The Fight by Norman Mailer, 0140184287, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Poetic Rumbles

As with an earlier reviewer I'm glad I hung in there past the first few rounds. The initial chapters had me close to throwing in the towel but after that the gem was revealed. The Rumble in the jungle is something I can just about recall from my childhood and having read Thomas hauser's excellent biography of Ali at least had done some swotting up. Mailers account is both moving and evocative clearly working from a friendship and love for the man you get an excellent insight from inside the camp and from a fan. Mailers style you would think would be alien to such a brutal subject but actually goes almost unnoticed as you sweat it out in Zaire. This is not an epic and it's not a tome but if you wish to recreate just a little of that ali magic from your past or just to sense it as new you could be in a worse corner.

A beautiful view, before the storm

Anyone who has witnessed this greatest of fights and knows something of the build-up to this epic encounter will revel in this book. I found Mailers style as hard as Foremans head in the first few chapters, but stick at it, the rewards are there as the tension grows. Mailers description of the mood of each camp is the real gem, gradually building up to a titanic conclusion. Im not really a boxing fan, but I am fasinated by the whole Rumble in the Jungle saga. Read it before watching the fight.

Muhammed Ali for President

If you liked the film When We Were Kings, which also featured Norman Mailer, you'll love The Fight.

Mailer's eulogy of Ali is as believable as it is captivating. His account of the now infamous Rumble in the Jungle fight between Ali and George Foreman includes much sophistry on the essential nature of the Black Man in the context of the wild and impenetrable Congo. This is Mailer's faux-Heart of Darkness.

By the end of the book his explication of Ali's motivation, not to mention his incisive round-by-round, blow-by-blow account of the fight and the fighters' tactics, is compelling.

Mailer worships Ali. And, indeed, who could be a better recipient of the writer's admiration.

An outstanding book that will appeal to more than just boxing fanatics or Mailer groupies.

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