The Contender

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The book I read was called the contender by Robert Lipsyte. This is about a young man named Alfred who turns to boxing after going through a lot of trouble. I chose this book because just the back of it looked really interesing and I am into books that have people going through trouble and they learn from there mistakes.

              This book was one of the best books I ever read. Alfred was really scared because he dropped out of high school and he kept running into trouble on the streets. His best friend James kept going further into trouble from drug addiction and attempting to steal. Alfred just wanted everything to stop. So he started going to Donatelli's Gym to get away from all the trouble. Alfred didn't just want to be a boxer, he wanted to be a Contender.

              I loved almost everything about this book. I liked that Alfred learned from his mistakes. I also liked that he turned to something, to get away from trouble, boxing. There are still some things that I don't like about this book. There are some racist things they put in this book. This I HATE, it leaves you hanging and the second one isn't out yet! I would say this book would be for teens and young adults. I would recommend this book to almost anybody. I would think that only guys would like this, but there may be some girls out there that might.