Get It Now The Knockout Queen Formulated By Rufi Thorpe Available As Bound Copy

Knockout Queen" is about the bond and friendship between two unlikely friends that live next door to each other Michael and Bunny.
They are as different as can be and they are both antagonized for what makes them different and unique at school, This book is about how far you would actually go for a friend and the consequences to those actions and what it means to actually be an unconditional, loyal friend.


I really enjoyed parts of this and then really didn't love other parts, I think the writing was very good, I am wondering if maybe I wasn't quite in the right headspace for this book, At the same time when I think about that aspect I did an audio at the same time that had similar topics and I loved that one, so I am not entirely sure if it was me or the book, or a combination of both.
It is dark and heavy, it deals with some incredibly heavy issues, To name just a few, bigotry, mental health, physical and emotional abuse, and addiction, To be honest I didn't really care for the characters overall or their actions, reactions, and behaviors, I wasnt in any real hurry to finish it, It seemed to drag out for quite some time, For me it took a long time to complete it and it is very short, I felt very indifferent about what was going to happen, With the weight of these topics I would have expected to feel some very strong feelings and feel very attached to the characters or have a strong like or dislike for them.
I felt very indifferent about them, The topics, the events, the characters, I should have felt every emotion possible in this book and I just didnt quite get there, But I should have. As already stated I was feeling all of those emotions with the recent audio so I question it being more of the book and I just not connecting this time around.


I absolutely loved the last couple chapters of this book, If the entire book had had the same feel as the last couple chapters I think I would have an entirely different opinion of this book.
I would read another book by this author as I did like the style, Thanks to Knopf for an advanced copy of this book,

Finallymy secondstar book of the year! I loved Thorpes last novel Dear Fang, With Love and this “dark coming of age story” per the publisherand I agree was even better.
Its a characterdriven story though there is a lifechanging incident that drives the plot of two teenagers who feel like outsiders in their own ways trying to come to terms with who they are amid their own family drama.
Its about young people losing their innocenceboth literally and figuratively, Its full of teenage awkwardnessand reminded me a bit of My Sunshine Away in this respect, Thorpes voice and writing are the of this showas are the characters of Bunny and Michael, who are flawed, yet endearing.
I think readers will be drawn to them, Plus, Bunny is an elite volleyball player and you know how much I love a female athlete protagonist!

Visit sitelink sarahsbookshelves. com for more reviews,.stars

“I felt then that no one would ever know who I was, No one, I thought, was even capable of seeing another person clearly, let alone loving them, ”

Im going to be honest and say that I was not at all expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.
Why on earth would I want to revisit high school years and spend time inside the heads of these teenagers It was painful enough back then why repeat the experience! Well, all my doubts were laid to rest.
If you place yourself in the care of a highly capable author, then the subject matter doesnt make much difference at all really.
Rufi Thorpe is one of those authors, Her writing is smart, the dialogue realistic, and shes remarkably perceptive about people,

“I knew that sometimes people found themselves in a moment, They found themselves pressed up against themselves inside of a claustrophobic moment, And you couldnt see how it really was from the outside, ”

Very generally, this is a story about friendship, Its told through the voice of Michael looking back after a period of years, Its Bunny Lamperts story he tells, but in the end we learn so much about him that I became truly fond of Michael himself.
On the surface, Bunny seems to have it all money, popularity, athletic prowess, Naturally, thats not really the case, and he soon learns that there is an overwhelming loneliness in Bunnys life, Michael hides from all the fact that he is gay, including his aunt whom hes been living with since his mothers incarceration.
He doesnt really have any friends to speak of, and he has furtive hook ups with often much older men whom he has met through Craigslist.
Only with Bunny does Michael feel the security and trust to share his true self,

“Bunnys very unfamiliarity with guile, her inability to dissemble to even the slightest degree, somehow gave me permission to be my unadorned self as well.
”

Im not going to share any more of the meat of this story, because you really have to read it yourself.
I can say that it deals with multiple subjects with skill, compassion and humor, This could have been a dark, heavy story, because many of the topics are tough, Alcoholism, bullying, violence, and risky behaviors are not taken lightly, yet they dont plunge the reader into despair either, There is a pivotal point in the story that for me was a huge surprise and I would not have set this down for a second if I didnt absolutely have to.
Thorpes writing is refreshing and wholly unexpected, I read this with my friend Anne and we were both pleased that our own risktaking by reading outside our goto genres rewarded us quite generously.


I highly recommend this intelligent, comingofage story that for me was completely different from any I have read before, For any readers that wonder if this is a young adult novel no! It is an adult novel that is written by someone with keen insight into the lives and emotions of young adults.
I have Thorpes Dear Fang, With Love sitting in my stack and it surely wont get lost in the shuffle.


“Who were we I wondered, Who was anyone”
I really hate to do this but this is going to have to be a DNF for me.
I rarely do this but I just can't get into this book, Afterdays I am barely half way done, I can't connect to a single character, Life is too short and there are just too many good ones out there, My first DNF from BOTM, Update
This magnificent literary novel was a finalist for thePEN Faulkner Award, It was a real treat watching Rufi Thorpe read and talk about why this book is important for this time, She appears at minute:of this award ceremony video but the whole hour is good, Enjoy: sitelink youtube. com/watchvBuRvh

review
This book is wonderful, Magnificent. Any superlative adjective you can think of,

It is the story of a friendship between a young gay guy told from the vantage point of adulthood with a huge young girl.
The writing is fantastic, dialogue that flows like real life there are layers and complexity and contradictionsjust

like real life, There is philosophy but it never comes forced,

Simply put, this is everything I look for in a good book, Read it for a great reading experience,



Morning After Note
As an editor who has spent too many hours of my life in "cover meetings"meetings where editorial staff discuss covers in my case, for the magazine I used to work forI cannot quash my impulse to say something about The Knockout Queen's outer wrapping, just in case there is anybody who is turned off by it.
The cover represents the book, but it does not give asecond glancer they've actually timed how long browsers look at prospective covers in bookstores an inkling about the depth and standout writing contained within.


I've been gnashing my teeth about what would accurately represent this book, and I've got zero ideas, This is a stunningly written literary novel about friendship, written with deep understanding of humanity and curiosity about how we came to be this way.
Although the characters are young for most of the book, it is certainly not YA fiction or chick lit, which might be asecond assumption from this cover.


So read this book of you love good writing, if you long for understanding of our human condition, if you revel in honest expression of it.
Bunny is a privileged teenager growing up in a McMansion with her father, Ray, She is exceptionally tall, but uses it to her advantage on the volleyball court, hoping to one day make the Olympics,

Michael is coming to terms with his sexuality and troubled childhood, When his mother is sent to prison for three years after stabbing his abusive, alcoholic father with a butter knife, Michael moves into his Aunt's house.
Her house is tiny and run down, but next door to Bunny's,

The two form an unlikely friendship, accepting the other entirely as they are, This is a novel riddled with violence and abuse, unhealthy relationships, and dysfunctional characters, It's also a novel filled with love, humor, and a beautiful story of overcoming the most challenging odds,

I absolutely recommend this coming of age book for anyone who enjoys dark, characterdriven storylines,.Stars

Her name was Bunny Lampert, and she was the princess of North Shore, and somehow, almost against my will, I became her friend.


I suppose, being nextdoor neighbors, it was inevitable that Michael and Bunny would eventually meet, although Michael seemed to feel out of place in his aunts house where hed gone to live after his mother went away.
A tiny tired old house stuck in between two mansions, in a neighborhood gradually being “upgraded, ” Bunny, on the other hand, lived in a mansion, Both were, essentially, motherless, with Michaels mother in prison and Bunnys mothers life lost in a car accident,

In middle school, Bunny was already taller than the tallest boy, a trend which would continue, and they were in the same homeroom in seventh grade, but they finally speak to each other when she finds him in her yard smoking a cigarette until they were in tenth grade.
After that their friendship went beyond being just neighbors, especially as the years go by,

As often as I was failing to pass as a straight boy during those years, Bunny was failing to pass as a girl.


Bunnys father invested himself in making money, finding money, spending money, and alcohol, where Michaels aunt was always working or worn out at the end of her days.
She tried to make time for him and was always kind to him, perhaps especially after she began to suspect he might be gay.
It was her son that didnt want him there, especially after Michael confirms he is gay, and they were sharing a bedroom.
The friendship between Michael and Bunny is further solidified by their inability to conform to what their classmates considered the “norm,” and when Michael moves into the spare bedroom at Bunnys house, with her fathers approval, their friendship grows, as does the disdain from others, especially as time goes on.


Why did we want so desperately to be seen I saw her, My eyes were full of her, But it wasnt enough, and I was no longer hurt by it, The way she loved me wasnt enough for me either, Maybe love would never be enough, Maybe it would never do what we wanted it to do,

At the heart of this is the questioning of mans inhumanity to man, from slavery, the Holocaust, genocide, the human ability to look at another human being and decide, nope, I think that kind of human is an animal and so to impose ones superiority over another human being if only in ones mind.
The scars that being the object of that kind of hate, inhumanity can leave on anyone and everyone involved,

And yet, it is a story filled with love,


Many thanks, once again, to the Public Library system, and the many Librarians that manage, organize and keep it running, for the loan of this book!.