Book Review: Champion of the World by Chad Dundas (2016)
Synopsis: Moira Van Dean doesn't trust Fritz Mundt, the man who broke her husband, Pepper's leg and effectively ended his professional wrestling career, sending the couple into a financial spiral that had resulted in them living in poverty while working for a traveling carnival. However, after the carnival leaves them behind following a barroom altercation that leaves Pepper seriously injured, they have no choice other than to accept Mundt's offer to pay Pepper as a trainer for heavyweight wrestler, Garfield Taft for a potential match against heavyweight champion Strangler Lesko.
Despite Taft's brashness, Pepper is up to the task but, as Moira feared, there are obstacles. The training camp in Montana is a front for a bootlegging ring and the only way Lesko's team will give Taft, who is Black, a title shot is if he agrees to throw the match. Plus, it is clear Taft is suffering the effects of some serious illness he won't disclose.
Review: I'm not sure why, but I was on a bit of a professional wrestling kick the last time I checked out books from the library and in addition to getting a non-fiction book about the early days of the sport, I also checked out a historical fiction book, Champion of the World, based in the early 20th century as well. At first, I wasn't sure if I'd like it, but it turned out to be an entertaining read.
The author himself admits to taking some liberties with the factual history but while that is the case, it is a healthy balance of real and not-as-accurate, enough to make the work of fiction work while also keeping it grounded in some reality. In other words, the book does a good job of setting up the fictional story of the Van Dean's and Garfield Taft against the real-world struggles they would have faced if they weren't fictional.
The thing that surprised me most about this book was it wasn't as predictable as I assumed it would be when I checked it out. It could have easily been a straight-forward story about a long-shot wrestler getting a chance to be world champion, complete with the overused plot devices that most sports-related books/movies use. Instead, the wrestling isn't featured nearly as much as the various characters' inner demons, including the secrets they've been keeping - whether it is the sickness Taft won't talk about or the real reason Pepper's leg was broken by Mundt.
As a result of this, I found I was more invested in their lives than Taft's ultimate goal of becoming champion, which was unexpected. This was especially true of Pepper and Moira, who loved each other but also seemed like a couple that was on the verge of not being able to stay together because of everything that had happened to them and was still going on around them.
Taft's quest for the championship still did remain an intriguing part of the story though, simply because there was no way of telling what would happen. It was clear nobody was going to let him win the title but with his pride, I also wondered if he would still attempt to do so anyway or just accept defeat and take the money for his wife's sake. The mystery surrounding his illness only added to this because, as he got worse, it wasn't even clear if he'd make it to the match.
The book then later becomes a whirlwind of twists and turns, involving last-second changes to the title match, organized crime and the sudden reappearance of a villain from the Van Deans' past. I won't go into too much detail to avoid spoilers, but it was enough to keep me reading just to see how it was going to end. And, while the book does ultimately leave some things up in the air, it was the right kind of things, and I was satisfied with how the author decided to end it.
Final Opinion: It's an interesting book that gives quite a bit of depth to the characters and a story that isn't as predictable as most sports-related stories are. I'd recommend it.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other fiction books:
Book Review: The Revolt of the Star Men by Raymond Z. Gallun (1932)
Book Review: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (1959)
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