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The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter
From the bestselling author of 600 Hours of Edward comes the story of a boxer and a sportswriter whose fates are inextricably linked.
Hugo Hunter, a would-be champion who never quite made it, is on his last legs. Thirty-seven years old, soft around the middle, and broke, he’s plummeted from his glory days of title fights to small-time bouts against brawlers and punks. Watching ringside for nearly twenty years has been Mark Westerly, a sportswriter who has struggled to keep a professional distance from the man whose life and career have become enmeshed with his own tumultuous trajectory. Hugo and Mark share a history that runs deep and has at times gotten ugly. As Hugo lands on the ropes again, Mark steps in to try to save him—and unburdens himself of long-held secrets regarding Hugo’s past. But can these two men, who’ve lived so long under the weight of their own tragedies, finally help each other find redemption?
288 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2014
124 people are currently reading
651 people want to read
About the author
Craig Lancaster
29 books427 followersWhen Craig Lancaster moved to Montana in 2006, at the age of 36, it was the realization of a dream he’d harbored since childhood, one that he figured had been overtaken by events, as so many dreams are.
“I have these incredibly vivid memories of visiting Montana with my folks on family vacations, and following my dad, an itinerant laborer who worked in the oil and gas fields of the West when I was a kid,” Lancaster says. “It was such a vast, beautiful, overwhelming place. From the first time I saw Montana, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Craig was born on February 9th, 1970, in Lakewood, Washington. Adopted at birth, he grew up in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, with his mother and stepfather and siblings. His stepfather, Charles Clines, was a longtime sportswriter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a connection that led to Craig’s career as a journalist, a profession he followed to a series of newspaper jobs across the country — Texas, Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, California and, finally, Montana.
A couple of years after Craig’s arrival in the Big Sky State, he began chasing another long-held dream: that of writing novels. His first completed novel, 600 Hours of Edward, was born in the crucible of National Novel Writing Month, that every-November free-for-all of furious writing. He completed an entire first draft, nearly 80,000 words, in November 2008. In October 2009, it was published by Riverbend Publishing of Helena, Montana, and has since gone on to be selected as a Montana Honor Book and a High Plains Book Award winner.
His follow-up, The Summer Son, was released in January 2011 by AmazonEncore, to similar acclaim. Booklist called the new novel “a classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love.”
Lancaster’s work delves deeply below the surface of its characters, teasing out the desires and motivations that lead us through our lives.
“It’s all too easy to turn people into caricatures, but the truth is, we humans are pretty damned fascinating,” he says. “For me, fiction is a way at getting at truth. I use it to examine the world around me, the things that disturb me, the questions I have about life — whether my own or someone else’s. My hope is that someone reading my work will have their own emotional experience and bring their own thoughts to what they read on the page. When I’m asked what my stories mean, my inclination is turn the question around: What do they mean to you?”
“I have these incredibly vivid memories of visiting Montana with my folks on family vacations, and following my dad, an itinerant laborer who worked in the oil and gas fields of the West when I was a kid,” Lancaster says. “It was such a vast, beautiful, overwhelming place. From the first time I saw Montana, I wanted to be a part of it.”
Craig was born on February 9th, 1970, in Lakewood, Washington. Adopted at birth, he grew up in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, with his mother and stepfather and siblings. His stepfather, Charles Clines, was a longtime sportswriter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a connection that led to Craig’s career as a journalist, a profession he followed to a series of newspaper jobs across the country — Texas, Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, California and, finally, Montana.
A couple of years after Craig’s arrival in the Big Sky State, he began chasing another long-held dream: that of writing novels. His first completed novel, 600 Hours of Edward, was born in the crucible of National Novel Writing Month, that every-November free-for-all of furious writing. He completed an entire first draft, nearly 80,000 words, in November 2008. In October 2009, it was published by Riverbend Publishing of Helena, Montana, and has since gone on to be selected as a Montana Honor Book and a High Plains Book Award winner.
His follow-up, The Summer Son, was released in January 2011 by AmazonEncore, to similar acclaim. Booklist called the new novel “a classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love.”
Lancaster’s work delves deeply below the surface of its characters, teasing out the desires and motivations that lead us through our lives.
“It’s all too easy to turn people into caricatures, but the truth is, we humans are pretty damned fascinating,” he says. “For me, fiction is a way at getting at truth. I use it to examine the world around me, the things that disturb me, the questions I have about life — whether my own or someone else’s. My hope is that someone reading my work will have their own emotional experience and bring their own thoughts to what they read on the page. When I’m asked what my stories mean, my inclination is turn the question around: What do they mean to you?”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
October 5, 2014
When I read the blurb I was doubtful that I could take boxer Hugo Hunter into my heart as much as I had previously done with Edward from my favourite books in a long time ‘Edward Adrift’ and ‘600 Hours of Edward’ but I relished a chance to enjoy a well written novel which you know is what you’ll get with Craig Lancaster. How wrong I was (not about the well written bit…that’s a given!). There is room in my heart after all for Hugo and his friend Mark, both fallible and far from perfect but both sharing an endearing vulnerability. I’m always wary of spoiling things for others so all I will say is that the link I wasn't expecting is superb and I can only hope there will be more of that particular part of the story to come in future (you will know what I mean when you’ve read it!). Different again to the Edward books and ‘The Summer Son’ but equally touching.
