Giannis - Mirin Fader

⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This book is a biography of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who, for the lozers in here, is a young NBA star who grew up as a poor Nigerian immigrant in Greece. Giannis is so, so likeable. As a book, this isn't the best biography; neither particularly well researched nor written. But it is absolutely carried by how wholesome Giannis is and how loveable his personality is.

His story is obviously great. He was born into poverty, had to hustle as a vendor as a child, until finally it was discovered that he's an incredible athlete. He played in these super sketchy leagues, sharing shoes with his brother and dealing with discrimination as an immigrant and racism as a black person. It's obviously a story of overcoming incredible odds through hard work and determination which is always inspiring to read.

Finally he's drafted into the NBA, and overnight goes from being incredibly poor to incredibly wealthy. But he's alone in America with his family not able to get their papers, and it's almost like a Fresh Prince story with him being completely niave in terms of living like a rich person. He is also 18 years old in a new world with nobody speaking his language. There are great stories, such as him having to run to his games because he couldn't drive and didn't know who to ask for a ride - unthinkable now with his fame.

It then follows his rapid rise to superstardom and the events around it. Again, he's just so loveable throughout it all, never leaning into his identity as a celebrity, always this awesome, grounded, humble kid. It's super sad that this book was written before his crowning achievement last summer because that would have been the perfect ending to this book. But his rapid rise, and insistence on staying true to his roots just make this such a rewarding read.

As a biography, I wouldn't say this is one of the better ones I've read. It was probably geared towards sports people (aka dumb jocks) and so doesn't go into the detail I would have liked. It kinda skips whole seasons of his career, almost like a training montage in a sports movie. I honestly would have loved a 800 page account of everything in his life, because truly he is that fascinating and the brevity doesn't always do it justice. The author does the audio recording which I find is almost never a good idea. She also has a few annoying quirks in her writing like making all quotes completely verbatim (making everyone sound dumb) and quoting her boss Bill Simmons way too much.

Anyways, this book is great for sports fans and makes me even happier he has accomplished what he has. I look forward to cheering for this guy for the next ten years.