The Knockout Artist

by Harry Crews

Book Overview

Crews's novel about a boxer with the gift of knocking himself unconscious, with a new foreword by New York Times-bestselling author S. A. Cosby

A Penguin Classic

A favorite of longtime Harry Crews fans, The Knockout Artist (1988) portrays Eugene Talmadge Biggs, a young boxer from rural Georgia whose champion rise is diverted by a vulnerability, or gift, for knocking himself unconscious. As he begins...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 014313793X
• ISBN13: 9780143137931
• Release Date: June 2024
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.9" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

Writing That Doesn't Back Down

Harry Crews pulls no punches. Often, when I'm reading other books, I get the impression that authors are censoring themselves, or that they aren't really staring life in the face and taking its account. With Harry Crews, I never get that impression. He writes loud and doesn't back down. And, as a result, the book's story goes exactly where it should, the characters become what they should, and everything falls remarkably into place. This book doesn't seem to start with a clear vision, but because of the writing's drive, the coherency of the plot, and the moral struggles of the characters, the novel comes together and produces an excellent ending that fits the rest of the book like a glove. I don't recommend this book to everyone. It's got a lot of vulgar language and vulgar topics. The characters' impressions of the world often made me uncomfortable. This is not a light read. Instead, this is a compelling read, something that will beat you across the head, and maybe knock you out.

wow

Crews is such a fine writer. Spare, Smart, Willing to look at people that others turn away from. His prose is on par with Jim Thompson or Chester Himes. It ain't pretty, but it is true and engaging.

Perhaps the best work of the great Harry Crews.

I am a huge Harry Crews fan. No one writes quite like this hyperrealistic gothic southern writer, and no one can create such bizarre characters in so few pages. Indeed, I have read "The Knockout Artist" several times, and always get something different out of it. As always, Crews concerns himself with the larger questions in life, especially how to maintain one's moral compass in a surreal amoral world (here its New Orleans), but he also creates characters as compelling as one can find in late 20th century fiction. You will root for the main character and never forget those that he meets along the way. To address one of the other reviews, in Crews' world, it is hardly surprising that there are people who would pay handsomely to see someone knock himself unconscious. I am sure that in the underbelly of any major city, (which certainly would include New Orleans!) there are those who have desires far stranger than this. I urge you to read this book. If you like it, run out and buy "A Feast of Snakes," which is just as good.

Over the top, yes, but for good reason.

Sometimes to satirize one must approach the extreme, venture into the unbelievable or explore the ridiculous. I'm sorry one of the reviewers failed to grasp this. The Knockout Artist is one of the finest pieces of fiction ever written by a contemporary American author. It grabs at the heartstrings and yanks them out of tune, then proceeds to play Mariachi in dropped D tuning. I laughed, I cried,....In seriousness, Harry Crews is going to be one of those authors who will be taught in college courses fifty years from now, well after he's dead and gone. We are fortunate to be living at the same time as a legend.

freaks, fighters, and moral struggles to survive

when all you have is one occupation, one talent, one desire and your denied the "glory" of being at the top you settle for what pays your bills. talents big and small can be made into a capital gaining venture but when you lose some bit of respect for yourself what is that you really have left