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A review by wordsmithreads
Featherweight by Mick Kitson
4.0
Fighting is all about watching and reading and knowing where they are gonna go next. It's about seeing where the space is before they fill it: the size of the space tells you how they are gonna fill it up with a shot. It is about hearing their breathing: in when they pull back, out when they let go.
I remember walking around a Barnes and Noble, months ago, and seeing this book in the New Fiction section. I picked it up because of the absolutely gorgeous cover, and the blurb sounded interesting, so I put it on my TBR. There it has sat since it was released last March. No more!
Annie, our protagonist, is a young Romi girl who is sold when she's about 10. Her mother is pregnant, newly widowed, and has several other children to look after. Annie is purchased (adopted, more like it) by a Romi man, Bill Perry, who is a retiring boxer. Bill essentially becomes Annie's father, and as she grows into a young woman, she learns all sorts of things about the world around her — how to run an alehouse, how to box, how to hold her ground, how to read, and how to navigate the world as a young woman pugilist in the mid 1800s.
There are some far-fetched adventures in this, I will admit. Especially in the latter part of the book. But I loved Annie and Jem, Bill and Janey. I found myself fairly invested in the boxing matches, even though I am not a fan of boxing — maybe I just need to time travel to the 1800s and watch bare-knuckle fights?
A fast read for anyone who wants something mostly light though there are a few heavy topics (potential triggers behind the spoiler [
But looking up at the sun glowing through the leaves, and hearing the scutter of sparrow wings, I saw the underside of everything and I knew I was going somewhere that day like them martins knew they was destined for a journey.
I remember walking around a Barnes and Noble, months ago, and seeing this book in the New Fiction section. I picked it up because of the absolutely gorgeous cover, and the blurb sounded interesting, so I put it on my TBR. There it has sat since it was released last March. No more!
Annie, our protagonist, is a young Romi girl who is sold when she's about 10. Her mother is pregnant, newly widowed, and has several other children to look after. Annie is purchased (adopted, more like it) by a Romi man, Bill Perry, who is a retiring boxer. Bill essentially becomes Annie's father, and as she grows into a young woman, she learns all sorts of things about the world around her — how to run an alehouse, how to box, how to hold her ground, how to read, and how to navigate the world as a young woman pugilist in the mid 1800s.
There are some far-fetched adventures in this, I will admit. Especially in the latter part of the book. But I loved Annie and Jem, Bill and Janey. I found myself fairly invested in the boxing matches, even though I am not a fan of boxing — maybe I just need to time travel to the 1800s and watch bare-knuckle fights?
A fast read for anyone who wants something mostly light though there are a few heavy topics (potential triggers behind the spoiler [
Spoiler
some racism again Romi people including use of the slur g*psy, time-appropriate sexism since women didn't yet have the right to vote, violence since they are boxers and there is always alcohol around, brief mention of parent death/child death/institutionalization/suicideBut looking up at the sun glowing through the leaves, and hearing the scutter of sparrow wings, I saw the underside of everything and I knew I was going somewhere that day like them martins knew they was destined for a journey.