Product Details
Simon & Schuster UK, June 2009
Trade Paperback, 208 pages
ISBN-10: 1847374999
ISBN-13: 9781847374998
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Chapter 1
Description
Cal was the one. The kid had everything a fighter needed and if he didn't become a champion then Riley would have no one to blame but himself…
Cal and his long-standing friend and trainer Riley are on their way to Mexico for a make-or-break rematch with the legendary Rivera, who has never been beaten. Four years ago, Cal became the only fighter to ever take Rivera the distance, even though it nearly ended him. Only Riley, who has been at his side for the last ten years, knows how much that fight changed everything for Cal. And only Riley really knows what's now at stake, for both of them…
Cal and his long-standing friend and trainer Riley are on their way to Mexico for a make-or-break rematch with the legendary Rivera, who has never been beaten. Four years ago, Cal became the only fighter to ever take Rivera the distance, even though it nearly ended him. Only Riley, who has been at his side for the last ten years, knows how much that fight changed everything for Cal. And only Riley really knows what's now at stake, for both of them…
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1. Novelist Katie Kitamura inside the martial arts02:5945950862001
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"An extraordinary novel from a major new talent. In taut, pared-down prose, Kitamura takes the reader right into the ring."
-- Hari Kunzru, author of The Impressionist
"The Longshot takes the reader into the minds, hearts, and bodies of two highly dedicated and taciturn men. Kitamura's descriptions of mixed-martial-arts fighting are brutal yet beautiful.... Her writing is spellbinding...in its power. Kitamura is a genuine discovery."
-- Booklist, starred review
"This is a terrific debut: charged, intimate, raw. Here is an author who not only understands the alloying of muscle and mentality in sport, the elation and heartbreak of competition, and of life, but can also write about it all with compassion and beautiful austerity."
-- Sarah Hall, author of The Electric Michelangelo
"Katie Kitamura has produced a lean, taut little novel as authentic as any sport could hope to have represent it. The Longshot, her debut effort, reads the way we imagine the best fighters to be: quiet, measured, self-assured, always thinking ahead...[with] a fierce sense of elegance."
-- The Daily Beast
"An extraordinary novel from a major new talent. In taut, pared-down prose, Kitamura takes the reader right into the ring."
-- Hari Kunzru, author of The Impressionist
"This is a terrific debut: charged, intimate, raw. Here is an author who not only understands the alloying of muscle and mentality in sport, the elation and heartbreak of competition, and of life, but can also write about it all with compassion and beautiful austerity."
-- Sarah Hall, author of The Electric Michelangelo
"Hemingway's returned to life -- and this time, he's a woman."
-- Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder
"With refreshingly unadorned prose, Kitamura reduces to an intensely crystalline moment the tension surrounding a fighter and his coach as they prepare for a match. Kitamura's language sticks to the page with a delightful monocular clarity that invites readers to enter into the minds of these two men. The Longshot gives readers a rare glimpse into an intriguing world."
-- Yannick Murphy, author of Signed, Mata Hari
"Back in the day, we'd have wondered how a woman -- a woman! -- could know so much about this brutally masculine world. The marvel today is that Katie Kitamura can write about it with such grace, compassion, and breezy confidence. She knows her way around the ring and the human heart."
-- Elizabeth Benedict, author of The Practice of Deceit
Media Newswire, June 12, 2010
...the finalists’ works. The four other finalists for the award were Jedidah Berry ( for The Manual of Detection ), Katie Kitamura ( for The Longshot ), Philipp Meyer ( for American Rust ), and C.E. Morgan ( for All the Living ). “In the ...
High Country News, September 14, 2009
...Other Men's Horses, Elmer Kelton, Forge Books, October * The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins, November * The Longshot: A Novel, Katie Kitamura, Free Press, August * Rhino Ranch, Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster, August * The ...
Boston Globe, September 2, 2009
...In her debut novel, ?The Longshot,?? Katie Kitamura delivers the reader into the exotic, bruising, and hypermasculine world of mixed martial arts with startling economy and even more startling insight ...
Boston Globe, September 2, 2009
...In her debut novel, The Longshot, Katie Kitamura delivers the reader into the exotic, bruising, and hypermasculine world of mixed martial arts with startling economy and even more startling insight. Full-contact MMA, sometimes called ...
