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akaroo's review against another edition
3.0
A pretty decent collection of boxing-related short stories. Of course "Million Dollar Baby" sticks out as the most memorable story, but some of the others, such as "Rope Burn" (the original published title) were well done.
sabinaleybold's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
kgj4k4's review against another edition
4.0
I read this book (or some of the short stories from this book) because I was trying to find some interesting short stories that were sports related for Sports Lit. This one worked! Not only is it not too offensive (language), it's good. The writing is quick, puts you right in the action. The characters actually have issues - rather than who's going to win the next fight. I'm definitely gonna use this one.
bookworm42's review against another edition
2.0
Just not my thing, super depressing stories about good people who get screwed over by bad people.
dearbhla's review against another edition
4.0
I bought this because I saw the film version and wasn't impressed. I'm not going to go into why I felt it was way over-hyped here, but it did interest me enough to read this book.
And I'm glad I picked it up, because these short stories are a lot better than the film. The author, F.X. Toole, was a cut-man and professional boxing trainer, and so he knew the business. He knew the people and the atmosphere and all of that comes across in the stories.
The best of the stories, imo, is Rope Burns. That was the title he gave to the collection before Eastwood's film gave the book the attention. Like most of the stories it involves a boxer and a cut-man/trainer, but it also deals with issues that the other stories mentioned but never investigated; race & crime.
Most of Toole's stories involve an older white man as the main protagonist, but race is never a major issue. Any time it is brought up all of the other characters seem to have no problems or racial tensions. is set around the riots surrounding the Rodney King court case. In the story the role of the media is looked at, as is the way race is such an emotive subject. The main character, Mac, an ex-policeman, thinks about how the film shown on the news has been edited to remove the reason the police were in pursuit, as well as King's violence while resisting arrest. Now I don't know enough about the incident to comment, I saw bits of the tape on the telly, and it looked terrible to me, but I still find what was brought up in the short story interesting to read.
Overall the stories are well told, and apart from Million Dollar Baby, which I felt was told more like a report than a story, I really enjoyed them all. A lot more than the film of the same name.
And I'm glad I picked it up, because these short stories are a lot better than the film. The author, F.X. Toole, was a cut-man and professional boxing trainer, and so he knew the business. He knew the people and the atmosphere and all of that comes across in the stories.
The best of the stories, imo, is Rope Burns. That was the title he gave to the collection before Eastwood's film gave the book the attention. Like most of the stories it involves a boxer and a cut-man/trainer, but it also deals with issues that the other stories mentioned but never investigated; race & crime.
Most of Toole's stories involve an older white man as the main protagonist, but race is never a major issue. Any time it is brought up all of the other characters seem to have no problems or racial tensions. is set around the riots surrounding the Rodney King court case. In the story the role of the media is looked at, as is the way race is such an emotive subject. The main character, Mac, an ex-policeman, thinks about how the film shown on the news has been edited to remove the reason the police were in pursuit, as well as King's violence while resisting arrest. Now I don't know enough about the incident to comment, I saw bits of the tape on the telly, and it looked terrible to me, but I still find what was brought up in the short story interesting to read.
Overall the stories are well told, and apart from Million Dollar Baby, which I felt was told more like a report than a story, I really enjoyed them all. A lot more than the film of the same name.
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