Take a story's temperature by studying its tone. Is it hopeful? Cynical? Snarky? Playful?
Boyishly Manly (or Mannishly Boyish?)
If the whole welterweight champion of the world thing doesn't work out for Peekay, he could definitely fall back on his announcing skills to make a living. The kid is full of the blow-by-blow sports replays you're used to hearing from manly men in stadiums and at Thanksgiving dinner:
I caught Geldenhuis a beautiful punch on the jaw that stopped him in his tracks. He had come at me with a careless left lead, and I brought my right hand across his lead to hit him hard on the side of the jaw. (20.87)
However, he's also very innocent when he is put into situations that are beyond his understanding as a child, which is where we get a peek at his boyish perspective on life:
Stuffing the last bits into her mouth, [Big Hettie] sucked at her fingers as a small child might, two at a time. Then she plopped her thumb in and out of her mouth several times and ran her hand across her bosom, her fingers moving like a fat spider hunting for any cake she might have missed. She looked up at me and I dropped my gaze, ashamed and frightened, though at the same time I instinctively knew I was watching a sickness or a sadness or even both. (7.128)
Even though he's narrating from the past, Peekay leaves out the parts that he didn't quite catch when he was a kid, letting the tone remain innocent and boyish.