Books - Peter wood

My Books

SURVIVING MYSELF

THE MAKING OF A MIDDLEWEIGHT

Surviving Myself–The Making of a Middleweight is a coming-of-age memoir about a sensitive little sweetheart who throws a dynamite left hook–a punch that catapults him into Madison Square Garden to fight for a Golden Gloves title.

It is also about my fiercely flawed family and our struggles with divorce, drug addiction, alcoholism, a suicide attempt, and juvenile delinquency.

My 42,000-word journey is written for anyone who has ever felt fragile, lost, or emotionally inarticulate. It is an uplifting and buoyant tale about a teenager who, despite obstacles, refuses to relinquish his unique dream.

Surviving Myself–The Making of a Middleweight addresses the need for a hard-hitting book about boys. Boys–and men– will discover themselves on each page, and girls–and women–will find this story a fascinating window into the baffling and bizarre world of the male psyche.

Surviving Myself will appeal to readers of: About a Boy, Hey Kiddo, The Tender Bar, Hope Was Here, and The Outsiders.

Surviving Myself–The Making of a Middleweight has excellent cinematic potential because everyone was a dream, and everyone is a fighter in his or her own arena,

Peter Wood’s first book, Confessions of a Fighter, was optioned for film by Steve Nicoleides, (producer of When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Misery, and Boyz in the Hood.)

Surviving Myself has the same cinematic punch and potential. Think Million Dollar Baby, The Fighter, Fat City, and Rocky.

The Boy Who Hit Back

“I may look like a normal kid, but on the inside I’m busted glass.” Matthew is fighting, stealing, and skipping school. This once popular high school kid is screwing up big time, and his perfect world is quickly unraveling. After his parents divorced and his brother and father went missing, he needed an outlet for his rage. Matthew escapes to the seductive streets of Greenwich Village, where he is fascinated by Sailor Barlow, a mysterious panhandler.

When Matt discovers a dark secret about Barlow, an ex-prizefighter, he’s convinced he is the only person who can save him and risks everything in the process. As Matt sinks deeper into New York City’s skid-row, a hell-hole infested with liars, cheats, thugs, depravity, kidnapping, and death, he discovers that sometimes, the brightest lights come from the darkest places. Determined to claw himself and Sailor back from the brink of destruction, Matthew discovers new bravery, innate cunning, and something even more rewarding than he could have ever imagined.

The Boy Who Hit Back evokes the best of Catcher in the Rye‘s portrayal of a too-tough young man, and is comparable to The Outsiders, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Speak—all powerful, unsentimental coming-of-age novels that hit the sweet spot between character and plot-driven fiction.

Confessions of a Fighter

Battling Through the New York Golden Gloves

FROM BOY TO MAN, ONE PUNCH AT A TIME

Eighteen-year-old Peter Wood’s home life is a battleground. He hates his stepfather, whose vicious comments open new wounds every day. He hates his mother for marrying the guy. And his half-siblings heap even more misery on him at every turn. Tormented and lonely, Peter decides to start fighting back—literally—at a crumbling local gym. Soon boxing becomes a personal ritual. His raging self-hatred makes him train that much harder. His fear of failure gives way to an animalistic intensity. Confessions of a Fighter is Peter’s riveting autobiography of his journey from underdog to hero. In this poignant psychological drama, the author finally ascends—after five grueling, heart stopping qualifying bouts—to the finals of the New York Golden Gloves Championships. It is there, under the blinding lights of Madison Square Garden and facing tens of thousands of frenzied spectators, that Peter realizes what truly constitutes the measure of a man

To Swallow a Toad

A powerful autobiographical novel about a confused young man who finds himself in the boxing ring. This is a riveting psychological drama with thrill-packed fight scenes that could only have been written by someone who himself has stood in the ring. This is an emotionally deep account of a young boxer’s struggles inside the ring and out. Wood has a keen eye for detail, a flair for description, an ability to make the reader see the dirty, sordid dressing rooms, and to smell the stench in the gym. This book is written in a tough-as-nails, realistic prose style–but, ironically, t is written with a sensitivity that belies the violence behind it.

A Clenched Fist

The Making of a Golden Gloves Champion

GRABBING A GOLDEN DREAM WITH GOLDEN GLOVES

Does boxing teach anything besides how to club someone into submission? Can it transcend its sordid reputation and instill love, compassion and honor in America’s most troubled kids?

In this raw yet uplifting memoir about amateur boxing, author Peter Wood tells of his begrudging return to a world he thought he’d left behind. He steps back into the mud of boxing, coaching two troubled teens who dream—as he once did—of becoming Golden Gloves champions. His compelling story moves far beyond the grunt and sweat of the local gym. It explores the classrooms of a suburban high school and digs through the remains of unhappy childhoods. It’s a story about how boxing is a way out, and how it cleanses the soul.

This book brings the subculture of amateur boxing up close and weaves a powerful story of redemption, beating demons and battling for glory.

Peter Wood