Circle Home

9781585744800

1585744808

Set against the backdrop of the streets of New York City, the fishing wharfs of Boston in the fifties, and the prizefighting gyms of both cities, Denny Kelly's life is on the skids. He's down and out and falling fast. Kelly is a twenty-nine-year-old has-been who isn't ready to give up. He wants to fight again, to regain that illusory sense of power and grace. It's the only thing he knows how to do. He's walked out on his wife and daughter, has destroyed everything important in his life, all in pursuit of recapturing that moment of glory in the ring - the gladiatorial triumph that has always justified every defeat, every humiliation. Hoagland takes us deep into the prizefighter's hopes and struggles. We smell the blood and sweat of the gym, meet the wildly eccentric trainers, managers, and fighters, and sense the crackling tension of the ring. And keenly, we feel the burden of Kelly's choices. We live Kelly's dreams and wince at his failures, and our heart aches for him because we know he's running out of time.