. . . 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
“Gripping. . . [Toole] can rest easy – the task has been aced.” — People
“The brutality of boxing ties this book together, but Toole also understands what makes people love it.” — Hartford Courant
“The true appeal in Toole’s writing is in detail and in his ability as a pure storyteller.” — Philadelphia Inquirer
Toole was a natural storyteller. . . individual scenes will stay with the reader. Pound for Pound is gripping.
POUND FOR POUND is that most absorbing of pleasures, a great boxing novel.
The savagery of “Pound for Pound” is inextricably melded with profound sweetness. That’s how F.X. Toole saw the world.
Toole, a page-turning writer with guts. . .
F.X. Toole is bigger in death than he was in life.
That this posthumous novel is the last such gift we’ll receive from a great writer makes it even more special.
POUND proves that a flurry of emotional jabs can be just as powerful as one knockout punch.
. . . the reader thanks Mr. Toole here, and forever after, for his last and greatest work.
. . . the reader thanks Mr. Toole here, and forever after, for his last and greatest work.
Toole’s sentences are tough, spare and full of his obvious belief in the solace of friendship and forgiveness.
Toole has an undeniable knack for crafting instantly believable characters...
...a fine-tuned sense of the ring and... a large, colorful cast...Call it a winner. . .
[Toole’s] a page-turning writer with guts and heart. . .
...memorable characters, gritty authenticity and spare, energetic writing.
‘Pound for Pound’ contains some of the most lucidly crystalline descriptions of boxing...F.X. Toole was an extraordinary talent...
Toole writes beautifully . . . an homage to the resiliency and strength of the human spirit.
The brutality of boxing ties this book together, but Toole also understands what makes people love it.
. . .engaging. . . riveting. . .
. . . there is no quit in them, nor was there in Toole...he wrote with a boxer’s heart.
Gripping. . . [Toole] can rest easy – the task has been aced.
Toole writes beautifully . . . an homage to the resiliency and strength of the human spirit.
‘Pound for Pound’ contains some of the most lucidly crystalline descriptions of boxing...F.X. Toole was an extraordinary talent...
Toole has an undeniable knack for crafting instantly believable characters...
...memorable characters, gritty authenticity and spare, energetic writing.
[Toole’s] a page-turning writer with guts and heart. . .
...a fine-tuned sense of the ring and... a large, colorful cast...Call it a winner. . .
"Gripping. . . [Toole] can rest easy – the task has been aced."
POUND FOR POUND is that most absorbing of pleasures, a great boxing novel.
Toole, who died before seeing the Oscar-winning movie adaptation of his short story "Million Dollar Baby," weighs in posthumously with this bruising smoker of a novel. (The novel was "shaped," notes James Ellroy in the introduction, from a 900-page manuscript by Toole's agent and a freelance editor.) Dan Cooley, a onetime contender who has outlived his wife and children and whose life revolves around his grandson, Tim Pat, goes off the rails after Tim Pat is killed in a traffic accident. As Cooley vacillates between booze-fueled suicidal thoughts and fantasies of homicidal vengeance, Hispanic teenager Eduardo "Chicky" Garza y Duffy begins his troubled ascent in the amateur boxing world. That these two men, separated by thousands of miles, ethnicity and generations, will become the vehicle for one another's redemption is inevitable, but Toole's unsentimental prose and knack for creating tragic characters (whose sufferings, in turn, lead to plausible triumphs) overcome the ready-made plot. Cooley's thesis, that prize fighting, for all its apparent brutality, is a sport that rewards wisdom, skill and (at times) fair play informs Toole's writing; the result is a stunning cap to a short but brilliant writing career. (Aug.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
The late Toole, a veteran "cut man" and trainer as well as author of the story on which the movie Million Dollar Baby was based, writes about boxing the way Hemingway wrote about bullfighting. This novel, left unfinished when he died, is the story of Eduardo "Chicky" Garza, a young San Antonio fighter and grandson of one-time contender Eloy "Texas Wolf" Garza. When Chicky is cheated out of a shot at the Olympic team, his grandfather encourages him to move to Los Angeles and find trainer Dan Cooley, a former boxer who lost to the grandfather 40 years earlier in a fixed fight. Though struggling with a deep depression brought on by the accidental death of his young grandson, Cooley decides to take Chicky on, paving the way for him to face the fighter who cheated him. The result is powerful and very readable, if somewhat sentimental, and Toole's deep love of boxing's rituals, traditions, and code of honor shines through. Even readers uninterested in the fight may find the novel compelling. Recommended for public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/06.]-Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, Andover, MA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
From the late author (1930-2002) of the short story (from the collection Rope Burns>\i>, 2000) that inspired the movie Million Dollar Baby comes Toole's only novel, a tough, tender tale about boxing people. Protagonists Dan Cooley, trainer, and Chicky Garza, prize-fighting tyro, have both suffered the jabs and hooks of outrageous fortune. Cooley has been stalked by tragedy, culminating in the terrible accident that cost him his beloved grandson. Seventeen-year-old Chicky has been brought up by a grandfather who loves him and heroin in equal measure. We see Cooley trying to cope with loss and self-loathing, a struggle that often overwhelms him. We see Chicky exploited and betrayed by the criminal element that clings like barnacles to the bottom side of boxing. Both are severely battered and punchy, so much so that by the time they connect, neither has the emotional wherewithal for optimism about any kind of relationship. But Cooley spots the talent in Chicky and can't resist it. To Chicky, Cooley is the teacher/father he's been desperately searching for. Thus, for each other, they represent at least the possibility of a life redeemed. Not a flawless novel-it softens noticeably in the middle-but the characters are irresistible, and their gritty, savage, strangely noble world is vividly evoked, by the real-life boxing trainer whose real name was Jerry Boyd.
