"Fat City" is a novel that delivers an uppercut of grit, sadness and human endurance to the reader. Harsh, powerful, and poignant this novel is beautifully rendered in taut prose. It is remarkable how in theme and style Gardner's writing resembles the paintings of the 1930's artist, George Bellows, who also depicts the struggles of boxers and urban poor both in the blood speckled ring and in tenement strewn wastes of American cities. Bravo Gardner, you have your equals in Selby, Melville and Hemingway! But one wonders why this talent has not come into the ring another time and graced his readers with another novel?

"Fat City" is a novel that delivers an uppercut of grit, sadness and human endurance to the reader. Harsh, powerful, and poignant this novel is beautifully rendered in taut prose. It is remarkable how in theme and style Gardner's writing resembles the paintings of the 1930's artist, George Bellows, who also depicts the struggles of boxers and urban poor both in the blood speckled ring and in tenement strewn wastes of American cities. Bravo Gardner, you have your equals in Selby, Melville and Hemingway! But one wonders why this talent has not come into the ring another time and graced his readers with another novel?

Step in the ring with Gardner and experience the talent of a literary heavyweight. Gardern's writng packs a punch, it is lean, mean and powerful. The characters are desperate men seeking validation and redemption, yet Gardner resists the temptation to pander to our weaker emotions for you feel not pity for these battered souls, but respect. Fat City is Gardners only novel- that is our loss. Read this book and witness a work of true beauty. Fat City is a winner.