages. This is a missed opportunity.

September 1, 2023
An overstuffed biography of the best point guard in NBA history. Larry Bird, of the much-reviled Boston Celtics, took great pleasure in tormenting Magic Johnson (b. 1959) during the many years of their rivalry for NBA supremacy. Appropriately, Lazenby, who has authored biographies of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, opens with Bird's marveling at what he called "a one-man fast break." Readers may wish that Lazenby had some of Bird's economy of language, for he follows with a staccato flood of encomia: "Magic. In defiance of the physical world. Finite. Complete. Perfect. Open only to pale imitation." The worshipful overwriting is characteristic ("He was so sweet then, his head tilted often in that sudden tenderness that only the truly innocent possess"), but determined readers will tough it out. As the author shows, few players worked as hard as Magic, and few were so attuned to the strategy of the game and the wiles of opponents. Lazenby turns up a few things that only diehard fans might know, connecting them to larger matters. For instance, Johnson was dyslexic, and though he had trouble reading, he compensated by listening so closely to instructions that he was able to act as a de facto coach for less attentive teammates. The author is very good at both play-by-play narrative and recalling the ways of the receding past, as when he writes of a push-and-shove between Bird and Johnson's fellow Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, "In the modern game, the exchange would have resulted in immediate suspensions. In that era, the NBA wasn't about to throw stars like Bird and Kareem out of a highly charged championship series." Lazenby also writes sensitively of Johnson's HIV-positive status and its consequences, as well as Johnson's post-NBA emergence as a highly successful entrepreneur. Too long by half, but a satisfying bio for fans of the legendary player.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2023
A nearly unstoppable force on the basketball court, Earvin "Magic" Johnson guided his Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships in the 1980s. Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Johnson was a young star athlete, guided by his parents' diligence and serenity and attracting media attention in his early teen years for his basketball skills. When the Lakers drafted him in 1979, they were a team in transition, but new ownership and Johnson's arrival--and the "Fast Break" offense that he commanded--began to alter the Lakers' fortunes. Johnson's influence as a teammate and his gregarious personality off the court made an indelible mark. His early retirement due to an HIV diagnosis in 1991 shocked the world, but Johnson viewed his battle with mortality as one more game to play. Magic reigns as a wonderful and comprehensive biography of a world-class athlete and fascinating person. Lazenby, who has written biographies of Jerry West, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant, adds another to his list with this masterful examination of the man behind the winning smile and unbreakable confidence.

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.