Staff Pick
Fat City follows retired boxer Billy Tully and up-and-comer Ernie Munger. They meet briefly in the opening and go on very different paths throughout this dark, gritty, and beautiful novel. This is one of those underrated, lost books that you put down and wonder why you'd never heard of it before; why aren't more people reading this? It was Gardner's only novel, but one is all you need when you write a story as perfect as this. Recommended By Jeffrey J., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Fat City is a vivid novel of allegiance and defeat, of the potent promise of the good life and the desperation and drink that waylay those whom it eludes. Stockton, California, is the setting: the Lido Gym, the Hotel Coma, Main Street lunchrooms and dingy bars, days like long twilights in houses obscured by untrimmed shrubs and black walnut trees. When two men meet in the ring--the retired boxer Billy Tully and the newcomer Ernie Munger--their brief bout sets into motion their hidden fates, initiating young Munger into the company of men and luring Tully back into training. In a dispassionate and composed voice, Leonard Gardner narrates their swings of fortune, and the stubborn optimism of their manager, Ruben Luna, as he watches the most promising boys one by one succumb to some undefined weakness; still, "There was always someone who wanted to fight."