Synopses & Reviews
The Polish Boxer covers a vast landscape of human experience while enfolding a search for origins: a grandson tries to make sense of his Polish grandfather's past and the story behind his numbered tattoo; a Serbian classical pianist longs for his forbidden heritage; a Mayan poet is torn between his studies and filial obligations; a striking young Israeli woman seeks answers in Central America; a university professor yearns for knowledge that he can't find in books and discovers something unexpected at a Mark Twain conference. Drawn to what lies beyond the range of reason, they all reach for the beautiful and fleeting, whether through humor, music, poetry, or unspoken words. Across his encounters with each of them, the narrator a Guatemalan literature professor and writer named Eduardo Halfon pursues his most enigmatic subject: himself.
Mapping the geography of identity in a world scarred by a legacy of violence and exile, The Polish Boxer marks the debut of a major new Latin American voice in English.
Review
"Funny and revelatory." New York Times Book Review
Review
"Deeply accessible, deeply moving." Los Angeles Times
Review
"A professor mentors a student, gains wisdom from a Mark Twain scholar and searches for a Gypsy musician, and thats only part of the story in this incredible, achingly real yet enigmatic novel." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"Tight and lean...falling somewhere between the novels of Roberto Bolaño, WG Sebald, and Junot Díaz." Telegraph (UK)
Review
"[The Polish Boxer] exists in the no-mans-land between fiction and memoir. In the end, we decide, this is fable: only the stories are important." Guardian (UK)
Review
"This book provides multiple pleasures: clear, intense prose; sharp, laugh-out-loud depictions of classrooms and conferences...and the apparent seamlessness of the translations....The book itself gives a resounding retort to those who might dismiss it as 'another book 'about the Holocaust." Jewish Journal
Review
"Halfon passionately and lyrically illustrates the significance of the journey and the beauty of true mystery. The Polish Boxer is sublime and arresting, and will linger with readers who will be sure to revisit it again and again." Booklist (starred review)
Review
"Highly readable and engaging...provides readers food for thought about the nature of literary creations." Library Journal
Review
"Brilliant...opens with one of the best classroom scenes I've ever read." Shelf Awareness for Readers
Review
"In the simplest explanation, The Polish Boxer is a series of encounters for literature professor Eduardo
Review
"Eduardo Halfon has been deemed one of the best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogota; read his first work to be translated into English, The Polish Boxer, and you'll see why." Shelf Unbound
Review
"A brave and touching and dead stylish examination of the nature of fiction, truth and lies." Dazed and Confused (UK)
Review
"Halfon's curiosity about his grandfathers experience in a concentration camp burns through every chapter from the most subtle level to deep investigation....He has succeeded in warping a modern Balkan mystery into a Holocaust memoir...intrinsically blend[ing] fiction with reality in a deeply visceral way." Rumpus
Review
"Eduardo Halfon is a brilliant storyteller, whose gifts are displayed on every page of this beautiful, daring, and deeply humane book." Daniel Alarcón, author of War by Candlelight and Lost City Radio
Review
"Eduardo Halfon's prose is delicate, precise, and as ineffable as precocious art — a lighthouse that illuminates everything." Francisco Goldman, author of Say Her Name
Review
"The Polish Boxer is the most memorable new novel I have read all year — the voice pitch-perfect, the imagery indelible. What a wonderful writer." Norman Lebrecht, author of The Song of Names
Synopsis
The English-language debut of a major Latin American writer.
Synopsis
"Elegant" --
Marie Claire "Funny and revelatory." --New York Times Book Review
"Deeply accessible, deeply moving." --Los Angeles Times
The Polish Boxer covers a vast landscape of human experience while enfolding a search for origins: a grandson tries to make sense of his Polish grandfather's past and the story behind his numbered tattoo; a Serbian classical pianist longs for his forbidden heritage; a Mayan poet is torn between his studies and filial obligations; a striking young Israeli woman seeks answers in Central America; a university professor yearns for knowledge that he can't find in books and discovers something unexpected at a Mark Twain conference. Drawn to what lies beyond the range of reason, they all reach for the beautiful and fleeting, whether through humor, music, poetry, or unspoken words. Across his encounters with each of them, the narrator--a Guatemalan literature professor and writer named Eduardo Halfon--pursues his most enigmatic subject: himself.
Mapping the geography of identity in a world scarred by a legacy of violence and exile, The Polish Boxer marks the debut of a major new Latin American voice in English.
Eduardo Halfon was named one of the best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogota and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the prestigious Jose Maria de Pereda Prize for the Short Novel. The Polish Boxer, his first book to appear in English, was a New York Times Editors' Choice selection and finalist for the International Latino Book Award. Halfon is currently the Harman Writer in Residence at Baruch College in New York and travels frequently between his homes in Nebraska and Guatemala.
Synopsis
The nomadic odyssey of Eduardo Halfon begins as he searches for his roots and information about his Polish grandfather's imprisonment at Auschwitz
New York Times Editors' Choice * International Latino Book Award Finalist
The Polish Boxer covers a vast landscape of human experience while enfolding a search for origins: a grandson tries to make sense of his Polish grandfather's past and the story behind his numbered tattoo; a Serbian classical pianist longs for his forbidden heritage; a Mayan poet is torn between his studies and filial obligations; a striking young Israeli woman seeks answers in Central America; a university professor yearns for knowledge that he can't find in books and discovers something unexpected at a Mark Twain conference. Drawn to what lies beyond the range of reason, they all reach for the beautiful and fleeting, whether through humor, music, poetry, or unspoken words. Across his encounters with each of them, the narrator--a Guatemalan literature professor and writer named Eduardo Halfon--pursues his most enigmatic subject: himself.
Mapping the geography of identity in a world scarred by a legacy of violence and exile, The Polish Boxer marks the debut of a major new Latin American voice in English.
About the Author
Eduardo Halfon was born in Guatemala City, moved to the U.S. at the age of ten, went to school in South Florida, studied Industrial Engineering at North Carolina State University, and then returned to Guatemala to teach literature for eight years at Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Named one of best young Latin American writers by the Hay Festival of Bogotá, he is also the recipient of the prestigious José María de Pereda Prize for the Short Novel and has published ten previous books of fiction in Spanish. In 2011 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to work on continuing the story of
The Polish Boxer, which is inspired by his own family history and is the first of his novels to be published in English. Halfon currently lives in Nebraska and travels frequently to Guatemala.
In consultation with the author, The Polish Boxer was translated from the Spanish by an accomplished international team of five: Ollie Brock, Thomas Bunstead, Lisa Dillman, Daniel Hahn, and Anne McLean.