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A review by yights
The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It’s weird to say but, put plainly, reading this book just made me feel bad. I can’t quite wrap my head around why. Though maybe I expected more levity from the book, to go with the tough topics it tackles about life and people. Instead it was like an experience of building dread over and over where there’s such specific focus on real life that it’s hard to shake the heaviness when the book is set down. Now that is definitely quite a feat for an author, but it diverged greatly from the experience I was looking for with this book (which could just be a me problem!).
I really admire the way Thorpe writes characters and the grasp she has on the messy things humans can do, plus all the overlapping situations that can come from it. Often I’ve seen her handle this with a mix of humor about those situations. It’s not “ha ha” funny, but like when something ridiculous happens and you just kind of have to throw up your hands and take it for what it is, find the amusement from things where you can, and keep moving forward. That quality was not as present in this book, for me, but the same honesty was. Which I do think speaks a lot to her intelligence about people and the nuance with which she can address the world. Particularly its messy, interesting bits.
I think it comes down to, I just don’t really believe that Michael ever really loved Bunny. It is said many, many times and it is all mixed up with hate by the end. But I didn’t feel the seed of human caring that all sprouted from was true. I’m not even sire I can pinpoint when it was supposed to have happened. Michael’s life also seemed to become too tidy and disparate from his teenage years too quickly at the end, while Bunny’s went in the total opposite direction. That definitely can happen in real life, but it felt strange narratively because of how quick those last few chapters were, covering a ton of ground. Though I recognize how the two characters are meant to act as continuous mirrors of each other, sometimes of the funhouse variety.
There’s a neat structure to this book where it’s told from Michael’s perspective in past tense. And, while I know the 3rd POV past narrator is pretty common, this version was much more cognizant of what that actually means for the narrative than is often explored. The Michael telling this story is older, so he knows things his teenage self did not. Even though teenage Michael is who we spend the most time getting to know. What I found strange was that the voice usually felt like a teenager, it had teenage logic and perspectives when going through reflective thoughts. They were more surface level than something an older adult in Michael’s position is likely to have. Which was oddly interspersed with occasional observations like, “if only I knew then what I know now …” that were more clearly an adult Michael speaking. It just led to a bit of an inconsistent voice, I thought.
tldr; This is a good read if you like complex characters, who are wrong at least as often as they are right, and if you are not looking for a happy ending
I really admire the way Thorpe writes characters and the grasp she has on the messy things humans can do, plus all the overlapping situations that can come from it. Often I’ve seen her handle this with a mix of humor about those situations. It’s not “ha ha” funny, but like when something ridiculous happens and you just kind of have to throw up your hands and take it for what it is, find the amusement from things where you can, and keep moving forward. That quality was not as present in this book, for me, but the same honesty was. Which I do think speaks a lot to her intelligence about people and the nuance with which she can address the world. Particularly its messy, interesting bits.
I think it comes down to, I just don’t really believe that Michael ever really loved Bunny. It is said many, many times and it is all mixed up with hate by the end. But I didn’t feel the seed of human caring that all sprouted from was true. I’m not even sire I can pinpoint when it was supposed to have happened. Michael’s life also seemed to become too tidy and disparate from his teenage years too quickly at the end, while Bunny’s went in the total opposite direction. That definitely can happen in real life, but it felt strange narratively because of how quick those last few chapters were, covering a ton of ground. Though I recognize how the two characters are meant to act as continuous mirrors of each other, sometimes of the funhouse variety.
There’s a neat structure to this book where it’s told from Michael’s perspective in past tense. And, while I know the 3rd POV past narrator is pretty common, this version was much more cognizant of what that actually means for the narrative than is often explored. The Michael telling this story is older, so he knows things his teenage self did not. Even though teenage Michael is who we spend the most time getting to know. What I found strange was that the voice usually felt like a teenager, it had teenage logic and perspectives when going through reflective thoughts. They were more surface level than something an older adult in Michael’s position is likely to have. Which was oddly interspersed with occasional observations like, “if only I knew then what I know now …” that were more clearly an adult Michael speaking. It just led to a bit of an inconsistent voice, I thought.
tldr; This is a good read if you like complex characters, who are wrong at least as often as they are right, and if you are not looking for a happy ending