Punching Bag
āĻāĻ āĻāĻŦā§āĻāĻāĻ¨ā§° āĻŦāĻŋāĻˇā§ā§
The companion to Rex Ogleâs award-winning Free Lunch is a searing account of adolescence in a household torn by domestic violence.
Punching Bag is the compelling true story of a high school career defined by poverty and punctuated by outbreaks of domestic abuse. Rex Ogle, who brilliantly mapped his experience of hunger in Free Lunch, here describes his struggle to survive; reflects on his complex, often paradoxical relationship with his passionate, fierce mother; and charts the trajectory of his stepdadâs anger. Hovering over Rexâs story is the talismanic presence of his unborn baby sister.
Through it all, Rex threads moments of grace and humor that act as beacons of light in the darkness. Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, and authentically told, Punching Bag is a remarkable memoir about one teenagerâs cycle of violence, blame, and attempts to forgive his parentsâand himself.
āĻŽā§āĻ˛ā§āĻ¯āĻžāĻāĻāĻ¨ āĻā§°ā§ āĻĒā§°ā§āĻ¯āĻžāĻ˛ā§āĻāĻ¨āĻžāĻ¸āĻŽā§āĻš
āĻ˛āĻŋāĻāĻā§° āĻŦāĻŋāĻˇāĻ¯āĻŧā§
Rex Ogle is the author of Free Lunch, winner of the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; Punching Bag, a New York Public Library Best Book; Abuela Donât Forget Me, finalist for the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award; and Road Home. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
