Fighting Ruben Wolfe

Written by Markus Zusak

Narrated by Stig Wemyss

I say, 'Don't lose your heart, Rube.' And very clearly, without moving, my brother answers me. He says, 'I'm not tryin' to lose it, Cam. I'm tryin' to find it.'

The Wolfe brothers know how to fight. They've been fighting all their lives. Now there's something more at stake than just winning.

A powerful, poignant novel from the author of the international bestseller, The Book Thief.

A Random House UK audio production.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House UK Audio
• Release date: Dec 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781448157839

Markus Zusak

Markus Zusak is the award-winning author of The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger, both Michael L. Printz Honor Books. Markus Zusak's writing career began in high school, where he led a "pretty internal existence. . . . I always had stories in my head. So I started writing them." He lives with his wife and two children in Sydney, Australia, where he is currently working on his new novel Bridge of Clay.

Reviews for Fighting Ruben Wolfe

[horiconlibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Here's the thing: this book is not really about boxing, but there's this huge boxing glove on the HPL copy. So the second book in the series (Getting the Girl) gets checked out all the time, but Fighting Ruben Wolfe doesn't. I have to convince people to try it, because let's face it, most teens aren't the worlds hugest boxing fans. Anyway, this book rocks. It's about two brothers in Australia. One kind of sucks at most stuff, but his brother is good at things like boxing. Cameron (the younger bro) is always trying to live up to his older brother Ruben's reputation and coolness factor. Zuzak can write. Seriously, I was reluctant to read a lame (sorry boxing fans) book that even mentioned boxing, but Zuzak totally sucked me in. He also wrote the amazing Book Thief, which is completely different and every bit as good.--shannon

[kittybee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cameron and Ruben Wolfe are brothers and come from a working-class family that is barely getting by. After Ruben gets into a fight at school, they are approached by a fight promoter who asks them if they'd be interested in fighting in an illegal underground boxing competition. When they accept his offer, they end up getting so much more out of it than the extra cash that initially interested them; they discover what it means to be brothers and fighters. [[Markus Zusak]] is a writer who really impresses me. He manages to make you really care about the characters he writes about even when on the surface they don't seem to be the most likable people in the world. You aren't just reading about a family, you are part of the family so you care about them even with their imperfections.

[mcgarry_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Adult Fiction.The Wolfe family has fallen on hard times. Dad has had an accident at work and has been unemployed for nearly five years. Mum cleans longer and harder, and works a night shift at a hospital. Sarah gets drunk now and again. Older brother Steve wants to leave home. Ruben and his younger brother Cameron are unemployed. They are wolves in a cage, waiting to be let out.

[francescadefreitas · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've never been a boxing fan, but after reading this, I understand a little more clearly what it means to have 'heart'. Not just when fighting, but when being a family, a boy, and a brother.

[douglasse2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not as good as his other books. Guess he was still developing his "voice". He still manages to inject some of the subtleties that I loved in his other books which is what made this a bearable read.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Wolfe family is struggling. Cameron’s father is unemployed, his mother is working overtime to keep the family afloat, his sister is recovering from a broken heart by partying all night and his eldest brother Steve has decided to get a place of his own. Meanwhile Cameron and his brother Ruben join a local boxing league and are duking it out to make some extra money. There’s so much more to this story than boxing or teenage angst. At its core it’s a poignant story of the bond between brothers. There are crushes on girls and dog racing in between those moments, but the most important story is that of Ruben Wolfe; a boy who can’t seem to find happiness despite winning his fights. His brother Cameron is the one who tells us the story and he is the antithesis to Ruben. When Ruben wins, Cam loses, when he gets a girl Cam inevitable loses one, yet the two provide a balance in each other’s lives. They both have an immense love and respect for the other and when one is in pain, the other can’t help but feel it. “It’s funny, don’t you think, how time seems to do a lot of things? It flies, it tells, and worst of all, it runs out.” 

[marcush_42 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Portions of this review were originally posted at LuxuryReading.com:In Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Zusak continues (from his first novel Underdog) Cameron’s journey through adolescence as he struggles with the more adult world that surrounds him. As the novel opens, The Wolfe family faces financial hardships after Mr. Wolfe suffers a debilitating injury. This financial hardship resounds throughout the novel as both the Wolfe Brothers struggle between their boyish plots and the reality of poverty. As the family struggles emotionally and financially to endure their problems, the boys embark on an opportunity to earn money boxing. As the novel progresses it becomes clear that Ruben fights to overcome his fear of failure, while Cameron simply fights to survive and remain at his brother’s side. Those differences create an emotional divide between the boys, but they learn that their inherited strong will to survive provides them with the identity they are both searching for.As with the other books in this series the prose is amazing and extremely relatable to males. The emotional narration and inner monologue Zusak creates is reason enough to read this book.

[jerm_4 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So I finally got around to reading one of Markus Zusak’s early books. This one is a straight up realistic fiction book, without the turns and contrivances of The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger, but it’s less exiting for it.Cameron Wolfe and his brother Ruben are struggling with the rest of their family to make ends meet, and survive the ordeal mentally. But, after Ruben gets in a fight defending his sister’s honor, he is recruited to be part of an underground fighting ring. Cameron comes with him, and they soon find a purpose for their day to day lives.Not exactly the best book I’ve read, and certainly not Zusak’s best, but well written, and a decent story, and set in Australia - which is never bad.