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
stepfather's anger. Hovering over Rex's story is the talismanic presence of his unborn baby
sister. Through it all Rex threads moments of grace and humour that act as beacons of light in
the darkness. Compulsively readable beautifully crafted and authentically told Punching Bag
is a remarkable memoir about one teenager's cycle of violence blame and attempts to forgive
his parents-and himself.
