The Boxer

Rating:
Summary: The Boxer
Review: "The Boxer" was an okay book with not a whole lot of a knockout ending. Johnny Woods a lower class kid living in the tenements of Manhattan in the 1800's is supporting his family after his father leaves 3 years earlier. Johnny is walking home from the sweatshop one night, and stops at Brodie's Saloon where they offer boxing to anyone, and the winner wins five dollars. When Johnny is fighting, the saloon is raided by the police Johnny ends up with a sentence of 6 months in prison. When in prison he meets the "Professor" Michael O'Shaunessy. Michael offers to train him in prison and continue to train him when they get out of prison at his Upper East Side New York Athletic Club. When Johnny gets out he is surprised with the return of his father. He now must concentrate on fights and his family. This was an overall okay book. I expected a better ending then what was given.

Rating:
Summary: High in suspense! A real page turner!
Review: "You can't handle it you weren't meant to be in the ring." Thats what the Professor said to Johnny during a boxing match then Johnny knocked the other boxer out and won the match.If you are a real sports person this is the book for you! Frist I thought it was boring and i just wanted to get through the book but after the frist chapter i didn't want to stop. This book was about a poor kid named Johnny and how he wanted to be a boxer. Frist match he had and he was caught boxing illegla. So he got shipped off to prison. Later on in the book going to prison was probly the best thing in his life that happened to him. He met a guy named Professor O'Shaunnessey. He was a middle weight champion. He saw Johnny punch a guy and offered to help Johnny with boxing. Johnny had training every morning warm up excrises. Then Johnny six months in jail was up and the Professor said that he would meet up with Johnny when he got out of jail. While Johnny was waiting to here from the Professor he went back to school and began to box again. When O'Shaunnessy meets up with Johnny again more page turners start all over again.

Rating:
Summary: A Definite Contender
Review: Kathleen Karr's THE BOXER is a great story about a young man who makes his own way in the world and reaches for dreams that he would have never dared if life hadn't forced him to succeed. Fifteen-year old Johnny Woods dropped out of school and started working 12-hour days in a sweatshop ironing clothes to help his mother support his five younger siblings. His dad ran out on them a long time ago. But the money Johnny makes hardly puts a dent in the mounting bills the struggling family faces. Then, one night, he reads an ad on Brodie's Saloon about a boxing match. Whoever wins the boxing match receives a five-dollar prize purse. In 1885 New York City's Lower East Side, five dollars is a month's rent. Johnny signs up, gets his first bout and may be on his way to winning his first match, then gets arrested by the New York City Police. In 1885, prize-fighting was illegal, especially the way the sport was run in Brodie's Saloon. Sentenced to six months in jail, Johnny figures out he's got to change his life, and he finds the man to help him do it. Michael O'Shaunnessey, called Perfessor by those who know him, was a boxer and fight manager, and he begins training young Johnny. Using his wits, his muscle, and his courage, Johnny begins the transformation that will forever alter his life and the lives of those around him.

An author of a number of books, Kathleen Karr apparently loves to blend her fiction with history and real people. Other books she's written include SKULLDUGGERY (a story about a young boy helping a well-meaning grave robber practice his trade), THE GREAT TURKEY WALK (the tale of a boy herding turkeys to Denver, and the book was on the Best Book of the Year lists by SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL and PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY), and the Petticoat Party series (books about young girls going West on a wagon train. Her heroines and heroes are always well-done and draw readers into their problems and into the stories.

THE BOXER is an excellent tale and a fantastic read. The author brings images of late 19th century New York City's slum areas and lifestyles into view for young readers without hitting them over the head with history. She doesn't describe the events like they're history. She presents Johnny's world as it is and as he sees it. Of course, many readers will note the difference between then and now, but Karr leaves that up to the reader rather than drawing special importance to those facts. Karr's ear for dialogue, both internal in the first-person point of view and in the conversations between the characters, is true to life, but written so that the words on the page pass amazingly quick. She keeps up a rapid pace that encourages young readers to keep turning page. The focus she maintains on the family, and Johnny's growing vision of the family's plight and what he can do about it, is fantastic. Johnny is a great hero, but remains very human in the reader's view.

