Pound for Pound [Hardcover]

Starred Review. 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.)
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“. . . 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 )