The Berlin Boxing Club

The Berlin Boxing Club 
By Robert Sharenow
Reviewed by Ani

As Karl Stern walks through the halls after school, he gets caught by some Nazi-supporting bullies. Karl had never thought of himself as a Jew. He hasn’t even been in a synagogue. The bullies beat him up, then move on. Karl has to go to the art gallery his dad owns and is seen with a beat-up face. Then Max Schmeling, a world-known boxer volunteers to give Karl a boxing chance. Max trains Karl throughout a couple of years and Karl gets pretty good. After a while, Karl gets into it and starts to fight other people other than the people in the gym.

 Soon, Karl has to make secret deliveries for a transgender woman, which he does not like at first. Her name is The Countess. Karl noticed that the “woman” who answered the door had an adam’s apple and he sort of freaked out. Anyways, the Countess was apparently in the war with Karl’s father. Sometimes the Countess is a girl, sometimes is a boy. Karl finds love. Her name is Greta, who is a year older. After 2 years of dating, the apartment building owner kicks Karl out for being a Jew and for “making a move” on Greta, even though it was the apartment building owner who “made a move.”

Karl and his family end up having to move into the art gallery and Karl keeps on boxing. As Karl and his father get closer, the story gets deeper. Greta is not in Karl’s life anymore. Greta really is a good person, but her father is a strict man. Later in the story, Karl’s uncle passes away from a horrible stomach sickness. Later, Karl gets kicked out of boxing because they figure out that he was technically a Jew. Karl goes back to see the janiter at the old Berlin Boxing Club in which he was really good friends with and they talk for a little bit. A little while later in the book, Karl’s house gets broken into and Karl has to fight for his family. As Karl and his father face the Nazis, Karl’s father gets stabbed by some broken glass.

They take him to the hospital and Karl and his little sister can’t go. Karl ends up calling the Countess and she shows up as a woman. As she leads the kids back to her apartment, Karl crosses one of his old friends from school. They lock eyes for a couple of seconds and they separate. Karl and his sister get safely to the apartment, but will Karl’s father be okay?