Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/million-dollar-baby-aka-rope-burns-by-f-x-toole/

The story of the book is a little sad: the author, whose real name was Jerry Boyd, published the book in 2000 at the age of 70, after many rejections from publishers, and died in 2002, just a few weeks after learning that Clint Eastwood wanted to make a film based on it. The original DVD release included paperback copies of the book in every box (which makes it really weird that it was so difficult to track down a copy). But there you go.

These are six nice short pieces, all of them acutely observed from the perspective of an Irish-American who lived in California. Being stories about boxing, they are mainly about men, with the obvious exception of “Million show more Dollar Baby”. Most of them have rather downbeat endings; in one memorable case, almost all of the main characters die horribly.

There is a lot of fighting; it’s interesting that the Clint Eastwood film cuts Maggie’s brother from the plot of “Million Dollar Baby”, therefore also losing the crucial physical confrontation in a hospital car park between him and Clint’s character Frankie. But there is a lot of character and human observation as well.

Personally, I’m not at all a fan of fighting, but this did bring me a certain amount of empathy with those who are. show less

Rope Burns: Stories from the Cornerby F X Toole This is the book that contains the short stories Million Dollar Baby, from which the Oscar-winning movie was made, along with another short story, Frozen Water. The title novella, Rope Burns, is easily the most violent tale I have every read. If it was made into a movie, only Quentin Tarentino would be able to direct it. This book is not for everyone. Toole is articulate and well-spoken; the introduction, Member of the Fancy, had me at the proper use of pronouns. However, the stories are written in the jargon of the sweet science and the argot of the street, sometimes excessively vulgar as in Rope Burns, which is set in South LA at the time of the Rodney King riots. F X Toole is the pen show more name of Jerry Boyd, who worked in professional boxing for most of his life. His first book, Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner was finally published in 2000, when he was 70 years old. Boyd died in 2002. The copy I received from the public library had been renamed Million Dollar Baby. show less

The way Toole imagines black Americans speak/write was painful to read. I felt embarrassed for him reading "Black Jew." "Million $$$ Baby" "Frozen Water" and "Rope Burns" were high points of the collection (despite the latter including more of Toole's terrible attempts to "write black").

Oh, and the protagonist from "Frozen Water" reminded me of a lovable version of Charlie Z.

Intense, primal, engrossing fiction. The language seems so real and the stories so raw that even though I am not a fan of boxing at all, I was totally entralled and enraptured of this collection of short stories, which includes the story that was the basis of the hit movie "Million Dollar Baby."

i hate boxing. my guy likes boxing. he didn't like this book. i liked it. there were lots of details about boxing that i knew nothing about. the writer's catholicism is the only thing i didn't like. i can't believe that people still believe this nonsense.

Like a lukewarm water... even for big boxing fans... well, now imagine how it will keep the full attention of those who do not like sport.

8/25/05 I found this book a bit tiresome as the endings were obvious and easily expected. I have not seen the movie yet but I am surprised at the debate regarding it. I can only assume that it was done with serious revision.