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FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE

Name: FIGHTING RUBEN WOLFE
Author: Markus Zusak
ISBN: 0-439-24188-X

by Markus Zusak ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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From Australia, Zusak debuts with an intense tale about boxing, brotherly solidarity, and searching for self-respect. The Wolfe family is on the skids, with Mr. Wolfe five months out of work, Mrs. Wolfe barely able to keep food on the table, older sister Sarah coming home drunk more and more often, and brothers Cameron and Ruben firmly tagged as troublemakers. When a schoolmate calls his sister a whore, Ruben reacts with such devastating speed and efficiency that a local racketeer makes a job offer. Soon Ruben and Cameron are both sneaking off every Sunday afternoon for low-paying and, needless to say, illegal prizefights in a grimy warehouse before bloodthirsty crowds. Though Cameron can give a good account of himself in the ring, he lacks Ruben's raw talent and ferocious concentration. But even as Ruben runs up a string of victories, he confesses to Cameron that he may know how to win, but not how to lose, not how to pick himself up off the floor and keep going the way Cameron and the rest of the Wolfes do. Ultimately, the brothers are forced to face each other in the ring, but Ruben, ever the brains of the outfit, finds a way to turn what might have been an ugly, divisive fight into a reaffirmation of love and respect. Zusak's eccentric language—a smell is "raucous," a pause "yawns through the air," a young woman has "eyes of sky"—gives Cameron's narrative a slightly offbeat air that suits the brothers' escapade: part lark, part a real effort (however misguided) to break from the unpromising path down which they seem to be going. The book closes on a rising note, with the brothers, and the whole Wolfe clan, closer than ever, showing real signs of regaining its feet. Engrossing. (Fiction. YA)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-439-24188-X

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2001

Categories:

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

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CUTTING LOOSE

by Michael Z. Lewin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999

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Masquerading as a man, a young woman sets out to find her friend’s killer in New York and London at the turn of the century; disguise proves to be simultaneously liberating and imprisoning in Lewin’s big-canvas historical novel. No one is who she or he seems to be, not the gender-bending heroine Jackie who spends most of her life as Jack so she can play baseball; not her best friend, Nance, a black performer who “passes” as white, and who dies of a stab wound in the opening pages. Cleverly structured and meticulously detailed so that every piece of information neatly clicks into the jigsaw-puzzle ending, the novel runs on two tracks. One chronicles Jackie’s past history starting with her grandmother (whose incredible life both mirrors and influences her granddaughter’s); the other details her current adventures as the avenger of her best friend, along with a surprise unveiling of her father’s murderer. After a vivid trip through 19th-century America, the novel concludes in and around the music halls of London, where Jackie’s past and present converge. The derring-do climax fails to ignite, for this is a book in which the journey surpasses the destination, but overall Lewin produces a grand adventure that readers won’t soon forget. (Fiction. 12-14)