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Turned into an Elvis movie. King Creole??? ( )

"A Stone For Danny Fisher, Robbins' 1951 novel, is widely considered his best. It is a portrait of a young Jewish kid in depression-era New York who grows up to be a street tough, a boxer with an undefeated record, and gets mixed up with the rackets and hoods. It is the story of his love affair with an Italian girl who stuck with him through thick and thin. It's a story of poverty and welfare. It's a story about a whore with a heart of gold. It's a boxing story about a young kid on his way to make it big and the hoods who are sponsoring him.

The first part is a typical coming of age story about a kid in a new neighborhood, about a first kiss, about finding a stray dog, about watching the neighbor girl through the window. The story doesn't really get moving until the family has to move to the lower east side tenements and Danny becomes a neighborhood tough. From there, the story just explodes. The boxing sequences are terrific. You feel as if you are right there ringside watching the action.

Robbins incorporates a lot of different themes in this book about growing up, about corruption, about desperation, about family relations, and about trust. It's one of those books that tell a character's life history, not just a particular episode.

At almost five hundred pages, it weighs in as a heavyweight contender, but it's a book you just devour. ( )

boxing, sex and violence. My first Robbins book - a little gritty for my taste but I kept reading his books. ( )

I really enjoyed this book when I read it years and years ago. FYI- the movie, King Creole starring Elvis Presley was loosely based on this book (one of his better movies). ( )