November 6, 2014
I hope this book gets the visibility it deserves.
This the story of people. Of life. Of love, disappointment, tragedy, failure, learning, forgetting, yet hoping for better.
The central characters happen to be a boxer and a sportswriter, but their jobs are irrelevant, other than they provided a setting for this story to unfold. And oh, how it does unfold.
Hugo Hunter is a washed-up boxer. Mark Westerly is the reporter who covered his career. They formed a friendship early in Hugo's career. They are both people with significant issues, it's just that Hugo's are more visible on the surface. They are infinitely broken people who seem trapped in the cycles of continuing to do what got them there.
But this is a book of hope, too.
Invest time in this book, and I believe you won't walk away disappointed.
This the story of people. Of life. Of love, disappointment, tragedy, failure, learning, forgetting, yet hoping for better.
The central characters happen to be a boxer and a sportswriter, but their jobs are irrelevant, other than they provided a setting for this story to unfold. And oh, how it does unfold.
Hugo Hunter is a washed-up boxer. Mark Westerly is the reporter who covered his career. They formed a friendship early in Hugo's career. They are both people with significant issues, it's just that Hugo's are more visible on the surface. They are infinitely broken people who seem trapped in the cycles of continuing to do what got them there.
But this is a book of hope, too.
Invest time in this book, and I believe you won't walk away disappointed.
November 11, 2014
Heartbreaking, uplifting, touching, and a few more adjectives I don't normally use. It was well worth my time, as it will be yours.
It's about boxing like "Streetcar Named Desire" is about trollies.
It's about boxing like "Streetcar Named Desire" is about trollies.
dnf
February 5, 2023There was nothing wrong with what little I read. I'm just not that interested in reading about boxing. Totally my bad. I should have looked into this one more closely before making it my Kindle First pick.
August 18, 2016
There is a lot to like about The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter, not least of these is that snappy title. It also has interesting, likeable characters, good robust prose, and a story that starts and stops in the right place. That last one might seem a little odd, but I really enjoyed the way that Craig Lancaster gave the reader just enough to understand the plot and the characters. I feel like a lot of modern fiction tries to be overly completist. I don't need to know the exact locations of each and every plot point. Nor do I need to know every single aspect of a character's life. I really appreciate a story that gives us a window into ONLY an important part of its characters' lives.
I also enjoyed the way the narrator's voice seemed to change as the character became more settled and less bitter. Both Mark Westerly and Hugo Hunter have had parallel lives, with similar highs and lows, and mis-fortunes both accidental and self-inflicted. I enjoyed their arcs, as I did those of the other characters. The way that these changes in personality and circumstance are reflected in the style of the narration is a good piece of writing.
If you've always wondered what Raymond Chandler might have made of the modern world, or wish that he had written a book about a washed up fighter (which would have been fantastic), check in with Hugo Hunter and his entourage.
I also enjoyed the way the narrator's voice seemed to change as the character became more settled and less bitter. Both Mark Westerly and Hugo Hunter have had parallel lives, with similar highs and lows, and mis-fortunes both accidental and self-inflicted. I enjoyed their arcs, as I did those of the other characters. The way that these changes in personality and circumstance are reflected in the style of the narration is a good piece of writing.
If you've always wondered what Raymond Chandler might have made of the modern world, or wish that he had written a book about a washed up fighter (which would have been fantastic), check in with Hugo Hunter and his entourage.
November 2, 2014
I got this book because I so much enjoyed Mr. Lancaster's Edward books. This one is even better but I cannot figure out how to describe it. Yes, it is about boxing, my least favorite sport. But, no, it's not really about boxing. Well, I did learn something about boxing and sports writing. But that's beside the point. These people are so real and I cared so much about them and what was happening to them. Bravo, bravo, bravo.
October 30, 2014
I'd rate this 3.5 stars.
"That's the thing about fame. If you have it, it's almost never on your terms. You become what other people—people who don't really know you—imagine you to be."
Hugo Hunter was a young boxer from Billings, Montana, who had exceptional talent. He took the world by surprise when at 17, he won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. (He was actually cheated of the gold medal, but that's another story.) Yet given his skills, he was never really able to achieve the success his potential hinted at. Much of his adult life was spent moving from scheme to scheme, addiction to addiction, building up people's hopes and then disappointing them. But he could never shake his love of boxing.
