Cover Image: The Boxer

The Boxer

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I no longer have an interest in reviewing this title but would like to thank the publisher and author for the opportunity, it is now far past the publication and archive date. I have awarded 3 stars to keep this review neutral.

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This is the story of Sunny, based on the author's own experiences. Sunny is beaten up by random strangers in a racist attack. This is the story of the aftermath, his mental health, his new friends and family. Interwoven with his story is a boxing match from the future between Keir and Sunny, supposedly friends at the start but the reader soon learns this may not be the case in the futures. It's raw, and shocking, and unbelievably still relevant today.

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Nikesh Shukla’s latest YA novel tells the story of 17 year old Sunny, who has recently moved to Bristol to seek treatment for his terminally-ill father. Sunny is a somewhat timid Asian boy who is inspired to take up boxing following an unprovoked racist attack on his way home. The boxing gym provides him with self-confidence and friendship though his relationship with a boy called Keir.

In terms of its narrative, this is a typical coming of age story, but the way the narrator’s story is told by being juxtaposed with the ten rounds of a boxing match feels fresh. At times the dialogue of the young people in this novel feels dated and a little inauthentic, but overall the way radicalisation is explored, in terms of who is vulnerable to radicalisation and what their motivations may be, is nuanced and pertinent.

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This was an incredibly powerful, well told read. The voice of the main character is unlike anything I’ve ever read before and it’s a book i’ll Come back to again and again.

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The original story telling format will definitely hook some readers who may not have otherwise picked up this book, It's an engaging, thought provoking story with chracters that the reader can connect with. Will definitely be adding to our recommended reads list.

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Sunny has to move to a new city away from everything and everyone he knew when his father needs hospice care. The move has strained a relationship that was not good even before his father became ill. Sunny's mother has to work two jobs to pay the bills and put food on the table leaving Sunny very much on his own in this new city.
Following a racist attack which leaves Sunny badly injured both physically and mentally, he starts on the road to recovery through the kindness of strangers, Surinder and Shobu, and starts to widen his friendship circle as he learns to box.
This is told from Sunny's perspective throughout. His struggles to come to terms with his family situation and the fall out from the attack are very real and painful. The author, Shukla, succeeds in taking the reader on this journey too as Sunny finds his way to being a stronger person.
I will buy this for our library, but will mark it as 14+ as it needs some maturity to deal with the racism issues raised, and reflect on the reader's own environment. It would definitely make a good group read for discussion.

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Sometimes your rating for a book depends more on how much you’re in the mood for a particular book than the book itself, and I definitely feel like that’s partly what happened here. For some reason, I was just not in the right frame of mind to read this one and that probably did have a bit of an impact on how much I enjoyed it. But don’t get me wrong – I did still like this book. I could have liked it more, is what I’m saying.

The Boxer is about Sunny, who is the subject of a racist attack while waiting for the train. At the suggestion of a friendly taxi driver, Surinder, Sunny decides to join a boxing club. Here, he meets Shobu, a former professional boxer who becomes his mentor, and Keir, another youth boxer. Sunny and Keir strike up a quick friendship, but things start turning sour as tensions rise in Bristol and Sunny starts to lose Keir to radicalisation.

If there’s one thing in books that really gets me sad, it’s the falling apart of friendships. Even for absolutely valid reasons like here. So, obviously, this book made me sad. Which, I guess, is testament to Nikesh Shukla’s writing and character development. I knew from the start that Keir would go down the route that he did (it’s pretty well-signposted, even with the blurb telling you), and yet I still found myself sad on Sunny’s behalf that he was losing a friend in this way, even as he built a family around himself.

Also testament to the character development is that I felt genuinely nervous for Sunny at certain points in the book. (To be fair, at least one of those was because he was doing a stupid thing, even if it was for someone he thought could still be a friend.) Which meant, at times, I was reluctant to read it almost, because I didn’t want to have my heart broken like that.

All this makes it sound like I could definitely have rated this higher than I did, but I think what I struggled with at times was the writing style. I can be fairly particular about writing styles, especially ones I like, and there were just a few too many times where it felt a little clunky to me. I got used to it eventually – I definitely noticed less clunkiness as the book went on – but that early feeling of not really liking the writing stuck with me.

Writing aside, though, this was probably a case of right book at the wrong time for me. So, although I liked it, I could have liked it more.

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Started reading this one this afternoon and just kept on going. One of the best books for teenagers that I’ve read in a while. Loved the transformation of the main character and really rooted for him. I wish there were more books that focused on the positive impact of finding a sport, and a mentor, for teenagers and I’ll definitely be recommending this.

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The Boxer by @nikeshshukla, that 1st chapter is *devastatingly* good. While in the boxing ring, Sunny remembers what got him there - joining the club after a racist attack.

The night of the launch of #BookTrustRepresents seems to be a good moment to mention that I finished @nikeshshukla's The Boxer & it is *outstanding* (with fantastic cover artwork by Michelle Brackenborough) #UKYA #ReflectingRealities Not out until June tho, from @hodderchildrens

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This is a short book, but I struggled to slog my way through it. It felt like it was missing a layer - it's so much about the protagonist and his struggles, but I'm missing some necessary element of a story to make me care. While I empathised for the MC's situation and what he went through, I couldn't care for him as a character because he was just too flat.

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