Contenders: A Novel

by Erika Krouse

“Nina was a thief, technically, although she never defined herself that way. Stealing was sponsorship. Fighting was the passion.”

Street-fighter Nina Black lives by her fists in Denver, stealing wallets and taking advantage of men who try to take advantage of her. This symbiosis is upended when one of her marks, a cop and MMA comeback contender, wants his wallet — and his dignity — back. Avoiding retribution is difficult enough alone, but it becomes impossible once Nina gets unexpected custody of an orphaned eight-year-old niece she didn’t know existed, accompanied by her long-lost (and ever-vigilant) childhood flame, Isaac. When the situation implodes, only one person can help Nina earn back her life, and prepare her for the fight that might end it.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2015

About the author

Erika Krouse is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her upcoming short story collection, Save Me, Stranger, will be published by Flatiron Books in January 2025. Save Me, Stranger has been hailed as “a dozen little masterpieces,” by Adam Johnson, “remarkable” by Ann Beattie, and Louise Erdrich said, “Read these stories with a buddy, because someone will have to scrape you off the floor.” In a starred review, Kirkus calls the collection "a smart set of globetrotting, emotionally gripping stories," and Publishers Weekly says, "[Krouse] makes the thrill of new beginnings palpable."

Erika is also the author of Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation: winner of the 2023 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Colorado Book Award, and the Housatonic Book Award. Tell Me Everything is also a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Book of the Month Club pick, a People Magazine People Pick, named “Best Nonfiction of 2022” by BookPage and Kirkus Reviews, and “Best 10 Books of 2022” by both Slate and Jezebel.

Erika’s novel, Contenders, was a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and appears in German with Aufbau-Verlag. Her previous short story collection, Come Up and See Me Sometime, won the Paterson Fiction Award, was a New York Times Notable Book of the year, and is translated into six languages.

Erika’s short fiction has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire.com, Ploughshares, One Story, The Kenyon Review, The Southern Review, Conjunctions, Colorado Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Glimmer Train, Story, Boulevard, Crazyhorse, Cleaver, and Shenandoah. Her stories have been shortlisted for Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, and the Pushcart Prize.

Erika teaches and mentors for the Lighthouse Book Project at the Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, and is a winner of the Lighthouse Beacon Award for Teaching Excellence. www.erikakrouse.com.

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I coulda been a contender." The line I always remember from On the Waterfront. I wonder if Erika Krouse had that line in mind as she wrote this astonishing novel.

Nina Black was not a bum but she lived among bums and other derelicts and made her living by stealing in Denver, CO. Her passion was fighting, trained as she was within an inch of her life in Mixed Martial Arts, MMA. Therefore, she had no need to work in a cubicle or office or retail store and she had no fear of the streets at night or of rapacious men. Except, of course, there was one man about whom she had to be wary.

This novel is full of gritty violence and of a woman's tragic childhood but at the same time explores the heart, longings, and the idea of how one makes a family. It includes a precocious and brave child. Ultimately it is a story of how one woman overcame huge obstacles to find love and to create a family she didn't even know she craved.

In addition to all that there is humor. Erika Krouse's prose is tight and spare, yet she is as at ease with funny, tender moments as she is brilliant when writing fight scenes. She creates unlikable characters only to make you care about and feel you understand them.

Contenders is another novel I received as a Nervous Breakdown Book Club selection. I also listened to a fascinating interview with the author on OtherPeople. She is a private investigator as well as a novelist. Imagine if V I Warshawski also wrote novels!

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 3 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER: I have practiced and taught martial arts for over a decade. Not bragging or anything, but it's a subject I understand and love.

That didn't go quite as I planned. There's both a very good story and a very silly treatment of martial arts philosophy in CONTENDERS. It is capable of the best and worst, sometimes on the same page.

I get that protagonist Nina Black is supposed to be empowering. She's supposed to be a romanticized concept and everything. But what she's doing with her time (picking fights with random strangers and stealing their wallets) is really stupid and dangerous. It's not dangerous FOR A WOMAN, it's dangerous period. No self-respecting martial artist would do that knowing the risk involved. Not to mention it would get them kicked out of the dojo if they ever got caught too. So there was a pretty thick barrier between Nina and I. She's the biggest danger to herself.

