THE FIGHTER, by Craig Davidson

(originally posted on September 25, 2007)

Perhaps the best possible praise I can heap upon Davidson's debut novel is that THE FIGHTER is less about the bloody, brutal scenes of bare-knuckle boxing than about what it means to be a man - and have some degree of manhood - at a time when many upper-middle-class families will do anything in their power to shield their children from having to pull up any sort of bootstraps and engage in hard work and labor. For that, I must thank Davidson profusely.