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Karate is a Thing of the Spirit
Pocket Edition. Paperback. Some edge wear. Pages yellowed.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
1 person is currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
Harry Crews
68 books650 followersHarry Eugene Crews was born during the Great Depression to sharecroppers in Bacon County, Georgia. His father died when he was an infant and his mother quickly remarried. His mother later moved her sons to Jacksonville, Florida. Crews is twice divorced and is the father of two sons. His eldest son drowned in 1964.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
Crews served in the Korean War and, following the war, enrolled at the University of Florida under the G.I. Bill. After two years of school, Crews set out on an extended road trip. He returned to the University of Florida in 1958. Later, after graduating from the master's program, Crews was denied entrance to the graduate program for Creative Writing. He moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where he taught English at Broward Community College. In 1968, Crews' first novel, The Gospel Singer, was published. Crews returned to the University of Florida as an English faculty member.
In spring of 1997, Crews retired from UF to devote himself fully to writing. Crews published continuously since his first novel, on average of one novel per year. He died in 2012, at the age of 78.
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May 24, 2025‘An Outlaw Band of Karate Fanatics…’
In my hubris, I used to consider myself fairly well-read, only to discover that literature—and perhaps all of human achievement—peaked in the early ‘70’s with the most spectacular premise ever conceived.
And homegirl on the cover looks more like she’s going in for a bitch slap.
In my hubris, I used to consider myself fairly well-read, only to discover that literature—and perhaps all of human achievement—peaked in the early ‘70’s with the most spectacular premise ever conceived.
And homegirl on the cover looks more like she’s going in for a bitch slap.
June 13, 2016
Laurie Partridge fucking David Cassidy with a Pet Rock on shag carpeting while Iron Eyes Cody cries a single tear over the oil shortage onto a Saturday Night Fever 8-track: that scenario still isn’t as Seventies as Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit. I was all set to write a serious review of the book’s examination of the post 60s fall-out and search for identity after the Revolution turned out to be bullshit, but why?
So I’ll say this: if you want to enjoy yourself and the prospect of roving gangs of anal-raping “queers” sounds like your idea of a good time, read on. If you are not of Japanese descent but pronounce karate ‘kara-tay’ rather than ‘kara-tee,’ then by all means. If you are like me and prefer Crews working without a stockpile of easy freaks and trying—if not always succeeding—to elevate beyond genre, proceed directly to ‘Go.’ I respect a writer trying to expand their art, rather than writing to the LCD.
But whatever you do, make sure to sweep the leg, Johnny.
So I’ll say this: if you want to enjoy yourself and the prospect of roving gangs of anal-raping “queers” sounds like your idea of a good time, read on. If you are not of Japanese descent but pronounce karate ‘kara-tay’ rather than ‘kara-tee,’ then by all means. If you are like me and prefer Crews working without a stockpile of easy freaks and trying—if not always succeeding—to elevate beyond genre, proceed directly to ‘Go.’ I respect a writer trying to expand their art, rather than writing to the LCD.
But whatever you do, make sure to sweep the leg, Johnny.
June 8, 2015
'Karate' isn't his very best but it's a little gem for fans even so. The classic Crews themes are here; lost souls randomly crashing together in the dark of American life, broken or breaking people trying to form a family or unified force but forming a cult instead, physical and psychological brutality-all woven together into a portrait of America (usually Northern Florida) at once totally familiar to us but grotesque and unsettling when viewed through Crews' patina of blood lust, carnivorous sexuality and decay. Empty swimming pools as fighting pits, a lethal beauty queen, mobile homes by the thousands, 1970 Florida coast, karate, a dwarf guru, sex, violence, sex, violence, sex violence, a beauty contest turned mob scene. I was wandering through a great used bookstore in old town Omaha and could not pass up a book laying on a table called Karate Is A Thing Of The Spirit by Harry Crews with the amazing, hypnotic, hilarious cover (on the pocket book edition) and it's content didn't disappoint.
October 25, 2016
That feeling you get when something you're really enjoying gathers speed and drives right off of a looming cliff...
I really like stories about martial arts, and those crazy, stupid montage scenes in sports movies where people go from average, to beast mode; it's charming to think that average people have this hidden capacity for brilliant athleticism and brutally graceful achievements. It's just a cool thing. I find it fascinating that the human body is so durable and powerful, and it's romantic in and of itself. People try and they succeed and become something entirely separate from the average. I dig that. It holds an allure for normal people.
But Crews went a bit awry with this one. It's an interesting direction, and a pretty bizarre arc... but, again - it goes totally off the tracks.
I love and admire Crews' writing - but, sadly, Karate is a Thing of the Spirit ultimately feels abrupt, rushed, and unfulfilling. There's a promise that isn't delivered, and I felt it resonated within the novel itself: Crews writes about how Faulkner wrote so many novels, and his character couldn't even copy 20 pages of The Sound and the Fury without feeling utterly exhausted. Perhaps 218 pages was where Crews reached that point - I wanted this to go so many other places, but apparently Crews had had his fill.