Mark Westerly, a newspaper reporter in Billings, had a ringside seat for Hugo's career, and it changed his life as well. He was part of the celebration of Hugo's victories, and was witness to the crushing disappointments. Yet being a part of the adventure that was Hugo made him privy to some secrets and incidents he could never disclose, and as Mark dealt with challenges in his own life, the pressure often became too much.
"I don't know when I let him in, when I relaxed the pose as objective journalist long enough to let myself love him, but whenever it was, it couldn't be undone, even if I'd wanted that."
Years later, desperate for money and a taste of the glory that passed him by, Hugo has embarked on a series of local fights, in the hope he might make a comeback. But he finds that his life—and his abilities—have gotten far more out of hand than he realizes, but in order to avoid hurting himself and those he cares about yet again, he has to change the path his life is following. But how to do that when all he knows is boxing?
When Mark finds himself with another chance at happiness, he must make the decision whether to try and save Hugo from his demons one last time, and let out the secrets he's been holding in for so long. He also has to realize that everyone is entitled to a second chance, but they must work for it on their own.
Craig Lancaster's The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter feels like a good old-fashioned novel, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I really enjoyed this book and found Lancaster's storytelling tremendously straightforward, without gimmicks or unnecessary drama or affectations. Hugo, Mark, and the supporting characters are really well-drawn and immensely likeable, even when they're doing things you don't agree with. And as with many books I enjoy, I find myself wondering what became of the characters after the book ended.
This is a book about boxing, yes, but it's more a book about friendship, regaining your faith in yourself, and how to unburden yourself from being a witness to another's successes and failures. I'm so glad I stumbled onto this one, and definitely recommend it.
"That's the thing about fame. If you have it, it's almost never on your terms. You become what other people—people who don't really know you—imagine you to be."
Hugo Hunter was a young boxer from Billings, Montana, who had exceptional talent. He took the world by surprise when at 17, he won the silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. (He was actually cheated of the gold medal, but that's another story.) Yet given his skills, he was never really able to achieve the success his potential hinted at. Much of his adult life was spent moving from scheme to scheme, addiction to addiction, building up people's hopes and then disappointing them. But he could never shake his love of boxing.
Mark Westerly, a newspaper reporter in Billings, had a ringside seat for Hugo's career, and it changed his life as well. He was part of the celebration of Hugo's victories, and was witness to the crushing disappointments. Yet being a part of the adventure that was Hugo made him privy to some secrets and incidents he could never disclose, and as Mark dealt with challenges in his own life, the pressure often became too much.
"I don't know when I let him in, when I relaxed the pose as objective journalist long enough to let myself love him, but whenever it was, it couldn't be undone, even if I'd wanted that."
Years later, desperate for money and a taste of the glory that passed him by, Hugo has embarked on a series of local fights, in the hope he might make a comeback. But he finds that his life—and his abilities—have gotten far more out of hand than he realizes, but in order to avoid hurting himself and those he cares about yet again, he has to change the path his life is following. But how to do that when all he knows is boxing?
When Mark finds himself with another chance at happiness, he must make the decision whether to try and save Hugo from his demons one last time, and let out the secrets he's been holding in for so long. He also has to realize that everyone is entitled to a second chance, but they must work for it on their own.
Craig Lancaster's The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter feels like a good old-fashioned novel, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I really enjoyed this book and found Lancaster's storytelling tremendously straightforward, without gimmicks or unnecessary drama or affectations. Hugo, Mark, and the supporting characters are really well-drawn and immensely likeable, even when they're doing things you don't agree with. And as with many books I enjoy, I find myself wondering what became of the characters after the book ended.
This is a book about boxing, yes, but it's more a book about friendship, regaining your faith in yourself, and how to unburden yourself from being a witness to another's successes and failures. I'm so glad I stumbled onto this one, and definitely recommend it.
September 24, 2016
It's not just boxing. There's a love story.
Welcome to Billings, Montana, where we step back in time sixty years. When the smokes were unfiltered Camels and boutique beer was just a bad joke. When men were men and women were bitter-sweet memories. For a while the only females in this story are Hugo's dead grandmother and Mark's long-gone ex-wife. Sixty years ago wasn't a great time for women. No wonder they didn't hang around.
PLEASE keep reading. It's 2014 and everyone has cellphones. Washed-up boxer Hugo Hunter thumbs through a women's magazine and takes a test on "self-awareness." He decides he doesn't have any and you can't argue with him. Hunter's life has been a train wreck, with one golden opportunity after another thrown away and every relationship strained beyond the breaking point. Desperate for money and too undisciplined to stick to a nine-to-five, he keeps boxing even at the risk of what health he has left. "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy" is what doctors call the brain damage suffered by boxers and football players who have repeated concussions. Hugo has a simpler way of expressing it: "This sport uses you up."
