Idealized Jack and Charmian, in the boxing game

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	• The Abysmal Brute Jack London Wildside Press, 2007 - 68 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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Not your average boxing story

I'm always happy to see one of Jack London's lesser-known works get plucked from obscurity and brought back into print. Originally published in book form in 1913, this short novel tells the story of Young Pat Glendon, a proverbial "babe in the woods" who is brought out of the wilderness to embark on a big-city prizefighting career. London has written boxing tales before, most notably the excellent short story "A Piece of Steak" and the novel "The Game". His style of gritty realism is well-suited to the sport. The detailed, naturalistic descriptions of boxing matches, the people who fight them, and the combat strategy involved really makes you feel like you're there in the ring with the contenders. In this book, the vivid realism is somewhat counteracted by the fact that London makes his hero into such a superman that his perfection defies believability. On the other hand, with a little updating this book could easily be turned into a Hollywood movie (where defying believability is commonplace). It's not just another typical underdog-overcomes-adversity-to-win-the-championship type of boxing story. There are some unexpected turns in the plot which are a pleasant surprise. The introductory essay by Michael Oriard puts the book into historical context, and gives the reader a good picture of the boxing world of a hundred years ago. Oriard also addresses the issue of whether or not London was a racist, and the role of race in boxing at the turn of the century.

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Wonderful to have this in print

If you're reading this, you must, like me be a Jack London fan who is able to enjoy some of his less well known and somewhat flawed work. If so, you'll enjoy _The Abysmal Brute_. It's great to have this in print.

If you're interested in Jack London, you may want to ask your ISP to carry the newsgroup alt.books.jack-london, where we discuss his life, works, and ideas.

Anyone who has read Malamud's _The Natural_ (or seen the movie based on it) has to wonder whether Malamud was thinking of _The Abysmal Brute_. The theme is the same; only the sport is different.

This is one of London's boxing stories (the others are his fine short stories "The Mexican" and "A Piece of Steak," and his novel _The Game_)

I loved the first half of the book. Even though it's silly and unbelievable, Pat Glendon is a memorable character. He's one of Jack London's superheros, a boxer who totally outclasses every other living boxer while reads Browning in his spare time.

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Idealized Jack and Charmian, in the boxing game

The Abysmal Brute is a quick read, but it is under-appreciated in importance for Jack London fans. London critics seem to frequently concentrate on his "socialist" fiction or his "nature" stories. Sometimes lost in the discussion are novels that emphasize London's interest in individualism, and the rise of the "superman." In the Abysmal Brute, we get tastes of various sides of London. Jack the social reformer shows us the corruption of the boxing game. Jack the individualist shows us the superman, a boxer who grew up in the wilderness, can beat any fighter in the world in short order, and attends literary lectures an hour before the big fight and reads poetry in his spare time. This seems to be London's fantasy self, inflated to incredible proportions. He has an equally powerful mate in the form of a reporter who is skeptical of the boxing game, Young Pat's equal/mate who is of course Charmian London in thin disguise. Suspend disbelief and have fun with this one, and realize there are deeper issues beneath the fantasy coating.

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Jack London's tale of the corruption of prize fighting -- and the one young fighter who dared to stand up against it!

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