SOURCE: A review of Heroes, in The New York Times Book Review, February 3, 1985, p. 22.

In the following review, Krystal presents a mixed assessment of Heroes.

"What thou lovest well remains / the rest is dross." This would seem to be the wisdom granted to a middle-aged sports reporter, Al Biederman, in David Shields's first novel, Heroes. Stuck in a small Midwestern college town, Biederman loves his wife but is unfaithful to her, loves his diabetic son but isn't always there for him, loves basketball but (to land a job on The Milwaukee Journal) may have to expose recruiting violations in the case of Belvyn Menkus, a white transfer student who plays the game "like he just invented jazz." I say "white" because Belvyn (a name that bounces into the heart) learned to play among Chicago blacks who demanded that he constantly feed them the ball. So Belvyn becomes a...