Narrator Mark Westerly is a sports writer whose professional and personal lives have been closely intertwined with those of Hugo Hunter since Westerly was a newly-minted reporter and Hunter was a seventeen-year-old phenom with a national amateur title and a ticket to the Olympics. His life hasn't had the spectacular highs and lows of Hugo's, but he's known plenty of disappointment and frustration and tragedy. He's a man who demanded a lot of himself, personally and professionally, and he feels that he has failed badly in both areas. He's losing hope for Hugo's future and has almost none for his own.
I honestly don't know why I read this book. I'm certainly not a boxing fan. It used to be called "the noble art" but I've never seen much nobility about it. Lancaster is a fine writer and this is a fine book. It's probably a "guy's book" and I HOPE I won't be the only woman to review it. If it encourages you to read it, I'll tell you that there's a love story and it's touching and believable and not the least bit syrupy. Frank Feeney, who coaches Hugo and becomes like a father to him, and Hugo's grandmother Aurelia are wonderful characters.
Mark Westerly takes his own sweet time growing up, but he gets there. And Hugo is a deeper, more subtle man than he first appears. He is, as Westerly says, "an interesting, engaging guy." He's flawed, but he's more than a dumb jock and the men who stick with him through good times and bad are more than jock-sniffers. Beneath the tough exteriors, all of these men are loving and (at least some of the time) responsible. Like old Frank says, " Everybody wants a happy ending." By the time you finish the book, you really want happy endings for Hugo and Mark.
Welcome to Billings, Montana, where we step back in time sixty years. When the smokes were unfiltered Camels and boutique beer was just a bad joke. When men were men and women were bitter-sweet memories. For a while the only females in this story are Hugo's dead grandmother and Mark's long-gone ex-wife. Sixty years ago wasn't a great time for women. No wonder they didn't hang around.
PLEASE keep reading. It's 2014 and everyone has cellphones. Washed-up boxer Hugo Hunter thumbs through a women's magazine and takes a test on "self-awareness." He decides he doesn't have any and you can't argue with him. Hunter's life has been a train wreck, with one golden opportunity after another thrown away and every relationship strained beyond the breaking point. Desperate for money and too undisciplined to stick to a nine-to-five, he keeps boxing even at the risk of what health he has left. "Chronic traumatic encephalopathy" is what doctors call the brain damage suffered by boxers and football players who have repeated concussions. Hugo has a simpler way of expressing it: "This sport uses you up."
Narrator Mark Westerly is a sports writer whose professional and personal lives have been closely intertwined with those of Hugo Hunter since Westerly was a newly-minted reporter and Hunter was a seventeen-year-old phenom with a national amateur title and a ticket to the Olympics. His life hasn't had the spectacular highs and lows of Hugo's, but he's known plenty of disappointment and frustration and tragedy. He's a man who demanded a lot of himself, personally and professionally, and he feels that he has failed badly in both areas. He's losing hope for Hugo's future and has almost none for his own.
I honestly don't know why I read this book. I'm certainly not a boxing fan. It used to be called "the noble art" but I've never seen much nobility about it. Lancaster is a fine writer and this is a fine book. It's probably a "guy's book" and I HOPE I won't be the only woman to review it. If it encourages you to read it, I'll tell you that there's a love story and it's touching and believable and not the least bit syrupy. Frank Feeney, who coaches Hugo and becomes like a father to him, and Hugo's grandmother Aurelia are wonderful characters.
Mark Westerly takes his own sweet time growing up, but he gets there. And Hugo is a deeper, more subtle man than he first appears. He is, as Westerly says, "an interesting, engaging guy." He's flawed, but he's more than a dumb jock and the men who stick with him through good times and bad are more than jock-sniffers. Beneath the tough exteriors, all of these men are loving and (at least some of the time) responsible. Like old Frank says, " Everybody wants a happy ending." By the time you finish the book, you really want happy endings for Hugo and Mark.
October 7, 2014
I loved the summer Son and the wonderful Edward books by Craig Lancaster and was a bit worried about this being set around a boxer and a sports writer. I shouldn't have worried, once again he has given us a wonderfully crafted, believable story of human vulnerability, ambitions dashed, hope and resilience. He also gives us hope that there will be more of Hugo via a wonderful little twist in the story (no spoilers!!) The fact that it is written around boxing is as relevant as racing cars were in Garth Stein's (also wonderful) The Art of Racing in the Rain.
