Pound for Pound - Softcover

Toole, F. X.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099494248 ISBN 13: 9780099494249

Publisher: Vintage, 2007

Synopsis

Pound for Pound is a big novel in the truest sense of the word, a story of family, honor, perseverance, and forgiveness. Set in towns where violence is the norm and success stories take on an almost mythic importance, it tells of grand-fathers and grandsons -- older men for whom life has not been easy and the young men who look to them for guidance -- and reveals the transformative power of that relationship. Dan Cooley, an aging but legendary Los Angeles trainer, takes on a troubled young fighter named Chicky Garza, hungry to make a name for himself in the San Antonio boxing circuit, which is rife with crime and corruption. The bond between them grows more powerful than the obstacles they face, ultimately reviving in each man the courage it takes to triumph both in and out of the ring.

This masterful, posthumous novel follows Toole's remarkable fiction debut, Rope Burns (recently published in paperback as Million Dollar Baby), which earned comparisons to Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, and Frank McCourt, and which became an Academy Award-winning film four years after publication. As James Ellroy says in the foreword, "F. X. Toole did not live to visit the set or hug the stars at the premiere. The rumor was true. He had a bum ticker." It is a tragedy that the world will not hear more from F. X. Toole, but Pound for Pound is a novel that any writer would be proud to leave behind, marking his place in the world of letters.

About this title

About the Author:

F. X. Toole was born in 1930. Having worked as a bullfighter, professional boxing "cut man," taxi driver, and saloon keeper, Toole published his first book of fiction at age seventy. He died in 2002, before seeing his short story "Million Dollar Baby" become an Academy Award-winning film.

Review:

“. . . the reader thanks Mr. Toole here, and forever after, for his last and greatest work.” (San Francisco Chronicle)

“POUND FOR POUND is that most absorbing of pleasures, a great boxing novel.” (TIME Magazine)

“Toole was a natural storyteller. . . individual scenes will stay with the reader. Pound for Pound is gripping.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

“POUND proves that a flurry of emotional jabs can be just as powerful as one knockout punch.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“The savagery of “Pound for Pound” is inextricably melded with profound sweetness. That’s how F.X. Toole saw the world.” (The Oregonian (Portland))

“A stunning cap to a short but brilliant writing career.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Toole, a page-turning writer with guts. . .” (Detroit Free Press)

“F.X. Toole is bigger in death than he was in life.” (San Antonio Express-News)

“That this posthumous novel is the last such gift we’ll receive from a great writer makes it even more special.” (Richard Russo)

“Powerful and very readable...Toole’s deep love of boxing’s rituals, traditions, and code of honor shines through.” (Library Journal)

“Toole’s sentences are tough, spare and full of his obvious belief in the solace of friendship and forgiveness.” (Kansas.com)

“Toole writes beautifully . . . an homage to the resiliency and strength of the human spirit.” (Edgardo Vega Yunqué, author of Blood Fugues)

“The characters are irresistible, and their gritty, savage, strangely noble world is vividly evoked.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“...a fine-tuned sense of the ring and... a large, colorful cast...Call it a winner. . .” (New York Daily News)

“Toole has an undeniable knack for crafting instantly believable characters...” (Washington Post)

“‘Pound for Pound’ contains some of the most lucidly crystalline descriptions of boxing...F.X. Toole was an extraordinary talent...” (Los Angeles Times)

“[Toole’s] a page-turning writer with guts and heart. . .” (Charlotte Observer)

“. . . there is no quit in them, nor was there in Toole...he wrote with a boxer’s heart.” (Sports Illustrated)

“...memorable characters, gritty authenticity and spare, energetic writing.” (USA Today)

“. . .engaging. . . riveting. . .” (Seattle Times)

“The brutality of boxing ties this book together, but Toole also understands what makes people love it.” (Hartford Courant)

“Gripping. . . [Toole] can rest easy – the task has been aced.” (People)

“The true appeal in Toole’s writing is in detail and in his ability as a pure storyteller.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0099494248
• ISBN 13: 9780099494249
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464