Books: Million Dollar Baby

(Note: this book was originally published as "Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner")

The main character of the short story "Million Dollar Baby" can be viewed as an analogue of author F.X. Toole. Too old for their respective fields, and tired from countless rejections, each took one last swing at immortality - and hit the mark. The short story was adapted into an Academy Award-winning motion picture, and now Toole (a pen name for Jerry Boyd) and his work are famous.

Here is a collection of short stories about boxing in all its myriad manifestations. From shoving adrenaline into cuts, to working the heavy bag, to smelly fights in seedy gyms in Tijuana and beyond, there's virtually no corner of the boxing world left untouched. The characters are generally drawn well, the prose chugs ahead with relentlessness, and the overall plots are okay if unsurprising (except for the aforementioned "Million Dollar Baby").

The collection itself is a bit hard to judge. I'm a boxing fan, so I instantly took to the fascinating details of training, treating cuts, and fighting - as well as the motley characters that inhabit Toole's world, a wonderland seemingly devoted to fighters and their craft. Some of the dialect, especially the story "Black Jew," can get tedious to slog through, but overall, it's a quick, entertaining read.

Worth checking out from the library or buying on discount from a store.