In the acknowledgements Craig Lancaster says 'For anyone who's spent a few hours with my work, my gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you.' - I think the pleasure is all ours - thank you Mr. Lancaster! :)
In the acknowledgements Craig Lancaster says 'For anyone who's spent a few hours with my work, my gratitude knows no bounds. Thank you.' - I think the pleasure is all ours - thank you Mr. Lancaster! :)
October 12, 2014
A story of failure after failure of a boxer wannabe and the efforts and frustrations of the people close to him as they also failed to prevent his self-destruction. The story as told by a sports writer suffering from a failed marriage and the tragic loss of a son, caused mostly by his failure as a Father and husband. See a pattern here? Mostly a meandering story with just enough juice to hold the readers’ interest but by no means memorable. I could only recommend it as a filler between more exciting reads.
November 7, 2014
3.5/5
I liked this, but I'm mainly let down since I had expectations that this would be as good as the 'Edward' books. It's a quick easy read that becomes a page-turner, but I kept hoping it would be elevated to the standard I held from 600 Hours of Edward. A nice little surprise did make me smile, and I wonder where that could lead. I think also that maybe this could've worked better as a period piece, set back in a time of boxing's heyday, or even when newspaper print was king.
I liked this, but I'm mainly let down since I had expectations that this would be as good as the 'Edward' books. It's a quick easy read that becomes a page-turner, but I kept hoping it would be elevated to the standard I held from 600 Hours of Edward. A nice little surprise did make me smile, and I wonder where that could lead. I think also that maybe this could've worked better as a period piece, set back in a time of boxing's heyday, or even when newspaper print was king.
February 14, 2015
Although I don't think this was the best written book, thus 4 stars, I did enjoy reading it. The characters were well developed and the story itself was interesting. The narrator is a sports writer of a small town newspaper, basically telling the story of a has been boxer - I kept waiting for the line "I coulda been a contender". The characters were likable and flawed. I would definitely recommend this book - and you don't have to know anything about boxing!
October 29, 2014
Craig Lancaster, where have you been all my life?
October 12, 2017
The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter by Craig Lancaster is a story of life’s setbacks, hope and redemption told through the perspective of Mark Westerly, who is a sportswriter, about the life and struggles of a boxer Hugo Hunter. It is the story of two vastly different individuals whose lives intertwined for better or worse. Hugo Hunter was once a promising boxer but he didn’t quite make it. Mark Westerly covers Hugo’s ups and downs for nearly twenty years, from the time he was a teenage Olympic hero.
But somewhere along the way Hugo Hunter’s life came apart at the seams and his life spirals out of control. The downward slide has been swift, and Hugo is reduced to fighting small-time bouts against unknown street punks for a quick buck. As Hugo struggles to get himself out of the mess, his fate is inexplicably interwoven with that of Mark Wesley and both find themselves struggling to come out of the darkness.
In this sad, touching and redemptive story of triumphs and heartbreak, losses and gains, hope and lamentations, bestselling author Craig Lancaster masterfully crafted a powerful saga of human failures and man’s doughty and spirited resourcefulness to overcome any obstacle that life throws his way. Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, this story of a boxer and a sportswriter is one tale that many readers will greatly enjoy.
But somewhere along the way Hugo Hunter’s life came apart at the seams and his life spirals out of control. The downward slide has been swift, and Hugo is reduced to fighting small-time bouts against unknown street punks for a quick buck. As Hugo struggles to get himself out of the mess, his fate is inexplicably interwoven with that of Mark Wesley and both find themselves struggling to come out of the darkness.
In this sad, touching and redemptive story of triumphs and heartbreak, losses and gains, hope and lamentations, bestselling author Craig Lancaster masterfully crafted a powerful saga of human failures and man’s doughty and spirited resourcefulness to overcome any obstacle that life throws his way. Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, this story of a boxer and a sportswriter is one tale that many readers will greatly enjoy.
January 28, 2019
I really enjoyed Lancaster's Edward books. In the latest installment of Edward, I was introduced to Hugo Hunter and enjoyed the character. So I was excited about this book (chronologically, this book came before Edward Unspooled, but I wasn't paying that much attention at the time). At any rate, I was disappointed in this book, although it was still a decent read.
If you go into this book thinking you're going to learn about Hugo Hunter, you'll be disappointed. This book is much more about the journalist who covered him. Even more, the book is very much about a love story involving the journalist who covered him. So, if you go in thinking you're going to read a book about the rise and fall of a boxing legend and you come up having read the love story of a disengaged sports journalist, you're probably going to be disappointed (like me).
The Edward books have a lot of heart and humor. This didn't have the humor, and I wasn't buying the heart.
If you go into this book thinking you're going to learn about Hugo Hunter, you'll be disappointed. This book is much more about the journalist who covered him. Even more, the book is very much about a love story involving the journalist who covered him. So, if you go in thinking you're going to read a book about the rise and fall of a boxing legend and you come up having read the love story of a disengaged sports journalist, you're probably going to be disappointed (like me).
The Edward books have a lot of heart and humor. This didn't have the humor, and I wasn't buying the heart.
