The Knockout Queen by Rufi ThorpeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
My word, what a book. Briefly, it's about two teens who don't fit in, but don't go glassy-eyed on me just yet. This novel is anything but formulaic. I am a little bit confused by the title as it references not the narrator--a gay teen named Michael who meets older men via Craiglist and Grindr because he feels that no boy his own age would be interested--but his next door neighbor Bunny Lambert, an amazon of a girl and a star volleyball player.
Both have pretty much been cast adrift to find their way on their own. Michael's mother has gone to prison for stabbing his alcoholic father. He is living with his aunt and her son, a real bro who Michael has nothing in common with. They live in the sort of small house that is rapidly being replaced in their suburb by McMansions on every side. In the one next door lives Bunny, whose mother has died in a road accident and whose boozy real estate salesman father is never home. She and Michael find each other like finding a life ring, and become best friends.
However, vicious gossip and casual high school cruelties lead to a series of shocking twists, and the reader is never really on solid ground again. This is not an easy read. It is almost too real--the characters and the events here are as messy and mixed as life itself. It's a terribly sad book, and I had to fight off falling into a depression myself while reading it, and yet it is not the kind of book that wallows or annoys. Like life, it just kind of breaks your heart. All of the characters are both brave and awful, doing the best they can with what they've got. Just when you think they've beaten the odds, they fall again, and just when you think they're down for the count, they manage to get back on their feet. It is a messy, violent, thoughtful, poignant, marvelously observed tour de force.
I should mention that if you clutch your pearls at sexual scenes that pull no punches, or depictions of rather awful violence, you've been warned. This is a very human book, above all. It will tear your heart out while patting your hand, give you a sweet feeling and then smack you in the face. It deserves 5 stars, honestly, but because it was so sad, I gave it 4. I just can't rate it with books I LOVED. I respect what this author has done here, and I am very glad I read it, but I am also glad it is done. Highly recommended, but be aware that it is demanding reading, emotionally.
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Another excellent review Shay. Sadly, it's one that sends me running at 100 miles an hour away from the book. I would never in a million years read a book like this. You are a brave reader, going into these kinds of "real life" style novels and experiencing their gut wrenching emotions and grueling scenes. When I was younger, I read Hardy and was able to relate and gain from the pain in his books,as I'm sure you did from this one, but now all I want from a book is comfort, which means perhaps some gain in knowledge, relatable characters, and a good plot with resolution, not continuous cycles of violence and grief, even if that is closer to what life is really like. Kudos to you for being made of stronger stuff.
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