Agincourt District Libraries Blog

Agincourt Branch Youth Advisory Group member David sent along this review of Robert Sharenow's new Young Adult novel The Berlin Boxing Club.

"This book is written by Robert Sharenow and is named The Berlin Boxing Club. 

It is about a teenage Jewish boy named Karl Stern living in Nazi Germany and describes his many humiliations and obstacles.  His father is an art dealer and in the process of exchanging a painting for money.  However, the customer prefers to barter with him instead and give his son boxing lessons.  The customer wasn't an average person, he was Max Schmeling, Germany's top boxer.  Seeing his perfect opportunity, Karl accepts the offer, much to his father's dismay.  Later, he starts to train with him and complete the tasks necessary to become a good boxer.  When the Nazis increase their influence on Germany and spread the anti-Semitism, Karl is forced to use his skills to defend himself and his family.  Near the end of the story, Karl's father is stabbed in the stomach with a piece of broken glass and separates from  Karl and his sister.  A few days later, the family is informed that his father had been arrested. 
  
I enjoyed reading this book because I can easily relate to it.  The first half of the book was particularly enjoyable.  I have been through every step Karl took in order to become a boxer because I am a martial artist.  The book describes the motivation of sport fighters quite accurately.  The motivation to win and become the best fighter is very strong but is always controlled by our beliefs in fair play.  His emotions in the ring are exactly the same as the ones I encounter during my fights.  Just like him, I feel that endurance is very important and that we should never back out of the fight no matter what happens.  It is always important to remain confident in yourself and to never let the opponent intimidate you.  This is described in the book when Karl was intimidated by a bigger fighter that really wasn' t that good at the sport.  During our training we learn to control ourselves in all situations and do what's right in every situation.  Karl's desire to strike everyone that was doing something wrong is quite natural for sport fighters. 

However, the plot's course took a sharp turn in the second half when the Nazis start raiding Jewish houses and properties, including the one Karl's family lived in.  Personally, I didn't like the book as much after the Nazis ' first attack.  Due to sharp change of focus from boxing to family defence, I felt that readers were jerked too quickly from two very different situations.  This confuses the reader because the surrounding people's attitudes change too quickly without adequate explanation by the writer.  To me, it seems that one morning, Karl woke up and everyone was suddenly against him .  At times, this almost makes the reader think that the book was written from two different plots and outcomes and later merged.

In conclusion, I still think this book is worth a read because it tells average people how it feels like to be a sport fighter and at the same time, allows those that are already through the training process to relate to Karl.  Overall, I would give this book 85%."

Check the Toronto Public Library's catalogue to place a hold on this new fantastic book.