Title:Raiders NightAuthor:Robert Lipsyte
Publish Date:July 3, 2007
Publisher:Harper Teen
Pages:256 pages
ISBN:0060599480
Classification: Fiction
Genre:
Age Range:Young Adult
Price:$6.99
Annotation: Co-Captain of his football team and school sports star, Matt witnesses the brutal, horrific rape of a rookie player by his teammates. Dealing with this and his own steroid use make for a horribly traumatic season.
Summary: This dark and at times down right scary sports drama revolves around Matt, Rydek High's Co-Captain of the football team.
He is being recruited for college and he's hitting the gym and juicing up. It's an aggressive time that includes pressure from his father and team as well as help with using the drugs. Meanwhile his life is falling apart. He witnesses a brutal rape of a teammate by teammates during the annual hazing and Matt begins to live on a constant emotional trip of sports-star and failure, embarrassment and ultimately hating his sport. he cooperates with the investigation, but all is not well with the world around him. A painful, realistic descent takes the readers into the emotional and physical world of the dark side of sports.
Evaluation: I am not gonna lie. The rape scene made my heart miss a few beats and it is not easy to store in your head after reading this book. But, the reality is, Matt's struggles are definitive of his role (and others like him) in high school sports and I can appreciate what this book does. His situation is a relatable one for sports players. And it also helps get inside the head of a Matt's messy world: one from letting sports rule and influence his entire life and, two, the allure of steroids. The pressure of Matt's father is a stunning window as well.
Bibliotherapeutic Usefulness: Brings to light many issues in the sports world: interteam abuse, steroid use, father-son relationship, obsessive nature of high school sports, bullying
Reason this book was chosen: I may have missed this book had it not been recommended. That being said, I would have picked it for it hellish but important depiction of sports and high school. I would have picked it if I had known on my own for it's subject as well as it's accessibility to readers who may not share matt's affinity for the world of sports. Where bad things happen but everybody looks the other way.
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