Samson Kabarebe will one day be the name on everyone’s lips. At only eighteen, it’s clear he is destined to join the greats in the pantheon of football gods. Set to change the fortunes of a relegation-threatened Premier League team, he takes the place of another striker – a homegrown star, our narrator.
Our narrator knows he should feel slighted, yet he’s drawn to Samson’s ebullience, his talent, his petulance and his beauty. As their relationship grows, our narrator must grapple with the confines of masculinity, the isolation that comes from the threat of scandal and the fragility and power of an athlete’s body, underscored by Allison’s examination of how much of ourselves we sacrifice in the pursuit of greatness.
Our narrator knows he should feel slighted, yet he’s drawn to Samson’s ebullience, his talent, his petulance and his beauty. As their relationship grows, our narrator must grapple with the confines of masculinity, the isolation that comes from the threat of scandal and the fragility and power of an athlete’s body, underscored by Allison’s examination of how much of ourselves we sacrifice in the pursuit of greatness.
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