Review: Fat City

Fat City by Leonard Gardner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well written story of men in the boxing world based in agricultural California in the 50s or 60s. One boxer is a down on his luck veteran trying to get back into the game while sliding into despair, while the other boxer is young and shows initial promise, but is beaten down by the life. The other main character is the trainer who takes shortcuts while continuing to make his living working with these boxers with pedestrian dreams of victory. The story also follows some others, including a Mexican boxer with a long career and many bouts that shows the likely result of a “good” boxing career. It’s all depressing in the end, but the author teases the reader with hope, dangled just out of reach, then yanked away by the system. The author provides plenty of characters to measure against. A joy to read -- you can sense the quality of the writing and the skill of the author -- but ultimately depressing.

View all my reviews