April 2, 2019
2.5 stars rounded up: I probably would have rated this 3.5/4 stars had my expectations not been so high. I read this after finishing the 3 books of the Edward series. I thoroughly enjoyed that series; I felt like I really got to know the characters and the story line held my interest throughout. When I saw this as the back-story on Hugo (introduced in #3), I bought it right away. I struggled maintaining interest for the 1st 1/2, but then it did pick up. Not sorry I read it, but no real lasting or memorable impressions for me.
July 1, 2021
Oh wow! This was so good. I wasn't sure, since I don't know boxing, but, I need audiobooks on CD for in the car, as I drive 2 or more hours each day for work. so I picked it up. So much human drama, and the story of men undone by their own mistakes, then picking themselves back up, which is a topic near and dear to me, as I am one of the most fallible people around, and I work professionally with those who are trying for their upswing, helping them where I can, and holding their hands when a backslide threatens. Never thought I would have such feelings from a 'guy' novel.
January 23, 2018
By page 75 I found myself searching Goodreads reviews in an attempt to find reason to continue - I didn't actively dislike the book I just wasn't enjoying it enough. I wasn't connecting with the characters, even hints at future revelations failed to pique my interest.
This was a free download by an author who is new to me, and as I have lots of unread books (many by authors I know will not disappoint) I decided to abandon this story.
This was a free download by an author who is new to me, and as I have lots of unread books (many by authors I know will not disappoint) I decided to abandon this story.
July 3, 2022
This may even be a 3.5 rated book. I felt invested in the characters, even some of the secondary ones, more than many books can make me feel. the progression of their journeys felt believable and was smoothly expressed. But then sometimes I also felt like the author relied on ways of unfolding the story in a way that didn't work for me. It felt too intentional perhaps. All in all, I was glad I read it.
May 3, 2018
Insightful
It's interesting to imagine how people become who they are as they go about their lives. This story explores this for the two main characters, Hugo and Mark, individually but together as their occupations of boxer and sports journalist connect them. Its backstory also paints a picture of the boxing and news media worlds.
It's interesting to imagine how people become who they are as they go about their lives. This story explores this for the two main characters, Hugo and Mark, individually but together as their occupations of boxer and sports journalist connect them. Its backstory also paints a picture of the boxing and news media worlds.
April 2, 2021
A Good Story
I’ve read and loved the Edward books and I enjoyed getting back into Billings. Mark Westerly makes a good narrator and the story is entertaining. My only issue is the time leaps aren’t as deft as Hugo’s right hook - maybe in his old, overweight form. Still worth the read.
I’ve read and loved the Edward books and I enjoyed getting back into Billings. Mark Westerly makes a good narrator and the story is entertaining. My only issue is the time leaps aren’t as deft as Hugo’s right hook - maybe in his old, overweight form. Still worth the read.
January 1, 2018
Loved this spin-off from Lancaster's Edward series [600 Hours of Edward]. This book was a read-aloud by my own personal audible.com, my wife Chris. We had some driving time on our trip back to the US in Nov.
January 2, 2022
I really liked this book. I didn't think I would since it was about boxing but I couldn't stop reading it. Great characters, story, and writing. It was a good way to start a new year.
I would recommend this book.
I would recommend this book.
March 12, 2018
A hesitating read.
Read in small snippets. The ending is better than the first half. Small story of pro fighters in real world.
Read in small snippets. The ending is better than the first half. Small story of pro fighters in real world.
August 24, 2021
Good story. It took a bit to kind of figure out how it was going to play out since there was a lot of jumping around from the past to the present. Overall I enjoyed the read.
June 15, 2024
The Lancaster books seem to be hit and miss with me. I really enjoyed the “Edward” books, but this one and a couple others I attempted just didn’t cut it.
July 14, 2017
"The last time I saw Hugo Hunter in the boxing ring was on a miserable Tuesday that pissed down freezing rain in Billings, Montana." That's how Craig Lancaster begins his latest novel, "The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter." He pretty much tells the whole story right there in the first line, but, as a reader, you know pretty much that he's got you hooked and you are not going to be able to wriggle off the hook till he gets you to the bitter end of this terrific novel.
Although the backdrop to this story is boxing, it is not primarily a sports story. Instead, it is a story about the nature of friendship and integrity and dreams. It's the story of a reporter (Mark Westerly) and a boxer (Hugo) who captivated the reporter who realizes that he got too close to the story some time between seeing Hugo "captivate the world as a seventeen-year-old and seeing him laid out on the canvas twenty years later." It is the story of the rise and fall of a young boxer who years later is reduced to fighting against nobodies and getting beat to a bloody pulp just to keep fighting. It's also the story of the reporter who stood by him through thick and thin while his own life crumbled about him.
