The Polish Boxer covers a vast landscape of human experience while enfolding a search for origins: a grandson tries to make sense of his grandfather’s past and the story behind his numbered tattoo; a Serbian classical pianist longs for his forbidden heritage; a Mayan poet is torn between his studies and filial obligations; a striking young Israeli woman seeks answers in Central America; a professor yearns for knowledge he can’t find in books and discovers something unexpected at a Mark Twain conference. Across his encounters with each of them, the narrator—Eduardo Halfon—pursues his most enigmatic subject: himself.