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cohnaron 's review for:
The Contender
by Robert Lipsyte
This book's main problem is that is so obviously and blatantly advertises its morals. Don't do drugs! Go for your goals! Try until you succeed!
I'm retching already. If you actually edit out the ethical tripe, it's a pretty good story.
Alfred is fed up with his life, his lowlife job, his best friend is doing drugs, and he's a high school dropout, so he starts boxing. He gets better and better until he realizes that he doesn't have the desire to fight. While most boxers have a thirst for blood or whatever (my go-to image is Max in The Book Thief, who imagined he was pounding Hitler's face in whenever he fought), Alfred really doesn't want to hurt anyone. . I actually liked this part the best, because it was the only non-generic part of the book-there wasn't really a happy ending.
I didn't like Alfred. He wasn't a stereotype, but he wasn't much of anything else, really. I thought he was going to be this tough-guy that had to take out his anger in fighting or something, or this nice-guy-with-a-bad-rep, but no. He was just sort of...there. As his trainer, Donatelli, correctly points out, he doesn't really want to be a fighter. He just wants to take his mind off of his troubles.
Actually the only thing he really wants is his best friend, James. The whole book, he has this weird obsession with his ex-friend, now a druggie who spends his time in jail cells, while Alfred sails upwards on the sea of success. Why. I honestly didn't get it. I mean, the ending of the book is about him too, for some weird reason. They shouldn't even have called this book The Contender, they should've called it "Saving James". It has a nice ring to it, and it suits the book better. For the love of Pete, the book ended with good ol' Al fireman-lifting James to the hospital. It didn't even include boxing.
This isn't a book I'd recommend, but I can see it being read at middle schools, even though it's not really a classic and is written in the 70s or 80s, I think. Be aware of drowning in a fondue of cheesiness, or being subjected to the weirdest bromance ever. You have been warned.
I'm retching already. If you actually edit out the ethical tripe, it's a pretty good story.
Alfred is fed up with his life, his lowlife job, his best friend is doing drugs, and he's a high school dropout, so he starts boxing. He gets better and better until he realizes that
I didn't like Alfred. He wasn't a stereotype, but he wasn't much of anything else, really. I thought he was going to be this tough-guy that had to take out his anger in fighting or something, or this nice-guy-with-a-bad-rep, but no. He was just sort of...there. As his trainer, Donatelli, correctly points out, he doesn't really want to be a fighter. He just wants to take his mind off of his troubles.
Actually the only thing he really wants is his best friend, James. The whole book, he has this weird obsession with his ex-friend, now a druggie who spends his time in jail cells, while Alfred sails upwards on the sea of success. Why. I honestly didn't get it. I mean, the ending of the book is about him too, for some weird reason. They shouldn't even have called this book The Contender, they should've called it "Saving James". It has a nice ring to it, and it suits the book better.
This isn't a book I'd recommend, but I can see it being read at middle schools, even though it's not really a classic and is written in the 70s or 80s, I think. Be aware of drowning in a fondue of cheesiness, or being subjected to the weirdest bromance ever. You have been warned.