Sunday You Learn How to Box

Sunday You Learn How to Box presents an unforgettable portrait of fourteen-year-old Louis Bowman in a boxing ring—a housing project circa 1968—fighting "just to get to the end of the round." Sharing the ring is his mother, Jeanette Stamps, a ferociously stubborn woman battling for her own dreams to be realized; his stepfather, Ben Stamps, the would-be savior, who becomes the sparring partner to them both; and the enigmatic Ray Anthony Robinson, the neighborhood "hoodlum" in purple polyester pants, who sents young Louis's heart spinning with the first stirrings of sexual longing. Blending quirky humor and clear-eyed unsentimentality, Bil Wright deftly evokes an unrelenting world with lyricism and passion.