The Surprising Potential Humans Have
Noki follows a boxer with Autism, he wants to use his skills to help his father but encounters people that do not have his best interest at heart. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The story of Noki was stuck in my head for over ten years. I couldn’t shake it. I just fell in love with the character and felt I needed to share him with the world. I believe the book does a great job showing the limitations we, as a society, place on people, knowingly or not. Even more importantly, it shows the surprising potential humans have. This is something I saw in my thirty-year experience as a doctor treating autistic patients. People with autism, like Noki, may have some social and communication difficulties, but it doesn’t mean they are without aspirations, goals, love, thoughts, or purpose. I hope this book shows the reader this.
What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
We all need to be aware that when you meet one person with autism you meet one person with autism. Everyone is different. Everyone deserves basic respect and nonjudgment from others, autism or not. That being said, autism is a spectrum and this has to be acknowledged. There is a pivotal point in Noki where there is a hearing to decide whether he understands the consequences and risks of boxing. Understanding the differences between each autistic person provides a learning opportunity for characters in the book and should do the same for those who read it.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I definitely wanted to explore the deep dark secrets of the boxing world. I know it all too well. No one really talks about it and it hasn’t changed much in a century. Putting someone like Noki in that environment was exciting to me. I wanted to also make a social worker a hero (heroine) because normally they are portrayed negatively. Lastly, the surprise ending in Noki is critical in realizing what you may have just read is something you have seen many times before.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am writing another business book now but will probably start on a book about Taddy Roosevelt (yes, that is spelled right).
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
A bankrupt boxing gym, a down-on-his luck drifter, and a desperate father grapple with an opportunity that could solve all their problems, but at a tragic cost.
Noki has grown up in his father’s gym, around the seedy world of boxing his whole life, the fighters there calling him a “man-child.” A young Black man with autism with a penchant for wearing Disney t-shirts, Noki is gifted with incredible boxing skills, considered by his inner circle as unbeatable. But when the unscrupulous boxing bigwigs see dollar signs, his gym family is torn: Are they permitting Noki to pursue his passion or are they taking advantage of someone with a disability. Noki, a new young adult fiction novel by Douglas Farrago, is a masterfully written coming of age story of loyalty, grit, and self-discovery in the most heartbreaking of circumstances.
Posted on February 13, 2022, in Interviews and tagged author, author interview, autism, book, book recommendations, book review, book reviews, book shelf, bookblogger, books, books to read, boxing, coming of age, Douglas Farrago, ebook, fiction, goodreads, kindle, kobo, literature, Noki, nook, novel, read, reader, reading, sports fiction, story, teen fiction, writer, writing, ya books, young adult. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.
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