E-Audio, 10:40:55
Narrated by: N’Jameh Camara
Release Date: November 12, 2019Published by: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Read from: January 1-11, 2020Stand-aloneSource: LibraryTW: Violence, Drug Use, Hurried Weight Loss (to make weight for the ring), Dsyfunctional Family (Alcoholic mother)For fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Sports, Sparkly Covers, Realistic Fiction, YA
A. S. King meets Chris Crutcher in boxing journalist Sarah Deming’s YA novel about a young female boxer who learns to fight for what she wants.
When Gravity Delgado walks into Cops ‘n Kids, a no-frills Brooklyn boxing gym, and starts working with the legendary Coach Thomas, she joins a true melting pot of fighters. There’s the flirtatious Lefty (a southpaw), hard-to-beat D-Minus (“They call me D-Minus ’cause I’m all you need”), artistic Kimani “Monster” Browne, and a host of others. At the gym, Gravity finds the unexpected: the father she’s never had in her coach, not one but two romantic prospects, and, most importantly, a love and skill for boxing. If she can stay focused, despite her troubled home life, she might just have a shot at the Olympics.
With each blow, each jab, and each punch, Sarah Deming draws her readers into the gritty and inspiring world of Gravity Delgado, a Jewish Dominican teenager growing up in Brooklyn and aspiring for greatness.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was so torn about this book. On the one hand it was cool to find out more about the world of boxing. On the other hand it would have been cool to hve more of a story instead of just constant matches and weird blog entries throughout the story.
Gravity Delgado is a fierce female boxer who trains with a large cast of diverse characters. Her life at home is nowhere near as great as her gym life, which makes her want to spend most of her time in the ring. This look into Gravity’s life shows her fight to get to the Olympics.
I picked this up because I have been really into sports romances lately. And I haven’t read a boxing one. And to make it better, it was YA?! This should have been everything to me, but in some ways it fell flat for me. For instance, I was not a fan of the way the author didn’t make this much of a story. It felt more like her stats and play by plays. I think that’s an important part of the story yes, but I thought there needed to be more. The little glimpses into her mom, her family, and her weird romance with certain people, was always too short. And the way the author threw in those blog posts was weird too. It just threw off the flow I guess.
I did like representation in the book tho. All different cultures were well represented and Gravity was Jewish which also gave some religious representation. I liked all of these things were well represented in different ways. And because it was a book where the Olympics was shown, there were different cultures there too. It was great to see all these different cultures in an environment that I don’t usually read.
As for the characters, I was a fan of Gravity and her brother, but not really anyone else. This is a very character driven story, so for the most part we only get to know Gravity. But I wish we had gotten to know many more of the characters. It was basically a telling of what they did and not a showing. And that got old about halfway through the story. Which is why it took me so long to listen to this. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to finish it or if I wanted to DNF it.
This book was weird for me. I liked it at some parts and at others I was thinking to myself, why am I still listening to this. But overall I was happy I read it. I learned some new things about boxing and I got my fill of sports romances at the same time. Basically, this book wasn’t a knockout for me, but it still lasted the full 12 rounds.
Overall, I give this
