#42: ‘The Pugilist at Rest’ by Thom Jones

‘The Pugilist at Rest’ is an award-winning collection of short stories by Thom Jones.

Outside of reading about boxing, I cannot believe I hadn’t read anything by Thom Jones previously. This combination of investigating masculinity, mental health problems, self-medication and over-analysing one’s place in society has always been my particular sweet spot when it comes to literature. This is one of the best collections of short stories I’ve read by any writer.

The pacing of the stories is fantastic, with an interesting balance of introspecting and wide-ranging outward observation. The characters in this collection are often ex-boxers, or the sons of former professionals, and veterans of the US invasion of Vietnam. The stories all share the same grit and numbness to violence, but without the complete bleakness that it would be easy to fall into.

Jones’s two other collections, ‘Cold Snap’ and ‘Sonny Liston was a Friend of Mine’, are also very good, but have far less direct links to boxing so I won’t be including them in this blog.