Headshot

Oh, Booker Prize. Because of you the number of sports novels I've read has probably doubled. That's not something I expected when I started following this prize closely more than a decade ago.

I decided to start my reading of the 2024 longlist with Headshot, a short novel about a two-day boxing tournament of teenage girls, because I thought it might not be a book for me, and I was hoping to knock it out of the way early.

I was honestly very surprised by how much I loved this book initially. The writing was really great, though I could've done without a couple over-the-top similes. I was invested in the fights and found myself rooting for one girl over the other. There was a lot of depth and beauty for such short interactions with each character.

Somewhere past the midway mark, my interest began to wane. I think this might be in part because some of the characters I'd personally found the most captivating had been eliminated. But I think there was also a change in the writing. The bouts seemed to conclude faster as the book went on. The insights were fewer and less poignant. To me, it felt like the author had run out of steam or wasn't sure where else to go with this story.

I liked this novel more than I thought I might, and had it maintained the same level in the second half as it had in the first, it might've even made my shortlist. Though I've yet to read the other twelve books, I expect this one will be a first-round knockout for me in the end.