Sad. Still, a good novel, and incredibly funny - but, as with John Kaimon and Belt, it's an ultimately disappointing experience. That unique mixture of violence and Crews' own brand of humor makes the read worthwhile, but it's far from his best.
I really like stories about martial arts, and those crazy, stupid montage scenes in sports movies where people go from average, to beast mode; it's charming to think that average people have this hidden capacity for brilliant athleticism and brutally graceful achievements. It's just a cool thing. I find it fascinating that the human body is so durable and powerful, and it's romantic in and of itself. People try and they succeed and become something entirely separate from the average. I dig that. It holds an allure for normal people.
But Crews went a bit awry with this one. It's an interesting direction, and a pretty bizarre arc... but, again - it goes totally off the tracks.
I love and admire Crews' writing - but, sadly, Karate is a Thing of the Spirit ultimately feels abrupt, rushed, and unfulfilling. There's a promise that isn't delivered, and I felt it resonated within the novel itself: Crews writes about how Faulkner wrote so many novels, and his character couldn't even copy 20 pages of The Sound and the Fury without feeling utterly exhausted. Perhaps 218 pages was where Crews reached that point - I wanted this to go so many other places, but apparently Crews had had his fill.
Sad. Still, a good novel, and incredibly funny - but, as with John Kaimon and Belt, it's an ultimately disappointing experience. That unique mixture of violence and Crews' own brand of humor makes the read worthwhile, but it's far from his best.
June 17, 2023
Old School Fight Club- I wish Crews’ work would be released on ebooks.
June 17, 2022
Not in the same class as The Knockout Artist but with much of the grit and memorably sordid characters. Crews mimics Elmore Leonard in his setup but soon departs into nightmare territory. There are some pages of rumination on sex and the nature of trauma, but most of this book is a roller coaster of horror, violence, sexual abuse, and general depravity. Don't expect a light heart after reading this one.
I picked it up for a buck at half-price and it was a hell of a good airplane read, but I left it at the Air BnB next to a bunch of books on bringing Jesus into your life.
I picked it up for a buck at half-price and it was a hell of a good airplane read, but I left it at the Air BnB next to a bunch of books on bringing Jesus into your life.
January 9, 2022
This was the greatest '70's cheesecake beauty pageant, karate cult novel I've read in recent memory...
July 1, 2021
This was almost made into a Ken Russell film in the 1970s. Would have been really weird.
January 31, 2015
read this one years ago...early 80s, had a paperback, long gone...sold! to the book gallery there in that mall...would have to look at a map. crews rocks the casbah! gone now. knew the man...spent time in the same room way back when. onward and upward.
November 13, 2020
I wanted to attempt to read as much Harry Crews as possible this month and next. I started with the earliest book of his that I had on the shelf. The thing that struck me is that so much of the work of his I've red deals with some type of Southern Gothic Artistic or Performance Artist.
His protagonist is so sincere by the end, but the world is equally exaggerated and satirical.
I never knew what was coming next and it was always interesting at the very least.
Think 70s, Alternate communes, no such thing as utopia, and the previous generation "cannibalizing" the younger one in spite of best intentions.
I wonder it the homosexual characters are "offensive" or just as exaggerated and over the top as all the other characters.
The only one that came across well was "Lazarus"
His protagonist is so sincere by the end, but the world is equally exaggerated and satirical.
I never knew what was coming next and it was always interesting at the very least.
Think 70s, Alternate communes, no such thing as utopia, and the previous generation "cannibalizing" the younger one in spite of best intentions.
I wonder it the homosexual characters are "offensive" or just as exaggerated and over the top as all the other characters.
The only one that came across well was "Lazarus"
January 3, 2025
3.5/5
Wouldn’t put it in the upper echelon of Crews’ works but it’s still Harry Crews, so still a good read. A melange of a lot of quintessential Crews themes and motifs; beauty pageants, the rigidity of the soul, weird Floridian characters all milling about. This one lacked a certain punch that some of his really powerful books carry, sorry for the pun.
I did really enjoy the meditative passages regarding the spirit and determination. Didn’t love the sexuality in this book, Crews can write a sex scene that’s uncomfortable but still unable to put down, these didn’t really have that second quality while having a good deal of the first.
Wouldn’t put it in the upper echelon of Crews’ works but it’s still Harry Crews, so still a good read. A melange of a lot of quintessential Crews themes and motifs; beauty pageants, the rigidity of the soul, weird Floridian characters all milling about. This one lacked a certain punch that some of his really powerful books carry, sorry for the pun.
I did really enjoy the meditative passages regarding the spirit and determination. Didn’t love the sexuality in this book, Crews can write a sex scene that’s uncomfortable but still unable to put down, these didn’t really have that second quality while having a good deal of the first.
