The Knockout Artist by Harry Crews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A boxer whose only skill is knocking himself out... Outside of this work which takes the skill seriously for the down-on-his luck freak of ahtletic, I have only seen the ploy as a gag. Crews makes it work, which is impressive and especially to me that rarely reads and is less rarely moved to remember modern fiction. Setting the hero’s career in the New Orleans underworld was part of the reason I originally read the work; I then and still now loved the city and its possibilities. From such possibiliites, Crews comjures up the mysterious trainer Jake, perverse tycoon named Oyster Boy; and lover Charity, an earnest psychology graduate student. These are featrues in the city’s decandent and poisonous pool of tawdry sex clubs, fantastic deals, and private parties where every whim is indulged. Transformation (a near requirement for a good novel) comes when hero Eugene must confront his self-respect, which arrives in the person of an immensely talented young Cajun fighter - an innocent in whom he recognizes something of what he had once been.
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