The Polish Boxer (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781934137536)

The nomadic odyssey of Eduardo Halfon begins as he searches for his roots and information about his Polish grandfather's imprisonment at Auschwitz

New York Times Editors' Choice * International Latino Book Award Finalist

The Polish Boxer covers a vast landscape of human experience while enfolding a search for origins: a grandson tries to make sense of his Polish grandfather's past and the story behind his numbered tattoo; a Serbian classical pianist longs for his forbidden heritage; a Mayan poet is torn between his studies and filial obligations; a striking young Israeli woman seeks answers in Central America; a university professor yearns for knowledge that he can't find in books and discovers something unexpected at a Mark Twain conference. Drawn to what lies beyond the range of reason, they all reach for the beautiful and fleeting, whether through humor, music, poetry, or unspoken words. Across his encounters with each of them, the narrator--a Guatemalan literature professor and writer named Eduardo Halfon--pursues his most enigmatic subject: himself.

Mapping the geography of identity in a world scarred by a legacy of violence and exile, The Polish Boxer marks the debut of a major new Latin American voice in English.

Author: Eduardo Halfon
ISBN-10: 1934137537
ISBN-13: 9781934137536
Publisher: Bellevue Literary Press
Language: English
Published: 10/02/2012
Pages: 192
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.40lbs
Size: 7.40h x 4.90w x 0.50d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/09/2012 pg. 36
Booklist 10/01/2012 pg. 32
Library Journal 10/01/2012 pg. 70
Foreword 12/03/2012
New York Times Book Review 12/16/2012 pg. 10
New York Times Book Review 12/23/2012 pg. 26