First published 1996
Billy Tully hangs around gas stations in Stockton, California, nursing dreams of boxing glory while his life crumbles around him. At thirty, he's already worn down by failed relationships and dead end jobs. When he meets teenage Ernie Munger at the gym, Billy sees his younger self in the kid's hungry ambition. Ernie trains hard, believing the ring will deliver him from his blue collar existence. The two fighters' paths cross in a world of field dust and relentless heat, where men and women form desperate connections on levees and Greyhound buses. Both boxers struggle against the weight of their circumstances, throwing punches at an indifferent universe. Their parallel journeys reveal how hope persists even when life delivers nothing but punishment. Gardner captures the anguish and comedy of people trapped by their limitations yet unable to stop reaching for something better.
Genres: fiction, drama, american-fiction, 20th-century, coming-of-age
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, parallel-narratives
Setting: Stockton, California
Period: 20th-century
183 pages · Paperback · University of California Press