Books I've Read: The Knockout Queen

 

This is one of those interesting books in which the narrator is telling someone else's story rather than his own.  His own story does play out alongside that of the titular Knockout Queen, Bunny Lampert, but the two lives become impossibly intertwined.

Bunny should have everything.  She's from a wealthy family and her father, while largely absent, gives her anything she wants.  She's a talented athlete with her eyes fixed on Olympic selection in volleyball.  She's not popular at school though - at 6"3 she towers over her peers - and longs for a boyfriend.

Michael, who moves in next door after his mother finally snaps, stabs his abusive father and lands herself in prison, is Bunny's complete opposite.  Yet when the pair meet, they become fast friends and Michael discovers that all is not so golden in the mansion next door.

As Bunny and Michael struggle through their high-school years, each faces their own set of problems.  Michael knows he's gay but is too afraid to come out so satisfies himself with a series of brief encounters with guys he meets online.  Bunny is one of the only people to know his secret and is fiercely protective of it even if she does disapprove.

When one of Michael's rendez-vous becomes locker-room gossip, Bunny jumps in to protect Michael's honour.  This single, violent act changes the trajectory of her life, and by association, Michael's, forever.

There are a number of layers to this book and I found all of them really fascinating, particularly the socio-economic differences between Michael and Bunny, and how this underpins everything about their lives.  It was great to see the tables turn and the disadvantaged, abused and unwanted kid end up being the less damaged of the pair in the long run.

It was also interesting to see how a single moment, a single act, can send a whole chain reaction of events into motion.

Both Bunny and Michael have flaws and blindnesses about themselves and others, and watching them learn to overcome these things makes a satisfying read.

I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to those who enjoy character-driven stories about young people struggling to find their place in the world.  It's not YA, despite having teen characters through most of it, and its themes and conclusions are darker than those you'd find in a YA novel.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Bunny Lampert is the princess of North Shore⁠--beautiful, tall, blond, with a rich real-estate-developer father and a swimming pool in her backyard. Michael⁠⁠--with a ponytail down his back and a septum piercing⁠--lives with his aunt in the cramped stucco cottage next door. When Bunny catches Michael smoking in her yard, he discovers that her life is not as perfect as it seems. At six foot three, Bunny towers over their classmates. Even as she dreams of standing out and competing in the Olympics, she is desperate to fit in, to seem normal, and to get a boyfriend, all while hiding her father's escalating alcoholism.

Michael has secrets of his own. At home and at school Michael pretends to be straight, but at night he tries to understand himself by meeting men online for anonymous encounters that both thrill and scare him. When Michael falls in love for the first time, a vicious strain of gossip circulates and a terrible, brutal act becomes the defining feature of both his and Bunny's futures⁠⁠--and of their friendship. With storytelling as intoxicating as it is intelligent, Rufi Thorpe has created a tragic and unflinching portrait of identity, a fascinating examination of our struggles to exist in our bodies, and an excruciatingly beautiful story of two humans aching for connection.