Headshot
A Novel
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3.7 • 51 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE
FINALIST FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE READS OF SUMMER 2024
Named a Best Book of 2024 by The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Elle, Vulture, Lit Hub, and The Guardian
“Make room, American fiction, for a meaningful new voice.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times Book Review
An electrifying debut novel from an “unusually gifted writer” (Lorrie Moore) about the radical intimacy of physical competition
An unexpected tragedy at a community pool. A family’s unrelenting expectation of victory. The desire to gain or lose control; to make time speed up or stop; to be frighteningly, undeniably good at something. Each of the eight teenage girl boxers in this blistering debut novel has her own reasons for the sacrifices she has made to come to Reno, Nevada, to compete to be named the best in the country. Through a series of face-offs that are raw, ecstatic, and punctuated by flashes of humor and tenderness, prizewinning writer Rita Bullwinkel animates the competitors’ pasts and futures as they summon the emotion, imagination, and force of will required to win.
Frenetic, surprising, and strikingly original, Headshot is a portrait of the desire, envy, perfectionism, madness, and sheer physical pleasure that motivate young women to fight—even, and perhaps especially, when no one else is watching.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This powerful debut novel about eight teenage girl boxers hits like a sucker punch to the gut. Competing in a national 18-and-under tournament at Bob’s Boxing Palace, a run-down gym in Nevada, the story’s eight fighters take to the ring, sizing up their opponents and running through their pre-match rituals—whether that means reciting Pi or putting on an out-of-place raccoon-skin cap. There’s a frantic level of drama to this ensemble tale right from the start, but perhaps surprisingly, it doesn’t come from winning or losing—it all stems from the girls’ fascinating inner lives. Author Rita Bullwinkel also plays with time, giving us glimpses into the characters’ futures as grocery store managers or pharmacists. This uncategorizable knockout of a book will stay with you like a battle scar.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The smashing debut novel from Bullwinkel (after the collection Belly Up) takes the measure of eight teenage girls as they compete at a boxing tournament in Reno, Nev. The first match features Andi Taylor, troubled by memories of the boy who drowned at a community pool during her lifeguard shift, up against Artemis Victor, who's from a family of fighters and is looking to show up her accomplished older sister. Next up is oddball Rachel Doricko, whose trademark raccoon-skin hat is just one way she keeps her opponents off-balance, taking on the more pampered, mathematical-minded Kate Heffer. Cousins Iggy and Izzy Lang have more than familial rivalry on their minds when they face off. Lastly, two vicious young Texans— Rose Mueller, a spiritual seeker who's turned away from the Christian church she was raised in, and Tanya Maw, destined for semistardom—step into the ring to settle their differences. For all the toe-to-toe realism and visceral descriptions of the girls' blood sport, Bullwinkel's real interest is in their inner lives and the picture that forms when considered as a whole ("you can send your mind up through the hole of the worlds built by the other girl boxers travel through the layers of different imagined futures, and the different ways each girl has of being"). The fragile lives of her weekend warriors are faithfully portrayed in prose that is intelligible but never commonplace, virtuosic yet grounded. Bullwinkel's knockout performance mops the floor with rank pretenders.
Customer Reviews
Striking & fresh
The only review here on HEADSHOT was so appalling I had to write my own. This novel instantly immerses you into the fight and mind of each character and doesn’t let go. Leaves you breathless sometimes. It feels utterly unique and as if Bullwinkel is inventing a new literary form. Read it!
I couldn’t get through it either
I’m more than half way through the book and bored to death. There is no dialogue. Just a monotone narration of the thoughts, bios and baggage these teenage boxers carry into their matches and into their futures. Nothing to see here….Look away.
What’s all the fuss
Didn’t like any of the characters… hated the writing structure… first book in years I just couldn’t get through…waste of time