Saturday, September 26, 2009
The Contender
by Robert Lipsyte
In one sense, this is a typical sports story--young, underprivileged kid finds a sport and works hard to overcome the obstacles and become a success. In this case, Alfred Brooks, a high school dropout living in Harlem in the mid 1960s finds himself trying to succeed as a boxer. But Mr. Lipsyte has done a good job of it, adding some depth to the plot and setting. I was impressed how he was able to create mental pictures of New York and the small time boxing world of the era. It might be simply that over the years I've picked up those images from a variety of films and television programs, and the writing merely touched the right buttons to bring those images to mind. Or maybe his writing is indeed that good. Either way, I enjoyed it. As for the plot, well, I won't say anything more, lest I spoil something. Check it out for yourself and find out what happens.
LibraryThing link
In one sense, this is a typical sports story--young, underprivileged kid finds a sport and works hard to overcome the obstacles and become a success. In this case, Alfred Brooks, a high school dropout living in Harlem in the mid 1960s finds himself trying to succeed as a boxer. But Mr. Lipsyte has done a good job of it, adding some depth to the plot and setting. I was impressed how he was able to create mental pictures of New York and the small time boxing world of the era. It might be simply that over the years I've picked up those images from a variety of films and television programs, and the writing merely touched the right buttons to bring those images to mind. Or maybe his writing is indeed that good. Either way, I enjoyed it. As for the plot, well, I won't say anything more, lest I spoil something. Check it out for yourself and find out what happens.
LibraryThing link
Labels: CheckItOut
// posted by John @ 8:10 PM 
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