The Contender

Rating:
Summary: The Contender the Champion
Review: Alfred Brooks' life looks like it's falling apart; he's a high school dropout and has a grocery store job that is amounting to nothing. He is wanted by dangerous people for something he didn't even do. His best friend James is sinking deeper and deeper into drug addiction And is robbing houses. Alfred accidentally got him in jail. He's a mess his life is way out of whack. So Alfred needed something so he could amount to something. He decides to start to go to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club in Harlem that has trained champions. He learns to box and gets himself an agent. He starts to turn his life around but there are still things going on around him. He learns there that it's the effort that makes the man not the win. It takes perseverance to do what he did and to overcome what he overcame. This book shows what it takes and that someone and anyone can under the worst circumstances become a champion. I would recommend this book for any mature reader. Everyone should read The Contender. It will make you a believer in anything. On a scale of 1 to 100 I'd give a 93. Especially for someone going through tough times or even to anyone this cannot not touch. Everyone will start to believe and everyone can overcome and be A CHAMPION.

Rating:
Summary: The Contender
Review: The Contender, by Robert Lipsute, is an extraordinary book, full of action, adventure, and excitement. After Alfred Brooks, a high school drop-out, is jumped in his Harlem neighborhood, he goes to a gym and the trainer makes him commit to "never quit." He then becomes a "contender." Eventually, he becomes a real boxer and starts to fight. He wins a couple of matches and the bullies stop picking on him. Everything looks great until it happens ...
Alfred is a good kid who didn't see a need for school, so he got a job at a local grocery store. His "friend" was one of the bullies picking on him. Even when everything was terrible, Alfred kept on fighting and didn't quit.
We would recommend this book to anyone who likes excitement and suspense. This wonderful story is full of colorful language and sensory images. At first, it is a bit difficult to get into, but READ ON ... trust us, it is definitely worth it!

Rating:
Summary: The Contender
Review: The Contender, written by Robert Lipsyte, is told by a determined high school dropout named Alfred Brook. He was mistreated by Major and Hollis, street bullies in his neighborhood. Futhermore, his mother died and his father left him, so he must live with his Aunt Pearl.
Alfred is surrounded by people with serious drug addictions in his extremely violent neighborhood in Harlem. Major and Hollis harrass Alfred and, as a result, he feels powerless and afraid. So, he begins to go to Donatelli's Gym, a boxing club which trains champions. Going to the gym, he learns it's the effort, not the winning, that makes the man. Even though Alfred is learning how to fight, he continues to struggle to defend himself against Major and Hollis.
Mr. Donatelli continally reminds Alfred "Before you can be a champion, you must be a contender." Teens and adults will be shocked by this powerful story of how a frightened boy becomes a man.

Rating:
Summary: The Contender
Review: "The Contender," by Robert Lipsyte is an extraordinary book. It had action, adventure and excitement.
The story started out with Alfred Brooks got jumped. That is what caused him to become a contender. He went to a gym and the trainer made him commit to never quit.
Eventually Alfred became a real boxer and started to fight. He won a couple of matches the bully's stopped picking on him and everything was looking great, until it happened...
Alfred is a good kid despite the fact that he dropped out of school. He didn't see any need for school so he just got a job at a grocery store. His "friend" was one of the bully's picking on him. Even when everything is terrible Alfred keeps on fighting and will never quit until it is absolutely necessary.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes excitement and suspense. The wonderful book has colorful language and sensory images. When you first read it, it will be slow and kind of boring. READ ON! Trust me, it's defiantly worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Whoa
Review: The Bookl the contender has a lot of lessons and morals that youmg adults can learn from peer pressure to drugs and alchohol. Alfred is a high school dropout in which has a freind named james that robs the grocery store that alfred works at and the local bullies think that alfred ratted on them when the cops busted him when there was actually a silent alarm. Alfred is then beat up for something that he didnt even do. he is finally is sick of all of it and goes to the local boxing club and starts working out. at first Alfred wants to be champion but the owner of the gym donatelli tells Alfred to be champion you must first be a contender. Does Alfred be come a champ well you tell me after you read the book and find out for your self

Rating:
Summary: put up a tough fight
Review: The Contender

The book is set in Harlem, New York with a teenage African-American boy who is struggling to survive and prove that he can be someone. His childhood friend falls victim to drugs and he sees what it has done to him. He decides he does not want to go down that road too. He chooses to start boxing to stay out of trouble. He becomes a good fighter that everyone in town knows but his manager doesn't think he has what it takes so he pulls him out of boxing. The boy also decided that he doesn't have what it takes. He however has gained the confidence and drive needed to go back to school to get his diploma. He also ends up getting his friend to drug rehab. I liked the book because it really makes you think about being able to reach your goals. It gives you reassurance. The reason that I didn't like it is it was very basic and run of the mill. I learned some things from this book. I learned that you should also try things before you say that you don't like it or can't do it. I am usually the kind of person that does not try new
things very often. This book may give me a reason to start now. I would recommend this book more toward younger kids because of the way the text is set up and the kind of writing that it is seems geared more toward them.

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Summary: cool book
Review: I thought the book wounld not be as good as it was. I thought the book showed who work work can really payoof in the end. The book started with a boy named Alfred ,at lived in Harlem, who goes to the movies with his friend James every friday night. His friend do not come so he went to find him. some boys James hang around was going to rob the store at Alfred worked at. Alfred was brave enough to tell the police about it. That is why I think that it shows what it shows in his character.

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Summary: A great surprise!
Review: I was totally surprised by this book -- I was assigned to read it for class, and was not very enthusiastic; I've never liked sports books, and the book looked like it was going to be just another "After School Special." But I was surprised and completely hooked after reading just a couple pages. The sports stuff is well-written and action-packed, but the book's not so much about sports as it is about growing up and rising above the petty everyday concerns to focus on the future. Well-written, and inspiring without being preachy. The only down point is that it's pretty old -- it was written in 1967, so some stuff might not ring quite as true to young people reading it today. It's still well worth reading, though, as are the sequels The Brave and The Chief.

Rating:
Summary: Five stars, no question
Review: Along with The Outsiders, this is the best adolescent-oriented book I have ever read. Come on, detractors. Youth should be a time of hope, passion, honesty and dreams. It gets a lot harder to hang on to those things later (and sooner than you think) when the conformists outnumber the eagles. This book presents a kid fighting to survive, trying to use his brain and his heart to make his life better. It doesn't get much better than that. Cherish your youth, and read this book--it will reflect and encourage the best of your feelings.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible book by every facet!
Review: Well, the title pretty much gives you my overall opinion. But let me explain myself. I had to read this book for my 7th grade literature class and from the beginning I was dissapointed at the teacher's decision. (as an avid reader myself, I'm always looking for a good book. This unfortunatley did nothing for me and just got in the way of my Palahniuk.) From the annoying naivety of the central character to his one dimensial companians, that alone could give it a 3 star rating. But add the weak writing and story, not to mention the confused metaphors, it puzzles me how this book got the glowing reviews and critical acclaim it did. This book is also highly melodramatic and politically correct. The author is obviously over emphasizing many issues so to make children aware. The descriptions of Harlem make it seem like a complete wasteland just to represent the turmoil that some (mainly black)familys endure. The ending, along with most of the plot was entirley predictable. So in conclusion I would not recommend this for classrooms or bookworms alike, and perhaps only for action seeking kids for the rare fight scenes that do occur.