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THE BOXER by Nikesh Shukla: YA That Tackles - BOOK RIOT

Roger the Boxer: I am just passing through’ by Roger Canon is an open and honest, no holds barred, no nonsense reflection by the author on his life. Filled with colourful characters and told by someone who was a part of a colourful crowd, this is Roger the Boxer’s story. There are elements of self reflection throughout and although truthfully describing the scrapes and predicaments he finds himself in over the years I liked that the author managed to maintain a more neutral tone – neither glorifying nor excessively condemning his past. And in this, his second Young Adult novel (his first, Run Riot won CrimeFest’s Young Adult Crime Novel award earlier this year), he is reaching an ever expanding readership. My main complaint with The Boxer is that it is incredibly hard to connect to the main character. Apart from boxing, you never get an insight into what his other interests are. There is a slight hint at the fact he may like comics, but they are used as more of a prop. You also never find out what he studies at college, and if you do, it isn't memorable. He has one friend to begin with, which is fine, but Madhu barley makes an appearance at the end of the book. Sunny's relationship with other characters falls flat, unfortunately. When racial tensions rise in the city and a Far Right march turns violent, Sunny is forced to make the hardest choice of all. Religious hate crimes are also rising. The Home Office reported that religious hate crimesrose by 40%, from 5,949 in 2016-17 to 8,336 in 2017-18.

point Selected points 1 points 2 points 3 points 4 points 5 points 6 points 7 points 8 points Select 9 points 10 point The Boxer, while it is a about a novice boxer, could have more accurately been titled The Anti-Racist.

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LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. And it really is not a Young Adult novel, save that its lead character Sunny is an 18-year-old, gay male. His sexual preference is as insignificant to the plot as the color of his eyes, which I can't recall being mentioned. Sunny could be in love with his straight boxing mate Keir, but their affection is more likely due to the bonds of friendship in the lonely-ass, angry, working-class city of Bristol, England, currently in the throes of anti-immigrant fever. The novel is told in ten chapters, each opening with a round-by-round description of Sunny’s first fight, a showdown against Keir. As in Shukla’s other work, food, and the preparation of it, is used as a healing and calming presence with great effect. Family, too, is central to the novel: “all that is left when everything is done”. There are many Bristol locations that readers will recognise and the book abounds with a moving sense of humanity. Buy from our bookstore and 25% of the cover price will be given to a school of your choice to buy more books. *15% of eBooks. Home >The Last Great Fight: The Extraordinary Tale of Two Men and How One Fight Changed Their Lives Forever To see him toiling up the slope inch by inch, his breath coming fast, the tips of his hoofs clawing at the ground, and his great sides matted with sweat, filled everyone with admiration. The Boxer is a penetrating look at the dangers of the rise in racism in post-Brexit Britain, where right-wing extremists feel validated in their fear and dislike of anyone they see as different to themselves...Shukla has an enviable ability to get under the skins of his characters, showing life through Sunny's eyes in a way that doesn't pull any punches...The Boxer is a book that may well challenge your perceptions about the sport, if - like me - it's something you've never favoured. But seeing the world, and boxing, through Sunny's eyes did make me rethink the appeal of the sport, particularly for youngsters such as Sunny. And if it's able to help teenagers and young men like him to be more comfortable and confident in their own skins, and help them to cope better with the unhealthy tide of racist abuse that seems to be sweeping through this country, then I'm happy to have my own prejudice against the sport challenged.

Boxer in Animal Farm - Characters - Edexcel - BBC Boxer in Animal Farm - Characters - Edexcel - BBC

year-old Sunil (known as Sunny) moved to Bristol from London 3 months ago with his mum and dad. His dad has a heart condition and the family moved so he could get more specialised help but his dad’s condition has worsened and now he’s in a hospice while his mum works several low-paid jobs trying to keep things together in the flat that they rent. Quiet and reserved, his only friend is Madhu (the first person he met when he started his new college and the only other non-white person who goes there) and all he wants to do is focus on his studies to get into university, like his dad wants. Nikesh Shukla writes nuanced books with realistic characters, and always provides heartstopping moments. - Sarah Shaffi This really captured the feeling of what it's like to be a minority ethnicity in the UK right now, to sometimes feel like you're surrounded by people who want to make you feel unwelcome and singled out, who don't want to understand you. But at the same time, The Boxer is also an optimistic work. Sunny finds a supportive community which feels like a new family, and Shukla’s masterstroke is showing these extremes side by side – the hideous racism and Sunny’s new extended family – the latter enabling Sunny to “feel like myself” and be “no longer afraid”.Also testament to the character development is that I felt genuinely nervous for Sunny at certain points in the book. (To be fair, at least one of those was because he was doing a stupid thing, even if it was for someone he thought could still be a friend.) Which meant, at times, I was reluctant to read it almost, because I didn’t want to have my heart broken like that. Free The Boxer Worksheets and Literature Unit for Teachers - activities, vocabulary, and quizzes | edHelper.com

The Boxer by Nikesh Shukla | Waterstones

It’s not just religion or the colour of your skin that can make you a target in the UK. According to The Guardian,“Homophobic and transphobic hate crimes, including stalking, harassment and violent assault, have more than doubled in England and Wales over five years, a Guardian analysis has shown.” Sometimes your rating for a book depends more on how much you’re in the mood for a particular book than the book itself, and I definitely feel like that’s partly what happened here. For some reason, I was just not in the right frame of mind to read this one and that probably did have a bit of an impact on how much I enjoyed it. But don’t get me wrong – I did still like this book. I could have liked it more, is what I’m saying. Boxer believes everything that Napoleon tells him. The language is simple and reflects Boxer's naivety, he is the strongest animal on the farm but does nothing when conditions get worse. Featuring friendship dynamics, family relationships, racial slurs, far-right radicalisation, and the power to fight for what you feel is right and what truly matters in life, this YA story set over ten rounds of boxing is an interesting, powerful and motivational read for all ages. Although there is some violence and racial abuse, everything is handled with diplomacy but still manages to convey the genuine feelings of teenagers living in an ethnic society and how relationships suffer due to peer pressure and attitudes. In March of 2019 It was reported by The Independent that “Racially and religiously aggravated offences recorded by police in England and Wales reached a record high of more than 57,600 in the 12 months to September, after jumping by 7 per cent in a year.”

I’m not claiming to have any answers to these problems. What I am saying is that education on these topics makes a difference. Talking about these issues makes a difference. You can read reports and talk at people all day long but reading a book like The Boxer can, for a short time, put you in the head of someone who is experiencing these things at full throttle and it can change your way of thinking. One Punch from the Promised Land: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title However, this book does redeem itself in the fact I personally really enjoyed it towards the end. I know next to nothing about boxing, nor have any interest in it but I still found it entertaining. Sunny's character arc is fairly good. I would suggest this as a book to read when you have no others you desperately want to. it's okay, but not *that* okay.