I was lucky enough to get a copy of the book before the Leonardo DiCaprio cover came out. Of
course, before I heard of the movie I had no idea the book existed.. damn. Anyway, The book
version of The Basketball Diaries is an edited version of Jim Carroll's diary from 1963
to 1966. It chronicles his drug addiction and what addiction leads him into. It's beautifully
written.
The Basketball Diaries movie is a modernized and slightly sanitized version of the story.
There were a few surprises ("Marky Mark can act!" is what my cousin said to me) in
casting and Carroll had a cameo as an old junkie. The ending may have been published somewhere
else, but it wasn't in the book the movie is supposed to be based on. This was the time when I
got my crush on DiCaprio (which has since been killed by over-exposure). One thing this movie
really needed was music by The Jim Carroll Band.. the version of "Catholic Boy" he did with Pearl
Jam just didn't cut it.
