When you read about this novel's publisher, they state that their goal is publishing books notable for unusual stories, unexpected voices, and a strong sense of place. They hit all three marks when they grabbed The Fighter.
Despair, loss, pain and regret bleed from the pages of this novel. There is no happy place, no sense of peace. While some of the characters may be satisfied about where they are in life, that's as far as it goes - satisfaction, not pleasure.
Jack is a man who has been lost in the world since he was 2 years old. His calm moments have been few and far between. He has never attempted to better himself or his situations, and now as regret bares down on him, it may be too late.
Jack and Annette's tale is told in long, rambling, delightfully descriptive passages that are a pleasure to read. Michael has a true talent in immersing you in the story through the power of his lyrical writing.
Click HERE to read interviews from Michael.
Little, Brown and Company (March 20, 2018)
__________________________________
The acres and acres of fertile soil,
the two-hundred-year-old antebellum house, all gone. And so is the woman
who gave it to Jack, the foster mother only days away from dying, her
mind eroded by dementia, the family legacy she entrusted to Jack now
owned by banks and strangers. And Jack’s mind has begun to fail, too.
The decades of bare-knuckle fighting are now taking their toll, as
concussion after concussion forces him to carry around a stash of
illegal painkillers and a notebook of names that separate friend from
foe and remind him of dangerous haunts to avoid.
But in a single twisted night, he
is derailed. Hijacked by a sleazy gambler out to settle a score, Jack
loses the money that will clear his debt with Big Momma Sweet, the queen
of Delta vice, whose deep backwoods playground offers sin to all those
willing to pay. This same chain of events introduces an unlikely savior
in the form of a sultry, tattooed carnival worker. Guided by what she
calls her “church of coincidence,” Annette pushes Jack toward redemption
in her own free-spirited way, only to discover that the world of Big
Momma Sweet is filled with savage danger.
Damaged by regret, crippled by twenty-five
years of fists and elbows, heartbroken by his own betrayals, Jack is
forced to step into the fighting pit one last time, the stakes nothing
less than life or death. With raw power and poetry,
Michael Farris Smith cements his place as one of the finest writers in
the American literary landscape.