Wow! Poetic and brutal. Takes gritty southern noir to a whole new level. Outstanding writing makes you want to see how it will end, though the choices are all less than ideal.
This is a really good book. ( )

I didn't want to finish this book because I really, really liked the hard-luck protagonist, Jack, and I didn't want to see even worse things happen to him. But I did finish, and I'm really glad I did. This is a very violent book, full of illegal bare-knuckle fighting and some very cruel people. It's about an abandoned toddler, and a woman of grace. And a man who doesn't see any way out of his situation but wants to honor this woman of grace.

Despite the violence, despite the cringe-worthy moments, I loved this book. Although Jack and his situation are nothing like me and my situation, I could empathize with him. The characters were real to me.

The only other book I've read by this author is Rivers, and that was excellent, too. ( )

This was a short novel and I quite enjoyed it. New author to me and I did like his writing style. Succinct but with depth of characters even though it came across almost as thumbnail sketches, you got them. The story lays out a brief period in the protagonists life toward the end of his chosen violent career while trying for some small amount of redemption. Southern noir that is recommended. ( )

The most salient aspect of this compelling story is author Michael Farris Smith’s economic, straight-forward writing. The Fighter is a tight, gritty story written in pitch-perfect Delta colloquialisms that hand the reader an attitude as a working frame of reference. From the get-go, the reader knows the main character, Jack Boucher, was dealt a raw deal. Unceremoniously abandoned by his parents while still in diapers, any reader with a beating heart is immediately invested in Jack’s unfortunate origins. When he is fostered by a single mother with her own cross to bear, the reader is lured page-by-turning-page, in the underbelly of a Deep South setting, hoping to see Jack take what little stability he has and scratch his way to better circumstances. That Jack Boucher grows up to be a fighter is a construct that operates in multiple layers, within a life built much by his own design. A through line of conscionable humanness staggers Jack onward, and there is much in this hubris suggested story to which the reader can relate. For all the reasons I love the author Ron Rash, I applaud Michael Farris Smith for deftly weaving a handful of character intensive threads into a deceivingly simple story. The Fighter is a book that packs a punch of resonance. Though its impact is immediate, its aftermath grows. ( )

I didn’t think I would love this story as much as I did, but I do. A broken man, “a man unable”, fights to find himself, fights for redemption and for that which he loves. In this journey that he takes through a life filled with traumatic body and brain injury, confusion and debt, this fighter finds love and truth in the most unlikely of places. Fabulous story and intriguing characters that bring forth both passion and compassion from its readers.. oh it’s good.
*I received an arc from the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review ( )