This is no ordinary sports story because Lancaster captures the atmosphere of the boxing ring and the atmosphere of the oldtime newsroom better than almost anyone ever has. Hugo was the biggest sports star the town had ever seen and there was a time that you couldn't pick up a box of breakfast cereal without him staring back at you. What happened in the twenty years? What reduced Hugo to fighting nobodies on a Tuesday night? The narrator reminisces about how it all was back then.
As much as on the surface Hugo is the star of the story, the tale is just as much about the narrator, his failed marriage, his son, his life, as it is about Hugo and maybe the takeaway from that is that all stories are in some sense as much about the narrator as about the subject matter.
The writing is tight and you can feel the narrator's sarcasm like a razor, talking for instance about Schronet having the biggest night of his life beating Hugo and it was something he would tell his kids about "if any woman made the mistake of letting him father some."
The true mark of a good book that, when you finish it, you start looking up what else the author has crafted. This is that type of good book.
Although the backdrop to this story is boxing, it is not primarily a sports story. Instead, it is a story about the nature of friendship and integrity and dreams. It's the story of a reporter (Mark Westerly) and a boxer (Hugo) who captivated the reporter who realizes that he got too close to the story some time between seeing Hugo "captivate the world as a seventeen-year-old and seeing him laid out on the canvas twenty years later." It is the story of the rise and fall of a young boxer who years later is reduced to fighting against nobodies and getting beat to a bloody pulp just to keep fighting. It's also the story of the reporter who stood by him through thick and thin while his own life crumbled about him.
This is no ordinary sports story because Lancaster captures the atmosphere of the boxing ring and the atmosphere of the oldtime newsroom better than almost anyone ever has. Hugo was the biggest sports star the town had ever seen and there was a time that you couldn't pick up a box of breakfast cereal without him staring back at you. What happened in the twenty years? What reduced Hugo to fighting nobodies on a Tuesday night? The narrator reminisces about how it all was back then.
As much as on the surface Hugo is the star of the story, the tale is just as much about the narrator, his failed marriage, his son, his life, as it is about Hugo and maybe the takeaway from that is that all stories are in some sense as much about the narrator as about the subject matter.
The writing is tight and you can feel the narrator's sarcasm like a razor, talking for instance about Schronet having the biggest night of his life beating Hugo and it was something he would tell his kids about "if any woman made the mistake of letting him father some."
The true mark of a good book that, when you finish it, you start looking up what else the author has crafted. This is that type of good book.
June 24, 2021
I reviewed this one right after its publication in 2014, after a long and jaded dry spell reading nothing but nonfiction. I reviewed it on Amazon long before joining Goodreads. A lot of life has happened since then, and I don't know how well that past self would recognize me today. But here it is anyway for posterity.
**********************************
I lost my faith in the power of the novel years ago. I won't say that Craig Lancaster has renewed that faith, but he has -- in keeping with one of the novel's major themes -- given me hope.
I'm usually wary of novels written in the first person because the narrators are often little more than filters for the action and aren't really actors themselves, not on a truly human level, anyway. But here the narrator, Mark Westerly, is a fully realized human being, as are all the characters in this book. So well realized, in fact, that at times it's easy to forget that this is fiction and not a memoir. The dialog Lancaster conjures from these characters strikes that perfect balance: real enough to be believable and fictional enough to be entertaining. And more than that, Lancaster performs the seemingly impossible time and again: his characters utter deep sentimental truths that feel genuine to the ear.
But now a confession. I read this book in a day and a half while spending the night in a hospital with one of my young children. And there's something very special about reading an entire novel in so short a time when there's little else to do but kill time between nurse visits. It makes me wonder if I would have finished this novel under normal circumstances because I could tell the novel was losing its energy in the middle (where most novels lose energy). The characters and dialog weren't losing energy, but the plot was slipping away with the end too far out of sight (hence the four stars instead of five). However, not finishing this book would have been as tragic as any number of the title character's squandered opportunities. Read this novel, but read it quickly, in long stretches, in a waiting room or on a long flight.
One more thing. I don't believe this novel is really about redemption, as so many have said, because even though both Mark and Hugo try repeatedly to redeem their pasts, they never truly succeed. What they experience is not redemption, but grace. And what makes this novel work so well -- what sets it apart -- is that not only does the grace offered to these characters feel genuine, but their acceptances of those acts of grace make you want to cheer.
**********************************
I lost my faith in the power of the novel years ago. I won't say that Craig Lancaster has renewed that faith, but he has -- in keeping with one of the novel's major themes -- given me hope.
I'm usually wary of novels written in the first person because the narrators are often little more than filters for the action and aren't really actors themselves, not on a truly human level, anyway. But here the narrator, Mark Westerly, is a fully realized human being, as are all the characters in this book. So well realized, in fact, that at times it's easy to forget that this is fiction and not a memoir. The dialog Lancaster conjures from these characters strikes that perfect balance: real enough to be believable and fictional enough to be entertaining. And more than that, Lancaster performs the seemingly impossible time and again: his characters utter deep sentimental truths that feel genuine to the ear.
