#12: ‘Fighting Ruben Wolfe’ by Markus Zusak

‘Fighting Ruben Wolfe’ is a fiction novel written for the Young Adult audience by Markus Zusak.

Set in Australia, this book is centred around two brothers, Ruben and Cameron, who accidentally find their way into the world of underground unlicensed boxing. The book explores themes of class, aggression, violence and masculinity through the eyes of the brothers as they fight weekly for not-very-large amounts of money.

Like so many stories about boxing, the protagonists are first attracted by the money as a means to relieve the financial burden hanging over their family, though the book explores this without falling into many of the tropes that a lot of other fiction aimed at adults rarely avoids.