I liked this book as it’s really well written.
It’s not enjoyable at times as the characters have difficult circumstances and seem doomed to be stuck with what they have in their lives forever. There are dreams here but no one appears to be improving themselves and there seems no hope for them improving themselves either. All the characters seem doomed and this is encapsulated in this line.
He rode, sleeping, to peach orchards, where he spent the sweltering days on ladders among leaves filmed with insecticide.
The two main characters, Billy Tully and Ernie Munger, both have boxing careers of sorts which could promise much, but this promise of riches eludes them both. The reasons why are clear, however all they really need is a break, something to go their way, and things would turn out so much better. Is this ‘break’ something they can generate? Perhaps it is, perhaps not. Is it down to luck or personal choices and attitudes?
Julian Worker Fiction 