Skip to main content

Fat City

Terrific ending. Tully (older boxer) headed nowhere. Ernie (younger version of Tully) fights alone in Utah then hitchhikes back to Stockton. Gets a ride from two women, one of whom says: "Why would anyone want to go to Stockton." 

Captures the mood of small dreams of Tully and Ernie. They don't dream of being world champions, just of fighting enough and winning enough to get some money in their pocket and maybe in the bank, to be able to see out past a few days. Not likely to happen. Trainer is the same way. He wants some boxers who will pay his bills and give him a little breathing room. 

I'll look for other books by Gardner.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oppenheimer . . . film

 Solid opening 30 minutes (we're treating this like a mini-series).  O's involvement with left-wing causes . . . rift with Einstein (O thinks of him as over-the-hill and Einstein knows it.)  First splitting of atom.  Lawrence Lab in Berkeley--Lawrence practical applied physics . . . not O's strength.  Main actor is from Peaky Blinders.

The Master Chapter 2

February 1895 (Alice died in 1892) Money problems, jealousy of Wilde; time spent with Lord Wolseley1; off to Ireland to lick his wounds; Irish unrest--Irish landlords boycott all social events; much time spent with manservant Hammond (homosexual attraction again); fancy dress ball, appalling to James, who is only happy in company of Hammond, though Hammond remains a servant and no more; little girl alone on the grounds--inspiration for Turn of the Screw?; conflict with Webster who alludes to Wilde's successful play and HJ's failure; Wolseley was an  Anglo-Irish  officer in the  British Army . He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, West Africa, and Egypt, followed by a central role in modernizing the British Army in promoting efficiency. He served in Burma, the  Crimean War , the  Indian Mutiny , China, Canada and widely throughout Africa—including his  Ashanti  campaign (18...