Description:
A culture of violence, its rituals and attractions, and, finally, its shockingly legitimate use in the boxing ring forms the center of this short, oddly truncated story. Michael Cadnum, whose critical reputation grows with each of his exquisitely crafted young adult novels, here shows a surprisingly intimate familiarity with the underworld of amateur boxing--the etiquette, the jargon, the choreography of the ring, the sounds and smells, and what it feels like to be hit with a straight right. With a poet's skill at detail, he brilliantly anatomizes a world where "postal clerks and carpenters liked to box for the same reason some guys like to drink." Like all of Cadnum's contemporary novels, Redhanded explores the anger of a young person abandoned by preoccupied parents in the self-approving upper-class society of the San Francisco Bay Area. Steven Beech has turned his back on his bickering parents to train at a boxing gym, where he spars bloody rounds at the instigation of his friend Raymond--and throws illegal punches when he needs to. Raymond has "a crave/disgust relationship with risk" which leads him to a tentative but fearful friendship with Chad, whose brother is in prison. Chad is gentle, humorous, and very threatening, with an unlimited potential for sudden violence. When the three go cruising in a stolen car, Steven suddenly finds himself in over his head as the book moves quickly to a conclusion as jarring and painful as an upper cut. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell
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