The Boxer
The story is narrated in the early 1970s, but is clearly about the earlier post-war experiences of the main character, Aron Blank. He describes his life to a writer attempting to capture the life story of this survivor of the concentration camps. During the war, he loses his wife and surrenders his son to authorities. After the war, through an organization called Rescue, he searches for and finds him. Together they try to build a life that is persistently shadowed by the war experience.
Becker’s story echoes, with a tone that is relentlessly inert, the chronic damage of the camps. He paints a psychological landscape that is perpetually aching, yet Aron never ceases to yearn for a normal life. As he recalls his life of worldly success, he also reveals his attempts to build emotional relations that always appear doomed from the start. This is a sober but heartening book describing the obstacles of a Jewish life in Germany after World War II, and, on a different level, what human nature can endure and transcend.
