The Fight by Norman Mailer Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $6.67 You Save: $7.28 (52%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.98 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Fight
Book Review: A Different Look At "The Rumble in the Jungle"
Summary: 5 Stars
Norman Mailer's "The Fight" is quite simply one of the best boxing books I have ever read. Reading Mailer the novelist writing about boxing gives you a certain novelty you will not experience in other books on sport. Mailer's keen observation comes shining through: on life in Zaire, Mobutu's rule, George Foreman and of course Muhammad Ali. I was surprised to see that Mailer has such a keen eye on the sport. His description of the fight is like no other you will ever read or see. The result is something like a passage jointly written by Bill Cayton and Alistair MacLean. Mailer with his minute observation adds a great touch of drama to the proceedings instead of presenting only a dry technical analysis of the fight. If you want the latter, you might as well watch Max Kellerman on ESPN. Mailer on the other hand gives you a lively picture, making you feel like you were there on that dark, sultry Kinshasa night, part of the radiant crowd chanting "Ali, mumbaye".
Mailer displays an ardent love for the sport and admiration for Muhammad Ali. Many insights are given into Ali's personality. Particularly interesting are the insights into the lives of Ali's camp members: Angelo Dundee, the workaholic trainer who never gave away an inch; Lou Bundini, the colorful sidekick, and Herbert Muhammad, the manager who always meant business. I have read a lot on Ali but have not been able to find anything special on his troupe, apart from this book by Mailer.
If you are a serious boxing and Ali fan, you just have to read this book. If you are not and are just interested in understanding the fascination about Muhammad Ali, this is something that will do a lot to help you.
Book Review: A book about the greatest fighter in his greatest fight
Summary: 4 Stars
If this book is anything like Mailer's presense
in the now classic Leon Gast film masterpiece
"When We were Kings" it will have all the drama, humour, poetry of a great film. It should
be more about two men facing their inner demons while meeting destiny than about boxing. The book is not
out as of yet--If you want a "review" right now,
maybe you should contact Sherly McClaine ( she and my brother Steve were probably the only ones
on this planet to predict the 8 round KO of
Foreman by Ali) Lets hope Mailer will comment on the fact that Mike Tyson would not even have ranked in the top 25 of the heavy weight division in those days. Norman. I hope you review this review. Basically, the book should be
about a great fighter in a great fight written by
a great writter. Writing a review about a book
not yet written is bold--not nearly as bold as
getting in the ring with a unbeaten George ForemaBook Review: Ali vs. Mailer - A great read!
Summary: 5 Stars
If ever two egos needed to meet, these were the two. Only Norman Mailer could've made a Muhammad Ali-centered event like "The Rumble In The Jungle" so much about himself. And yet in his way, Mailer makes one want to read and re-read every page. He crafts a tale that makes it easy to sense the chaos preceding a heavyweight title fight, as well as the almost universal expectation that Ali was simply going to get himself killed by George Foreman. I loved Mailer's attempts to draw out Ali, and loved Ali's constant tug-of-war with Mailer, "the press" and the Foreman camp. Were the small cracks in Ali's confidence real, or was it part of the show? Did he use Mailer, or did Mailer use Ali? Having watched the fight many times over the years, I knew how the book would end. And yet I was enthralled by the ebb and flow of Mailer's thoughts as the fight approached and unfolded. No newspaper account...this is a marvelous take on a legendary sporting event, and well worth reading as a fight fan or a literature fan.Book Review: Another Great Ali Story
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first experience with Norman Mailer and it certainly will not be my last. The Fight paints beautiful portraits of many of the characters, events, and locations that surrounded The Rumbe in The Jungle of 1975. His eye for detail and incredible descriptive ability made this a wonderful read. More important to boxing fans, however, is that his actual recount of the fight itself may be the single best piece of boxing writing I have ever read--it was better than watching the real thing and Mailer somehow makes the reader feel like he is both a ringside spectator and one of the combatants at the same time (a strange experience, but certainly one worth having). This book is an excellent companion to When We Were Kings and the actual video of the fight, both of which are sold by Amazon. Another interesting contrast is provided by David Remnick's King of the World, which details the months leading up to Ali's first championship fight against Sonny Liston. Ali evolved a great deal between 1964 when he was still a young, scared Cassius Clay and 1975 when he had become an older, wiser, though no less enthusiastic champion. The Fight is a great book, a must have for all boxing fans and certainly worthy of any reader who enjoys excellent character development, action, and terrific writing.Book Review: Bigger ego: Ali or Mailer?
Summary: 2 Stars
The Rumble in the Jungle is a seminal moment in boxing, and for that reason alone it deserves an account. The fact that a boxing fan/skilled writer and social critic wrote the account would appear to be to the benefit of the reader. And Mailer does two things particularly well. The first is his description of the fight itself, which captures the drama of the struggle in a captivating and thrilling manner. The second is Mailer's attention to the political struggle in Zaire during the '60's (This is akin to holding a title fight in Serbia in the mid-90's). But, Mailer has to ruin a great little book by injecting himself into the action. He doesn't have to be the fly on the wall and he has every right to admit his personal bias. But it's nauseatingly tiresome to refer to yourself in the third person and speculate as to how people think about you, "the famous writer." What an unbelievable ego. It's not only an annoying personal trait, but it disrupts the flow of the book and takes from the titular reason that many people picked up this book. See if your library has it, but don't bother paying for a very good account marred by one man's need to talk about himself.