But now a confession. I read this book in a day and a half while spending the night in a hospital with one of my young children. And there's something very special about reading an entire novel in so short a time when there's little else to do but kill time between nurse visits. It makes me wonder if I would have finished this novel under normal circumstances because I could tell the novel was losing its energy in the middle (where most novels lose energy). The characters and dialog weren't losing energy, but the plot was slipping away with the end too far out of sight (hence the four stars instead of five). However, not finishing this book would have been as tragic as any number of the title character's squandered opportunities. Read this novel, but read it quickly, in long stretches, in a waiting room or on a long flight.
One more thing. I don't believe this novel is really about redemption, as so many have said, because even though both Mark and Hugo try repeatedly to redeem their pasts, they never truly succeed. What they experience is not redemption, but grace. And what makes this novel work so well -- what sets it apart -- is that not only does the grace offered to these characters feel genuine, but their acceptances of those acts of grace make you want to cheer.
October 21, 2015
I don't read chick lit, but I imagine The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter is like chick lit written from a guy's perspective? I don't even know if that makes sense. The writing shines at moments, and at others, is over the top. Some events are repeatedly evaluated by several of the characters, which makes the plot seem stationary. Perhaps the most puzzling character is the narrator; somehow his first marriage was doomed to fail, though we never really understand why, and now he is in this great relationship, with an amazing woman, who brings out the best in him. Really? Sounds implausible, especially for someone who hasn't had any other major tries at being in relationships. He also insists on calling younger males "bud" and his girlfriend/wife "girl," which must be a Montana thing... The basic plot is set well, and the plot twists (secrets in the common past of the characters) are revealed at a good pace, but the reader spends too much time in the narrator's head, a time that is spent mostly on psychoanalyzing everyone and evaluating and re-evaluating where things went wrong. There is a lot of talk about how a journalist is supposed to be and how the narrator fails to be objective like a proper journalist regarding Hugo, but the heart of the matter never really goes beyond some sentimental banter (for example, if the journalist did his job, Hugo's failures would be known fully in the media, which might have helped Hugo clean up his act [or not], and Hugo's birth father would come to light, which, again, could have significantly altered the boxer's life.) In the end, I didn't care much about the narrator, his new life, or anyone else; maybe a little about Hugo, only because he was portrayed as such an affable loser.
October 22, 2014
The Fallow Season of Hugo Hunter is told from the perspective of Mark Westerly, a sports reporter who by his own admission has grown so close to his subject, the boxer Hugo Hunter, that he can no longer be objective. Of course, that's what makes this novel so satisfying: we see Hugo's trials and mistakes from someone who may not understand him, but who loves him. Objectivity would have lessened the emotional impact of the story.
The story unfolds as Hugo is on his last legs, fighting (and losing to) nobodies who could not have fought with Hugo in his prime. As Westerly recounts the many sad mistakes of Hugo's life - addiction and failure to reach the pinnacle - he also recounts the mistakes of his own: a failed marriage, a regret-filled time in fatherhood, a slow march into a sad middle-age.
The story is interspersed with brief snippets from Hugo's own autobiography. These snippets offer hope that perhaps the wrecked Hugo of much of the novel has finally turned the corner. The story is satisfying because both Hunter and Westerly have the opportunity for redemption, which is really one of this novel's main themes: second chances (or third and fourth) and redemption. Many scenes are poignant, and many scenes are humorous too.
There were just a couple of instances where the poignancy crossed the line into maudlin melodrama and sappiness. I could have done without the cheese of the lullaby over the cell phone.
All in all a very satisfying read, and a great offer for the Kindle First series. You don't need to be a boxing or sports fan to appreciate this fine novel.
The story unfolds as Hugo is on his last legs, fighting (and losing to) nobodies who could not have fought with Hugo in his prime. As Westerly recounts the many sad mistakes of Hugo's life - addiction and failure to reach the pinnacle - he also recounts the mistakes of his own: a failed marriage, a regret-filled time in fatherhood, a slow march into a sad middle-age.
The story is interspersed with brief snippets from Hugo's own autobiography. These snippets offer hope that perhaps the wrecked Hugo of much of the novel has finally turned the corner. The story is satisfying because both Hunter and Westerly have the opportunity for redemption, which is really one of this novel's main themes: second chances (or third and fourth) and redemption. Many scenes are poignant, and many scenes are humorous too.
There were just a couple of instances where the poignancy crossed the line into maudlin melodrama and sappiness. I could have done without the cheese of the lullaby over the cell phone.
All in all a very satisfying read, and a great offer for the Kindle First series. You don't need to be a boxing or sports fan to appreciate this fine novel.
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