i think bukowski fans will love this novel. here is my review:
small book. tough read. i had seen the john huston-stacey keach-jeff bridges movie around 6 months ago and liked it a lot. i read the novel over the weekend. its about the boxing scene in stockton, california - described through the lives of two boxers, their lovers and their common trainer. its an incredibly sad novel about the ups and downs (mostly downs) in the boxers lives - as they grapple with all the bad luck, the women, ennui and sloth. the characters were extremely fatalistic, seemingly unable to conquer the devil inside their minds or conquering it for a short while before it starts working on them again.
"..... they succumbed to whatever in them was the weakest, and often it was nothing he could even define", ruben the trainer tells himself about the boxers he has trained.
sex is an important part of the novel. one of the boxers, billy tully cannot seem to get over his wife leaving him. a succession of relationships with other women (including one spiritually wounding affair with an alcoholic woman) does not allow him to forget his wife whom he loved dearly. even when he tries to revive his flagging boxing career, it is in the hope that he can win his wife back. the other boxer, ernie munger is deeply insecure about his new wife after the arrival of her former lover in the small town. maybe the writer was trying to describe the boxers psyche in that the possession of a woman was very important for these guys. it was something that helped them define their masculinity. any doubt regarding their ability to keep their women, derailed them and would lead to alcoholism, bar fights and indiscipline (with regard to their career).
another important aspect of the novel is the description of the landscape. its excellent. i love american novels like these with descriptions of gas stations, small town bars, long empty roads, side streets, orchards, barren fields and levees. there is something very idyllic yet bleak and slothful about these landscapes.
leonard gardner wrote just this one novel. thats a real shame.
small book. tough read. i had seen the john huston-stacey keach-jeff bridges movie around 6 months ago and liked it a lot. i read the novel over the weekend. its about the boxing scene in stockton, california - described through the lives of two boxers, their lovers and their common trainer. its an incredibly sad novel about the ups and downs (mostly downs) in the boxers lives - as they grapple with all the bad luck, the women, ennui and sloth. the characters were extremely fatalistic, seemingly unable to conquer the devil inside their minds or conquering it for a short while before it starts working on them again.
"..... they succumbed to whatever in them was the weakest, and often it was nothing he could even define", ruben the trainer tells himself about the boxers he has trained.
sex is an important part of the novel. one of the boxers, billy tully cannot seem to get over his wife leaving him. a succession of relationships with other women (including one spiritually wounding affair with an alcoholic woman) does not allow him to forget his wife whom he loved dearly. even when he tries to revive his flagging boxing career, it is in the hope that he can win his wife back. the other boxer, ernie munger is deeply insecure about his new wife after the arrival of her former lover in the small town. maybe the writer was trying to describe the boxers psyche in that the possession of a woman was very important for these guys. it was something that helped them define their masculinity. any doubt regarding their ability to keep their women, derailed them and would lead to alcoholism, bar fights and indiscipline (with regard to their career).
another important aspect of the novel is the description of the landscape. its excellent. i love american novels like these with descriptions of gas stations, small town bars, long empty roads, side streets, orchards, barren fields and levees. there is something very idyllic yet bleak and slothful about these landscapes.
leonard gardner wrote just this one novel. thats a real shame.