Don't Skip Out on Me

Don’t Skip Out On Me was our book for January and despite some members having reservations initially at the thought of a book to do with boxing this was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Many felt very engaged with the characters and found themselves emotionally involved to the point of tears, a new favourite book for more than one member of our group. Here are some of our thoughts.
“A wonderful novel. The main characters are so plausible that I cried at the ending because I had been so drawn into their lives. A study of loneliness and also inevitability.”
“Very engaging. I love the author’s depiction of characters and life on the ranch.”
“Absolutely brilliant. I would never have chosen this book-ranches and boxing. It is actually nothing to do with either-it is the story of relationships and their importance in our lives.”
“An engaging, heart-breaking and truly fantastic story of life and loneliness.”

Horace wants to be a boxer. But more than that, Horace needs to succeed at being a boxer in order to prove to both himself and to those around him that he is “somebody”. Or so he thinks.

After a troubled childhood, Horace ends up as a farm hand in Nevada. He lives and works with Mr and Mrs Reese who treat him like a son and he finally has the closest thing to a family that he has ever known. But Horace, half-white and half-Indian, is determined to reinvent himself as a Mexican boxer. He duly leaves his home and heads South in pursuit of this dream. The going is tough and, despite some success, Horace never really finds happiness and is consumed with loneliness and a desire to return to the Reeses and the farm which he loved so much.

This book has many good points. The characters are well developed, the emotions they feel are relayed to the reader in a very powerful yet realistic way, and the book flows well, making it easy to read from the point of view of the way language is used. It is also a good story with a beginning, a middle and an end, all well thought out.

However, for me, there were two main problems. The book was going along just fine until the realities of Horace’s life as an aspiring boxer came into play. In terms of violence I can’t even watch Tom and Jerry on television and the gruesome detail associated with the injuries sustained as a result of boxing bouts nearly finished me off. From the middle of the book onwards I got bogged down with this and struggled. The other problem I had was the ending. Without going into detail it was totally unexpected. I wanted it to be redemptive but the author clearly had other ideas.

As I see it, this book is largely about unconditional love. Mr Reese not only loves Horace but also needs him on the farm as his health declines but, despite that, understands that becoming a boxer is a dream that Horace needs to pursue and he lets him leave the farm with his blessing to realise that dream. He then follows Horace’s progress discreetly, offering his support at key points but never interfering or trying to persuade him to quit, despite the overwhelming anxiety which he feels as Horace struggles on to forge his chosen career. There are some very tender and poignant moments as both parties struggle with their emotions but, for very different reasons feel that they cannot be completely honest with each other. The other underlying theme is that of identity. This is tackled head-on by the author which I think was a very brave thing to do, given that both Horace’s journey in search of fulfillment and its outcome were unconventional to say the least. The result was a very effective, persuasive and convincing piece of literature.

This is a good book. It is well thought out, with good characters and powerful messages about love and identity. Given that this was the first Willy Vlautin I have ever read, I do not know whether the things that I struggled with are common themes throughout his books. However, there was enough very interesting material in Don’t Skip Out on Me to make me want to read at least one more of his books before making a definitive decision.