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Hardcover Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner Book

ISBN: 0060198206

ISBN13: 9780060198206

Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

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Book Overview

Seventy-year-old F.X. Toole has exploded onto the literary scene with this astonishing first collection of stories drawn from his own experiences in boxing. In these powerful and moving tales, he reveals a complex web of athletes, trainers, and promoters and their extended families, all players in an unforgiving business where victory, like defeat, comes at a dark and painful price. F. X. Toole breathes life into vivid, compelling characters who radiate the fierce intensity of the worlds they inhabit. In "The Monkey Look," an aging cut man with an incorrigible sweet tooth works the corner for Hoolie, a featherweight "bleeder" with attitude. "Black Jew" brings Reggie Valentine Love and his camp to a brutal elimination bout in Atlantic City, where they are treated like second-class citizens by a promoter. In "Million $$$ Baby," seasoned trainer Frankie Dunn faces the most daunting challenge of his life when he agrees to aid the fearless Maggie Fitzgerald in her quest to become a champion boxer. "Fightin' in Philly" and "Frozen Water" are stories in which youthful dreams of glory and celebrity are threatened by the harsh realities that suffuse both of these narratives. The novella "Rope Burns" is the crowning achievement of the collection, offering a gritty, heartrending account of the indestructible bond that develops between a devoted fighter and his trainer. In Rope Burns F.X. bole exhibits the skill of a miniaturist: in precise and exquisite detail, he peoples a world rich in unforgettable characters, like Se ora Cabrera, the owner of the Acapulco caf , who makes low-fat refried beans to keep a local fighter in top form, and an anonymous museum guard with a soft spot for Michelangelo. Toole's faithful dialogue crackles and bites, and the flawed characters he creates cannot help but remind us of our own too fragile humanity. He brings a new understanding to the violence and purity of the sweet science and the world it engenders, opening a window into the fighter's soul that can never he closed.

Customer Reviews

5 customer ratings | 5 reviews

Rated 5 stars
A knockout

Let's get this out of the way right of the bat: To say Million Dollar Baby: Stories From The Corner is a book about boxing is akin to saying Moby Dick is a book about fishing. It touches on the truth but misses the point entirely. Sure, all the "stories from the corner" involve boxing. And they feature people involved in fighting. And yes, they take place in seedy gyms and boxing arenas. OK, OK, I admit, they really are about...

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Rated 5 stars
A Knockout!!

Mr. Toole's short stories takes inside the ropes, in the gyms. His writing is so vivid that you can smell the linament and feel the punches. His style is filled with nuance. The stories are heart breaking. What a shame that he did not live long enough to enjoy his success and gives us more great writing.

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Rated 5 stars
Raw and uncensored!

One of the grittiest, heart pumping books I have ever read. 6 stories all related to boxers, their trainers, cutmen and the eerie lifes that surround them. From a crooked fighter trying to rip off a cutman, to a young woman trying to convince an older trainer to be the first woman to be trained, to a story in the backdrop of the L.A. riots of the early 90's. I felt anger, sorrow, pride and happiness throughout. Waiting for...

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Rated 5 stars
An astonishing performance!

The story for which the book is titled, Rope Burns, is, indeed, an astonishing performance. And in all the stories every nuance is correct, authentic. Every piece of dialog frightenly accurate. Chillingly real. Toole has obviously heard these voices and altho like many Irish writers his stories are, well, not uplifting, they are incredible -- and moving -- slices of life. If you want to see, hear and feel what's it's like...

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Rated 5 stars
Discovery of the Year!

Yes, its a book about boxing - mainly. But its much more than that. Toole - and its hard to believe that this is his first book - is a natural writer with a fantastic sense of drama, conversation, and place. I read a great piece in the New York Times about Toole - and I hope he's writing a memoir next. I highly recommend.

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Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner Mentions in Our Blog

Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner in How Many Best Pictures Were Based on a Book?
How Many Best Pictures Were Based on a Book?
Published by Amanda Cleveland • March 21, 2024
With Oppenheimer's recent Oscars win, we had a question: How many Best Picture winners were based on a book? Countless classic films are adaptations, as if a great story tends to start in literature. Let's look at the numbers and the amazing books that have lead to great films.
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