This is the story of Sean Crabbe, a young Irish man who is deformed, with an oversized left side. Due to his prodigious strength, he is recruited into the fight game. The story follows his career.




This review is from a different than normal perspective. I am not a sports or boxing fan. I am a fan of good writing, and there is an abundance of it here.

I was particularly impressed by a passage early in the book, where it is suggested that Mr. Crabbe's odd physique was the result of prenatal contact with errant star stuff. It was a very interesting passage, and set the tone for the book for me.




The settings are extremely well done. Mr. Dixon did his homework when he wrote the book. The Irish settings sound authentic. The characters from various locales speak in manners appropriate to their origins. The accents are written convincingly without being overdone or unreadable.




The characters are also very well written. Each one has strengths and flaws. They are portrayed as real people with real beliefs and ambitions.

Oddly, I didn't really like the references to real world figures. I noticed a number of places where I suspect I would have enjoyed the book more if I had known more about the fight circuit. The book was written (or so it seemed to me) to appeal to more than boxing fans, so it might have been helpful if the references were explained for readers who never followed boxing. Overall, though, a very minor complaint.

When I finished I wanted to loan it to a friend on mine. He is from Ireland and would love the sections relating to his homeland.

At the end, I felt very happy. There were numerous messages in the book that made me feel very good.

The author can write a very real story with compelling characters. He can make even unbelivable events seem real.

The story is very well written, the characters are real people who live on after the story is done. The settings are in the real world and have real world authenticity. In short, it is a great read and a lot of fun.

As I said before, I am not a sports or boxing fan, but I found a lot to love about this book.




The star stuff passage and Sean's superhuman strength made it Sciene fiction for me, but everything else was so real that fans of realistic fiction should also be satisfied.

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Created May 11, 2002 at 8:55am • Submit your own review...