A review by nerfherder86
The Whole Sky Full of Stars by René Saldaña Jr.

3.0

Excellently written, just not my type of book. Two young men, best friends since childhood, decide to enter a boxing competition. They both need the prize money--the boxer's going to use it to help out his mother, who works two jobs to support them since her husband died. His friend, however, has a wealthy father, but he refuses to ask him for money to bail him out of a bad gambling debt. Most of the book is the nonboxing friend trying to talk his pal into entering the fight; the rest of it is the fight (it's actually a series of fights all in one day), and how all of this affects their friendship. Especially when the boxer learns what else his friend has been doing during the fights. It was a good sports book, really about friendship. My main complaint was that the point of view kept switching between the two boys. It was told in third person omnicient, but every other paragraph you'd suddenly be getting the thoughts and feelings of the *other* kid. Kind of disconcerting. If you're going to do that I prefer that it alternate by chapter; at least then you have some time to get into that character's head before having to yank yourself out and figure out what this other guy is feeling.