May 25, 2021
intriguing and lude, what a take on discipline and blind obedience, which serves more, how do we prevent ourselves from being battered by the forces around us, what does it mean to have a backbone? all this and more from harry crews, Karate is a thing of the spirit, I will say to not take it too seriously if you do read, its not one of those kinds of books.
May 1, 2024
This is an over-the-top work of near-genius that teeters on this side of bizarro fiction. Crews is a master storyteller of the rough, tough, and out of sight lives that he brings forward with imagination and insight, and using cinematic narrative that makes you feel like you are there, instead of sitting with a book in your hands.
December 24, 2025
Mostly hysterical and sad because there’s nothing real left in the world to serve as refuge from false, parasitic American ideals. Not even the safe places we find with thinkers and madmen who seem to know better are above that influence. It’s all karate and beauty pageants and tragedy until you find your thing—whatever that thing is—steal a microbus, and drive off into the sunset.
October 18, 2019
Early, mediocre entry in Crews's oeuvre. Some moments of brilliance but just as many dull or inexplicable ones. Given the moderate rarity of this title and the cost required to obtain a copy, I'd say it's for completists only.
April 24, 2019
This was the first Harry Crews book that I read. I think I was fourteen. I've read pretty much everything I've found by him since then.
September 11, 2020
Vraiment pas le meilleur Harry Crews pour ne pas dire le moins bon
July 30, 2013
Just try saying "karate is a thing of the spirit" aloud. It makes you feel better about any possible situation.
Edited to add: I'm not sure one can say that about the book itself. The core of Karate is empty, becoming a blank slate, wiped clean with devotion, flattened like the knuckles of the fist of protagonist John Kaimon. He is referred to by his full name throughout like he's a little child in trouble, which he sort of is.
Everyone else in the dojo is electric and alluring on the outside, filled with sand while JK seems nebbish-y, unsure, post-human.
Crews is a master of trashy existentialism. You feel the heat in that abandoned Florida motel pool in which the initiates drill and pummel the walls. You the reader disappear like the ego does asphyxiated in the vacuum of karate.
This is not the raging, blackly funny snarl of Crews' FEAST OF SNAKES, but something just as deadly, the sublimation of humanity into a system until they add up to zero.
Edited to add: I'm not sure one can say that about the book itself. The core of Karate is empty, becoming a blank slate, wiped clean with devotion, flattened like the knuckles of the fist of protagonist John Kaimon. He is referred to by his full name throughout like he's a little child in trouble, which he sort of is.
Everyone else in the dojo is electric and alluring on the outside, filled with sand while JK seems nebbish-y, unsure, post-human.
Crews is a master of trashy existentialism. You feel the heat in that abandoned Florida motel pool in which the initiates drill and pummel the walls. You the reader disappear like the ego does asphyxiated in the vacuum of karate.
This is not the raging, blackly funny snarl of Crews' FEAST OF SNAKES, but something just as deadly, the sublimation of humanity into a system until they add up to zero.
July 26, 2016
I really wanted to like Harry Crews (and this book in particular), but, at the risk of sounding trite, I just couldn't emotionally connect to any of the characters. The plot centers around a young man (just out of college) who stumbles upon a karate troupe on a beach in Florida. The "karatekas" are extreme: they pummel each other until they're nearly dead. The protagonist decides on impulse that he MUST join them, and is welcomed by their formidable leader, Belt. They all live in a cheap motel off the side of the interstate and practice karate at the bottom of an empty pool. The book is one of the strangest I've ever read, and is full of haunting references to sexual/child abuse, rape, etc. It's almost dystopian, I'd say, and left me kind of . . . wanting to take a shower.
January 30, 2008
(written 4-05)
John Kaimon, who gets into people's games, finds one he truly believes in ... or does he? At the end, Gaye Nell O'Dell seemed to have been tamed, which saddened me - she's just gonna follow him, pregnant with his baby, having it because he told her to. Oh well.
John Kaimon, who gets into people's games, finds one he truly believes in ... or does he? At the end, Gaye Nell O'Dell seemed to have been tamed, which saddened me - she's just gonna follow him, pregnant with his baby, having it because he told her to. Oh well.
February 27, 2009
I read this one a while ago but I didn't want to list it cuz it wasn't so good. Kind of cheesy in a funny 70s way. A better book from this timeframe for Crews was "Car" or "The Hawk is Dying" (though that one was made into a bad movie a couple years ago).
January 24, 2008
Crews: you either love him or hate him. I'm a dedicated fan. Even the shit graces my bookshelves.
April 9, 2012
Certainly not for everyone.
December 22, 2017
i have now read this twice. Not Harry's best book. Not nearly as funny as most. The ending did remind me of "The Graduate" .
July 13, 2014
One of my favorite books of all time––Crews is at his best in this one.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews