The Distance

By: Ivan Vladislavic

Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman

A boxing bildungsroman - a collage of memories, love, resistance, and the spectacle of Muhammad Ali in Apartheid South Africa.

In the spring of 1970, a Pretoria schoolboy, Joe, becomes obsessed with Muhammad Ali. He begins collecting daily newspaper clippings about him, a passion that grows into an archive of scrapbooks. Forty years later, when Joe has become a writer, these scrapbooks become the foundation for a memoir of his childhood. When he calls upon his brother, Branko, for help uncovering their shared past, meaning comes into view in the spaces between then and now, growing up and growing old, speaking out and keeping silent.

©2020 Ivan Vladislavic (P)2020 Tantor

Excellent Read

I was born in Johannesburg. This novel was a thoroughly enjoyable journey back to my youth.