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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 27 customer reviews )
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14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 Riveting Tale of Dreams and Deceit Sep 17, 2008
By David Shapiro
Advantage / Disadvantage is a cleverly interwoven tale of High School athletes who are unwittingly taken in by the sleezy characters that cling to the periphery of organized sports, and profit from them by means of greed and deception.
This book was eye - opening and shocking, and at other times touching and surprising - but never was it boring. The characters inspired hope as well as loathing, and made me think that High School athletics might not be as simple and innocent as we are led to believe. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the sequel. Well done, Mr. Jaffe!
15 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Behind-the-Scenes Basketball Thriller Sep 02, 2008
By S. Chang
"Sports Fanatic"
Advantage Disadvantage is a nail-biting, behind-the-scenes pass into the world of high school sports and the people who make and break it. Set in Chicago, its innately urban backdrop is full of distinctly Windy City landmarks. This is the perfect read for sports fans that love an insider's view...an insightful and deliciously-sinful plot full of twists and turns. You'll find the perfect blend of bravery, betrayal and who-done-it adventure in this vividly penned thriller.
11 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 high school sports unveiled Nov 28, 2008
By Dennis Batchelder
Yale Jaffe's "Advantage Disadvantage" weaves a plot around the money, politics, economics, and dreams of high school basketball.
Advantage/Disadvantage is the name of a con that a bookie has strung together with the help of a sports writer. But that's just one small piece of the book: Jaffe spins his story not only through their points of view, but also through the eyes of a player's parents, a referee, a newpaper editor, and a coach. He shows us snippets of their lives and puts them all together in this fascinating tale of the ecosystem that supports high school sports.
The characters who most grabbed my attention were Jamal and Marcus, the basketball team captain and his father. I enjoyed following their lives and watching both of them grow and overcome their obstacles.
I learned a ton of stuff about how the athletic systems work. Jaffe took me to jail, up and down a referee ladder, through summer leagues, and around coaching career dreams. If you're interested in seeing the guts of how high school sports work in a big city, you'll enjoy this book.
5 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Solid story, good entertainment Apr 28, 2009
By Happy Mom
Book Review: Advantage/Disadvantage by Yale R. Jaffe
Yale R. Jaffe has written a decent fiction selection in the suspenseful basketball/crime novel that places what are some of Jaffe's obvious loves as the story's background: Chicago, High School Baskeball--both in season, and in the AAU summer season--basketball officiating, coaching, recruiting, and the making of stars within the world of basketball. Moreover, Jaffe must have an affinity for gambling, newspapers, newspaper columnists, gangsters, and police officers. Taken all together, Jaffe's story is entertaining, at least for those who know Chicago and its highly competitive basketball world. For Jaffe takes readers on a journey; however, readers need some familiarity with the hoops scene, AAU basketball, and the seedy underside of gambling, gangs, and the relationships forged within and between these worlds to appreciate his tale fully.
Jaffe introduces readers to the Imari family, father Marcus and basketball-star son Jamal, who grows into a scholarship- and attention-worthy AAU and prep basketball star. En route to Jamal's senior season, Jaffe weaves a tale of intrigue involving recruiting, college and high school coaches, referees, and the peculiar twists and turns this man's journey takes. Jamal Imari's AAU coach, the venerable T.J. Battle, helps develop the young man in the summers so that prep coach Scott Venturi can reap the rewards during the high-powered prep season. Along the way, local gangster Bobby G.--aka "Jack Benny"--and prep sports newspaper reporter Frank Worrell intermingle in these storylines to produce a light read that leaves fans sated, but wanting more. The various plotlines and characters are rich enough and compelling enough to merit more attention, development, and detail. Reporter Worrell's interesting and volatile newspaper career involves the powerful managing editor Nancy Kapist, and their relationship, or at least their trysts, and the two provide an intriguing non-basketball side to this solid story. Similarly, Coach Scott Venturi's and Marcus Imari's love lives, family situations, and turns provide strong opportunities for vivid characterization and lasting depictions.
While Jaffe earns praise for producing a decent read, this former Chicagoland high school basketball player, coach, official, lifelong fan of the game, and high school teacher came away from this book nodding reasonably, as I was impressed with the clear readability and transparency of his style, but I indeed wanted more. A book like this, with so many terrific characters and topics--ones that inspire true passion among people not only in Chicago, but also out-staters and people from other states alike--needs . . . no . . . it requires more, and Jaffe could have and likely should have done more with Advantage/Disadvantage.
Daniel J. Anthony Wagner
English Teacher, Coach, Official
White Bear Lake High School
White Bear Lake, Minnesota
9 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Read Advantage Disadvantage Oct 24, 2008
By Ray Lokar
"Coach Lok"
Those immersed in the basketball community will read "Advantage Disadvantage" and recognize many of the "usual suspects" and familiar situations that will make you chuckle... or bring your emotions to anger, disgust, sadness, excitement, and joy. Readers foreign to the world of hoops will gain some insight into the machinations of prep basketball, recruiting, officiating, and the cracks in the system that allows the slime to sometimes find it's way into our beautiful game.
"Advantage Disadvantage" is a fictional tale with high school basketball as the backdrop for an intriguing story of a cast of characters that challenges you to examine the purity of amateur sports. We get to know some individuals who are faced with some very real life temptations and we follow them while they try to reconcile right from wrong - all while wondering whether their decisions will prove to be an Advantage or a Disadvantage.
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