What CONTENDERS does well though, it does really well: illustrating how challenges don't always come directly at you and how life doesn't mold itself to your every desires. I did not recognize myself in Nina, but I recognized the path of a martial artist's evolution and it was quite nice. Jackson's character was particularly subtle and accurate if a little colorful at times (I have no idea why he made Nina eat habanero peppers at some point). So, don't recommend this book to your martial artist friend, but if the subject is intriguing to you, this can be a nice introduction.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting just a brutal fight novel, but I wasn't expecting it to be so moving. It certainly is brutal, each punch and body crunch vivid enough to be real. I guess I just didn't expect to care so much. I found myself holding my breath at different scenes, physically disturbed by the tension...as well as emotionally disturbed by a tenderness I didn't foresee. It's definitely a good book, much more than an initial conception of the book would suggest.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another unexpectedly wonderful novel from the Nervous Breakdown Book Club ($10 per month gets you one book delivered to your home). This is the story of Nina Black - Ninja Warrior, avenging angel and just really cool person. Life gets turned upside down as it does in all good books. But the plot isn't what makes this read so special, it's the room the author gives to the reader. I can't explain it well, but some writers leave just the right amount of space in a book so the reader can imagine, draw conclusions, and speculate. It's what makes reading fiction so enjoyable. Nina Black will stay with me for a long time and I'm most appreciative.

[Kaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always fun to read a Colorado author in local setting. Rough patches, but some lovely segments. Overall really enjoyed. Characters not fully developed but intriguing lead female.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most unusual and fascinating story with well-drawn characters and crisp, oh-so-descriptive writing. Nina Black is making her living as a thief and a street fighter in Denver when an old friend and her orphaned 8-year-old niece, who she never knew existed, unexpectedly show up in her life. This book is not for the squeamish. While there are plenty of moments of charm and humor, it is full of vivid depictions of violence which has left me feeling achy all over.

[Lew Gibb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contenders starts with a simple premise. A girl named Nina makes her living getting into fights and stealing her opponents’ money. When her brother dies she finds herself the guardian of his eight year old Daughter. The addition of the child highlights all the things that are wrong with Nina’s lifestyle and the choices she’s made along the way.

I loved this book. It crept up on me and grabbed hold and wouldn’t let go until I’d finished it in just three days. The descriptions and the dialogue are so well done. I think I highlighted half the book to go back and read again later. Erika Krause has a succinct style that is so easy to read. I was pulled through the story, constantly making new discoveries and anxious for the next chapter. Her observations (through the Nina’s eyes) about life and witty social commentary were spot on and often laugh out loud funny.

The rest of the book’s characters fit perfectly into the narrative of Nina’s life. They have their own problems and, like Nina, they go through life mindlessly, without actually thinking about what would really make them happy or how they could be living a better version of their own story. Like all humans, the characters are exquisitely flawed. They make bad decisions because of past trauma and their twisted view of themselves and who they are. Their humanity is what makes this such a good story. I cared deeply about each of them and wanted them to find their way to a better life.

I’m going to be reading this one again very soon.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an unusual book for me to read! I never would have finished it if it wasn't for my book club discussion, but I am glad I did. For one thing, a few of us went to hear this local author speak at a Chautauqua author's talk right before our book club discussion, and that was truly interesting. She read the beginning out loud and then discussed her writing style and process, and then took audience questions.
The main character Nina is not real likable or someone any of us could identify with, but she is interesting. She lives on her own and makes a living fighting men and stealing their wallets. She excels in mixed martial arts and wins by taking them by surprise and because they are usually drunk. Also, of course they are too humiliated and embarrassed to report the thefts. She has no employable skills and little education, so she knows that her options are limited. So what's a girl to do? Nina is existing, but when her 8 year old niece suddenly appears in her life, life drastically changes and so must Nina.

[Vicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book hits the G spot, the giggle spot. I deem Erika Krouse the queen of pithy wit. Dialog and visuals jab with humor so don't miss it, she doesn't hit you over the head with it just keeps it coming. Pages hum along through bumps for violence and confused characters searching for loved others. There is a "thingyness" here with seques to explain martial arts weapons, or that Aspen trees live in family groups with connected roots, for example. Krouse reminds me of Joy Williams for the tragicomedy outlook. The book is thoroughly enjoyable.

[Bdalton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every once in a while, i want to read a book about a physically strong woman - a true fighter - not just a metaphorical fighter. Contender satisfies the need for a female protagonist who takes down rapists, misogynists, and bullies.

Nina has been left with little but her fighting skills. When her niece and former boyfriend arrives, she is faced with changing her life in order to embrace their love. Change is always hard and Nina's case is no exception.

[Janet Hildebrandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was taken with Krouse's most recent (nonfiction) book, "Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation," and I've been invigorated by two of her writing workshops here in Denver, so decided to try this fictional work from 2015. It was both hilarious and brutal, philosophical and rewarding. While martial arts is not a particular interest of mine, I rooted for the main character from the get-go. A clever story unlike anything I've read.

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this story, much more than i expected. loved the characters and the dialogue, v realistic, funny, and genuine conversations and connections despite the oddity of the novel’s plot. also loved the limited amount of characters involved, which fleshed out the relationships much more without over explaining. didn’t want it to end.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible book

What an incredible book! I've never read anything so raw, and it reminded me of the rawness of Shantaram. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, as my life has seemingly been easy and without physical pain, and yet I couldn't put the book down. Read it!

[Sandee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always fun to read a book set in Denver!

[Cindy Fazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I “discovered” Erika Krouse via her rankings of 500 literary magazines on her website. She has two other books, but I’m so glad I picked CONTENDERS. I highly recommend it.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I know the author. So of course I have a bias. However, I am also smart and read a lot of books. If the book didnt appeal to me I would have put it down just like I put down The Windup Girl, know the author or not.

This book I could not put down, it was wonderful from start to finish. I have used the word "delicious" to describe a book two other times. Once for The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, and another for The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman. [I guess thats technically three.] Contenders is delicious.

I saw some other reviews complaining about the lack of character development. Its true the character development isn't really deep. There is enough to carry the story however and that left me room to fill in the blanks on my own. I recently read Logan's Run which had zero (thats 0.00) character development and liked it a great deal for that reason: I can fill in the blanks with my own imagination. That also leaves plenty of room for the story, which was wonderful.

[Jenny Shank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Knock-out punch
High Country News, Nov. 9, 2015

Each chapter of Colorado writer Erika Krouse’s sharp, fresh debut novel of love, street fighting and deep-rooted disaffection begins with a brief parable from martial arts lore or Asian folk traditions. In one, a squirrel tells a bird that he knows 15 ways to escape a fox. The bird, however, knows only one way: He flies. When a fox appears, “The fox’s jaws closed on the squirrel as it was trying to decide which of the 15 things it should do. The bird had already flown away.”

Krouse’s protagonist, Nina Black, is a woman who knows one thing, and that is fighting. As a teenager in Grand Junction, Colorado, she escaped an abusive father when she began to get serious training in martial arts from a gifted Vietnam veteran.

Now in her late 20s, having left her family with no forwarding address, Nina leads an isolated existence in a rundown apartment off Colfax in Denver, earning a precarious living by going to bars, approaching men she suspects are cads, and then, when they make a move on her, beating them up and stealing their wallets. “Nina thought of herself as a kind of pool shark,” Krouse writes, “except she didn’t play pool. … She was an enforcement officer, collecting small fines from men who violated the social contract.”

Nina’s secret collection of purloined wallets is nearing a hundred when she beats up a steroid-fueled man named Cage –– a crooked cop who was once a mixed martial arts champion. She ends up not only with his money, but also with his badge, and he responds by beginning to pursue her in a seriously menacing way. All this happens just as her childhood crush, Isaac, turns up in Denver with the 8-year-old orphaned niece Nina never knew she had, the daughter of her dead twin brother.

Isaac is a successful actor in commercials who is as well-meaning as Nina is dangerous and as responsible as she is unreliable. Still, love begins to grow between the three members of this off-kilter family, just as Cage threatens to destroy Nina for good.

With its tough one-woman-fighting-machine protagonist and its radical upheaval of expected gender roles, Contenders veers far from standard patterns and continually surprises the reader. Krouse’s wit, erudition and precise language make Contenders a pleasure to read even when it achieves K.O. stark darkness before — finally — lifting its head toward the light.

[Walt Giersbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Side Streets of Life

I couldn’t think of a better title for this work for the way its main characters are continually at each others’ throats—literally and figuratively contending to achieve their goals and even to stay alive. Nina the runaway, Isaac the actor, Kate the orphan, Jackson the sensei, and Cage the psychopathic cop form a shifting pentagram whose five points are fighting each other, dueling with their pasts and contending with their environment. And—surprise!—it’s wonderfully educational and uplifting story!

Let’s assume there are people living outside the realm of ordinary expectations. For the most part, they’re invisible to you and me except when our wallet gets lifted or they appear as anonymous characters in a TV commercial or are the little kid walking alone in the street. Yet, Erika Krouse has brought them to life when Nina asks, “What does courage mean? It’s the second when one thing changes into another. It’s the moment of risk and its transformation. It’s when a touch turns into love, when one person’s life enters yours and stays. It’s what you practice in the smaller moments: first badly, then well. Courage is loss, and the moment of waiting before something rushes to fill its place. It’s the space between fear and hope.”

While “Contenders” should be classified as mainstream literature, it really exposes an underbelly of life and those characters who live on the periphery. But then, in some small way, don’t we all sometimes live on the outskirts and back streets of life?

In full disclosure, Erika Krouse was a classmate of my daughter at Grinnell College, and I was distantly in awe when I heard she’d sold a story to the New Yorker. She’s had many writing achievements since then and (my bad) I’ve been to busy to notice. That will change now.

[Downward · Rating 2 out of 5]

a mostly affectless book plotted like a martial arts film with a contemporary feminist spin. nina, a theif who beats up and steals from men who assault her, finds her equilibrium knocked off balance when she is willed to be the guardian of her estranged and deceased brother's child, currently in the care of her brother's best friend, her longtime unrequited love isaac. a parallel plot features a cop and mma star who she is at odds with and their confrontations that build toward the final fight (as seen in every film with a final fight: this is essentially a sports movie). krouse writes knowedgably and capably about martial arts, and nina's relationship to fighting is the real love story of this text, but that story is weakened a little by the movement toward heart through the inclusion of family drama, which would have worked for me maybbeeeee if it had been given more space to breathe. two stars is harsh for this, and i'll def check out krouse's next book, but the two plots never fully came together for me in an emotionally engaging way, possibly because I was so much more interested in one than the other.

[Courtney Pankrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a bit to really get into this book. Why? Because I judge books by their covers. It's not even that I don't like the cover of this book- I like it fine but I just wasn't sure.

I heard Erika Krouse read her book and was surprised. It was funny, interesting and I wanted to hear more. But still, something held me back from buying the book. I don't know what held me back. I hate to say it but I'm super poor so I try to get books from the library and this wasn't available at the library.

I kept going back to the book. I kept thinking about it. What happened to Nina? I was just curious and I thought of the book often. Finally, I bought the book and I loved it! I couldn't put it down- especially at the end.

This is one of those books that I miss now that I've finished it.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Krouse's novel is a quick read that took me into a world I previously knew nothing about. I enjoyed following anti-hero Nina's story of desperation followed by transformation. This novel takes place in an underworld filled with thugs, thieves, and the worst types of villains -- but through her experiences in this world, Nina finds all the good she has in her life -- namely a faithful teacher, an adoring companion, and the love of a child. Krouse's writing is rich but quick-moving; this page-turner is highly satisfying.

[Susan Knudten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nina Black ain't your traditional protagonist. She's a full-throttle ass-kicker trying to figure out how to make her way through a world that hasn't been very nice to her. Erika Krouse writes with insight and understanding, showing us the tender underbelly of our humanness that is often hidden from view. Read this book!

[Linda Keyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book! Nina is an unusual anti-heroine you can't help but root for. Krouse's prose is vivid and beautiful, even in dirty street fighting scenes, and filled with hilarious one-liners and delicious tid-bits of life philosophy.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read any Harry Crews in a while, but I feel like this reads like a feminist version. It's violent but smart, creepy and disturbing in the right places but stil connects me with the important characters. This book is a whirlwind story with some great twists.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best modern fiction books I have read in ages. Well crafted and easy to read. It covers lots of tough topics but does not play on emotions. This book allows the reader to get immersed in the story on their own terms. Highly recommend.

[Rhomboid Goatcabin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked it up on a whim due to its premise and (German hardcover from Blumenbar/Aufbau) cover. Not quite ground-breaking or indeed very much original, but comes with interesting deconstructive elements and good pacing that make it a solid read. The writing is heavily cinematic, even Hollywoodesque.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting little book, a hybrid between Fight Club, The Karate Kid, and Sleepless in Seattle. While I would have never guessed that I would find this story of "lost" children appealing, I couldn't put it down

[Maggie]

Delightful.

[Maura Weiler · Rating 5 out of 5]

CONTENDERS knocked me out. Krouse's feisty Nina pulls no punches in this gritty, engrossing story of love, loss and redemption. I dare you to put it down.

[Lynnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book in a Good Reads giveaway. Great story line and fast paced.