The only thing that needed a little more attention was the last fight. Karr builds the readers up to an all-or-nothing finish, yet the final showdown is somehow anti-climatic. However, the interweaving of the Perfessor's knowing remarks with scenes from the battle in progress are nicely done.

Anyone interested in getting a glimpse of the past through the eyes of a hero with a great heart will enjoy this book. Readers that like fiction that is fast-paced and filled with dialogue will blaze through this story. In addition to an enjoyable read, readers will make a new friend and gain a mentor in Johnny Woods, inside and outside the boxing ring. THE BOXER is a fun read, and the book is emotionally uplifting.

Rating:
Summary: This book will knock you out! (But not really)
Review: That is of course, only if you like boxing. John Woods: a poor, tenament resident with a mother and young siblings to take care of, and a dead end job in the sweat shops that wasn't getting him anywhere, needed a miracle. And while walking down the street one day, he thinks he finds one: boxing. Boxing paid big money, and John knew he could do it, so he tries out in a place Brodie's Bar. During his first bout, the place is stormed by the cops (boxing was illegal without a permit) and John is sent to the "Tombs" (prison) for 6 months. Luckily, it was a hidden blessing, For John meets "The Perfessor" O'Shaunnessey. Ex-pro boxer, who now owned an athletic club. After getting out of the Tombs, his training begins at the club, and now his only goal is to get his family out of the tenaments, and into a decent home. If you're the person that enjoys boxing, I would say this book is definitely for you. If you do not like boxing like me, it will still be an enjoyable book (it was very well written), but it will not be as enjoyable...I give it 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: The Boxer
Review: The book the boxer is a great book and relates to the time period the author wrote it in, like the money was worth more to them than today. This book also has so many different emotions, which keep the reader from stop reading in the middle. To rate this book I will give it two thumbs up out of two thumbs, for keeping the reader interested.

Rating:
Summary: the Boxer
Review: The boxer is a great book that contains losts of action and family values. I think this is a great book and all audiences, children teens and adults would like it. With this book you can learn a lot and have a great time reading it. with this book you can enjoy action while many problems arise for the main character Jonny. If you like the author Kathleen Karr I would definatly recomend this book. It is one of her best yet and it outdoes any year 2000 books. This book should defanitly become a best seller!

Rating:
Summary: This book's a champ.
Review: This is an exceptionally good book, particularly for boys. The nineteenth-century hero, Johnny Woods, lives in a crowded tenement and makes a meager living in a sweatshop ironing shirts. He escapes a dead-end life by becoming a boxer. He's young hero who's not afraid to fight, but also caring enough to take on responsibility for the whole brood of younger children that his father has abandoned. There aren't many stories where boy heroes are both agressive, determined winners and also nurturing, and responsible--seeking a good life not only for themselves, but for family and neighbors. The fight scenes are exciting and varied, but don't glorify violence or overlook the damage boxing can do to fighters who stay in the ring too long.
For its values, its setting, and its invaluable but understated lessons, this book is a winner.
One last virtue to note: the young boxer is small--a bantam weight--, a David against a merciliess Goliath-- Gilded Age New York City. He wins through his spirit and his brains as much as his muscle. This is a particularly comforting book for boys who aren't destined to be six foot eight basketball stars, and who'll discover in THE BOXER that manhood and respect depend on maturity and intelligence, not size.

Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Usually i do not like reading books. Being in 10th grade i guess that applies to everyone. Well, i found this book, and i read it in one day. It was that good. Mrs. Karr is able to keep the story very interesting with many turningpoints. Johnny ends up going from a sweatshop worker eating cabbage every day, to being a lightwieght boxing champion, and having steak and other great foods almost everyday. If you are like me, where you usually do not like reading books, this book would be great for you.