Shadowboxing
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4.1 • 23 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Shadowboxing is a collection of ten linked stories in the life of a boy growing up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1960s. A beautifully rendered time capsule, it captures a period of decay, turmoil, and change through innocent, unblinking eyes.
Michael’s family, led by his long-suffering mother, live as though under siege, surviving his father’s drinking and rage as well as the forces of ‘urban renewal’. Their neighbourhood is a world of simple pleasures as well as random brutality; of family life and love as well as violence and tragedy. As Michael experiences all this with a combination of wonder and fear, he matures into a sensitive adult who can forgive but never forget.
Shadowboxing is a riveting story of loss and permanence, power and weakness, stoicism and resistance.
Customer Reviews
Shadow boxing
This is a book I found hard to put down from the moment I started reading. It is rich in its portrayal of characters and lifelike in how the author describes his family, friends and neighbors and their daily life hardships living in a poorer working class Melbourne suburb. The passive strength of his mother and the hollow aggressive weakness of his father show strong contrast, in a community where the men came home boozed and took out their anger and frustration on their defenseless families at home.
A gripping tale
Outstandingly visceral, Shadow Boxing is a truly compelling and harsh journey; a true venture full of hardship and danger. It doesn't need to be a fantasy or fiction; the journey is real enough to feel, and keeps you reading from start finish, feeling each trial and tribulation as your own.