Battling Jack

出版者:MAINSTREAM PUB CO

作者:Turpin, Jack

页数:288

出版时间:2005-10

价格:$ 22.54

装帧:平装

isbn号码:9781845960643

具体描述

'Battling' Jack Turpin is the last surviving member of his generation of Britain's best-known, best-loved boxing family. Now almost 80 years old, he is as charismatic and feisty as ever, and in Battling Jack, Turpin tells his own unique story. It is the remarkable tale of a man whose indomitable spirit has out-stared ignorance and prejudice, tasted triumph and celebrity, and endured hardship and tragedy. Jack's father, Lionel Turpin, came from British Guyana to volunteer for the British Army during the Great War. He was wounded on the battlefields of France and invalided to Warwick, the first black man to settle there. Lionel married a local girl but his early death left her struggling to raise their three sons and two daughters in pre-Welfare State England. As young men, the gladiatorial glamour of the ring lured Jack and his brothers into professional boxing. From a home-made backstreet gymnasium, they punched their way into the record books and into the hearts of the British people. Battling Jack charts the remarkable life and times of the man who was once Britain's busiest featherweight. It offers a ringside seat at heroic battles and comic encounters as Turpin vividly recalls the sport, sex and slapstick of life in the now forbidden boxing booths of the travelling fairs. He takes us behind the scenes of a scandal that rocked the sporting world and into his confidence over the mystery that surrounds his younger brother's death by gunshot. Complete with previously unpublished photographs, this is a wonderfully candid account of the life of a very singular man. Heartrending, raw, honest and funny, Battling Jack is a story that had to be told. "I'm standing on the corner of Willes Road, Lemington Spa, 20 or 30 yards from where we live at No.6. Me mum's warned me, 'Keep on the footpath, right against the wall.' I've obeyed her exactly and rubbed along the wall away from the bicylces and the carthorses in the road; away from the feet of the people walking home from work. I seem to have been waiting for ever. Suddenly, I see him coming slowly towards me from the foundry where he works as an iron moulder. He's wearing his tweed jacket and the billy-cock hat he sometimes folds up and puts in his pocket. I'm jumping up and down with excitement. He's holding up his hand like a policeman to say 'STOP DON'T RUN TO ME' I'm a bit bumble-footed and inclined to fall over a lot. He's about eight foot tall. He's smiling a big warm safe smile as he's reaching down to swing me onto his shoulders. From high up in the air I can hear him talking to me as he carries me to the door of our basement flat. His voice is a soft as velvet. I can feel it on the outside of my ears like somebody stroking them. He's asking me how I've been today. He's playing the violin and making me laugh by lying on the floor and lifting his back off the lino so's only his feet and his head are touching the ground. The violin is singing a hymn. Me aunt Gert is picking me up and pretty near putting me in the coffin with him: 'Kiss him ta-ra'..."--excerpt from Battling Jack

用户评价

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说实话，我对这类题材的书籍向来抱持着一种审慎的态度，总觉得很多作品只是在故作高深，内容空洞。但这一次，我的偏见被彻底打破了。这本书的叙事结构非常巧妙，它不是那种线性发展的叙事，而是采用了多重视角和时间跳跃的方式，这使得整个故事更具张力和悬念。每一次以为自己已经掌握了故事的主线时，作者总能抛出一个新的线索，让你不得不重新审视之前的一切判断。特别是其中一个配角的命运线，处理得极其高明，看似与主线关联不大，但到最后却成为了揭示核心秘密的关键。这本书的对话设计也值得称赞，那些看似日常的交流中，往往暗藏着深刻的指涉和未尽之意，需要读者细心咀嚼才能体会到其中的妙处。阅读过程中，我时常停下来，对着某一段文字反复琢磨，试图捕捉作者隐藏的深层含义。这绝对是一部需要“慢读”的书，急躁地翻过只会让你错过大量的精妙之处。对于那些热衷于解谜和探寻文本深层意义的读者来说，这本书简直是一座取之不尽的宝藏。它带来的智力上的满足感是其他快餐式阅读无法比拟的。

从制作工艺的角度来看，这本书的出版质量简直是教科书级别的典范。首先，纸张的选择非常考究，那种微微泛黄的米白色纸张，不仅保护了视力，更增添了一种时间的厚重感。印刷的字迹清晰锐利，没有任何重影或模糊，长时间阅读也不会感到眼睛疲劳。装帧的设计也体现了对读者的尊重，线装的工艺使得书本可以完全平摊在桌面上，即便是对书脊要求很高的读者也能毫无压力地阅读，这在很多精装书里是很难得的体验。更让我惊喜的是，书中内嵌的几张插图——如果我没记错的话，它们似乎都是由一位非常擅长光影处理的艺术家绘制的——虽然不多，但每一张都精准地捕捉了小说中某个关键场景的氛围，它们不是对文字的简单复述，而是一种视觉上的升华。总而言之，这本书的实体感和阅读体验达到了艺术品的高度，从翻开书页的那一刻起，你就能感受到出版方和作者对细节的极致追求。这绝对是一本值得被精心收藏和反复品味的实体书。

这部作品的语言风格简直是一股清流！我平时接触的文学作品大多比较直白或者偏向于华丽的辞藻堆砌，但这本书的文字却有一种沉静而有力的美感。它不追求刻意的生僻词汇，而是通过精准的动词和恰到好处的形容词，构建起一种独属于作者的语调。读起来感觉非常流畅，但又处处透着一股匠心。比如说，作者描述某个角色的焦虑时，用了一个我从未见过的组合词，一下子就把那种坐立不安、心神不宁的状态描摹得活灵活现。更难得的是，作者似乎非常懂得节奏的控制，有些段落的句子极短，如同短促的呼吸，营造出紧张感；而有些长句则绵延不绝，如同潺潺流水，带来一种舒缓的思绪。这种高低起伏的阅读体验，让整本书读起来像是在听一首精心编排的交响乐。我甚至能想象出作者在打磨每一个句子的情景，那种对文字近乎苛刻的追求，最终成就了这样一本令人爱不释手的好书。它证明了，最动人的力量往往来自于最精准的表达。

天呐，最近读到的这本小说简直是让人欲罢不能！我得赶紧找个地方把它好好安放，免得哪天手滑又把它弄丢了。这本书的装帧设计就非常吸引人，那种略带复古的封面材质，拿在手里沉甸甸的，仿佛能感受到作者倾注其中的心血。故事情节的铺陈极其细腻，每一个转折都出乎意料却又在情理之中，让人忍不住一页接一页地翻下去，生怕错过任何一个微小的细节。尤其是一些人物的内心独白，写得真是入木三分，仿佛能直接钻进他们的脑海里去感受他们的挣扎与抉择。作者对于环境和氛围的描写更是达到了出神入化的地步，那些街道上的喧嚣、房间里的寂静，甚至是空气中弥漫的味道，都仿佛触手可及。我感觉自己完全沉浸在了那个虚构的世界里，完全忘记了现实生活中的烦恼。这本书的魅力就在于它能够提供一个逃离现实的绝佳通道，同时又能在精神层面给你带来深刻的反思。我强烈推荐给所有喜欢深度阅读，追求文字质感的读者，相信它绝不会辜负你的期待。这本书的后劲很大，读完很久之后，书中的一些场景和对话依然会在脑海中不断回放，这种持久的影响力，才是真正好作品的标志。