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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of forgiveness, July 13, 2003
I have read thousands of books, and I have never read one quite like this one. In fact, "Tietam Brown" is so different I am having a hard time quantifying it for this review. But I do know this: It's good. Very good for a first fictional effort. Part comedy, part tragedy, part horror, part coming of age story, "Tietam" really cannot be summed up with one sentence. Much like real life, the bad blends with the good, "normal" is only a word, no one is totally what they seem, and those whom we love the most can also hurt us the most. If you have read Foley's autobiographical works, "Have a Nice Day" and "Foley Is Good" or even just watched his wrestling career on TV, then you will see flashes of Mick in "Tietam." Bits of Mick's quirks are entwined in both Tietam and Andy, and occasionally a "Mickism" is used. In the beginning, the writing style pretty closely follows "Have a Nice Day," but soon finds its own rhythm and goes down a much darker and more literary path. Mick's perverse humor is also very apparent, much to my delight. :) But don't let the author's name and background fool you: This is not a "wrasslin' book" or "Foley's Life Part 3." Instead, "Tietam" is a wonderful study of forgiveness, of right and wrong, of the limits that people put on their love -- both for themselves and others. Most of all, it's the story of Andy Brown, a high school student who has spent most of his life in foster homes and an orphanage and who survived a terrible car accident at the age of five. His father, an enigmatic, mercurial man, comes into his life after a 17-year absence, and immediately the reader knows Andy will never be the same. However, this reader was shocked to find out just what an emotional, strange journey he will have. Put on your seatbelt and keep it on -- you will need it, because this is one powerful, somewhat surreal story. The character that steals the show is Antietam "Tietam" Brown, Andy's father. He's smart, vulgar and loves deeply. He exercises naked, has purple fuzzy dice hanging on his rearview and sings along with Barry Manilow. And he can go from "normal" to crazy and criminal in the blink of an eye. He's not altogether sane. Antietam also has deeply conflicting views of the world and the people closest to him that he does not see as a problem. And that is what makes him so essentially different from Andy. It can be argued that Andy has had a much harder life than his father did up to that age, and yet, Andy has a better understanding of the world around him. It is ironic that a confused, lonely teen has a much clearer moral vision for himself than his world-weary, road-hardened father does, but it is nonetheless true that Andy has the ability to see the shades of meaning, the layers of complexity in people and events that black-and-white thinker Tietam is incapable of. But most of all, Andy is able to forgive. The further you go into the story, the more you realize how important this is. I won't say anything more about it, because I don't want to give away the story, but the idea of redemption runs very strong in "Tietam." What sort of person would you be if you were incapable of forgiving anyone, most especially yourself? Do you believe that people can truly change for the better? If those questions intrigue you, then you will enjoy "Tietam Brown" as thoroughly as I did.
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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What is a good person?, February 9, 2004
First off, let me just say that I've done of lot of reading over the years. I have a BA in history and English literature, an MA in history, and nearly a Ph.D. in history. I'm pretty selective in what I read. I originally bought this book, not because I found the story interesting, but becasue I thought I owed it to Mick Foley. Foley gave so much to all of us as fans of wrestling, that I thought I owed it to him to buy his novel and give it a chance. I finally just now got around to reading it, and once I began I didn't put it down until I was finished. It was, without a doubt, one of the best novels I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them. The story just keeps you glued to the page. It's full of humor, and if you know Foley, it's full of his particular brand of humor. It's also one of the darkest things I've ever read. Knowing that Foley grew up in a loving family and now has one of his own, one wonders where this dark tale comes from. If you've ever seen his old Cactus Jack promos, maybe it comes from that same place. But the horrible things that happen to Andy Brown are not just there to shock. They are central to a story about how a human being can endure so much hell and somehow still emerge in the end as a good person. I think that is the central question Foley is asking: What is a good person? I think his answer is one who comes out undefeated by the terrible things that life can hand to us. Tietam Brown is evil, not because of the things he does, but because of what he has let tradgedy do to him. It's a bit like why Captain Ahab is evil and unredeemable. Mick Foley has really written something special here. The next time he publishes a novel, I'll buy it because of its own merits, not because of my admiration for the author's past acheivements.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Foley's surprising debut is staunch and powerful, July 10, 2003
Okay, I know what you are thinking... Mankind/Cactus Jack/Dude Love of WWF fame wrote a fictional story?!! I took a triple take too when I saw the yellow cover beckoning me like a light from lighthouse. It screemed: "Read Me," or at least "read the brief description of me and take me home..." So i figured, what the hell, and gave Mick Foley's fictional debut a worthy try agreeing inside my head that if the first thirty pages didn't grab a hold of me in some way, then I would put it down and never try again. So, I read those first thirty pages and in the next ten hours, with some minor interruptions in between, closed the final page of the epilogue and ultimately the new book with a feeling of satisfaction but not being entirely fulfilled. It is a good story - - no scratch that - - it is a fantastic read, with memorable characters and plot lines that develop so naturally that I felt at times that Foley HAD TO HAVE a ghost writer. Alas, no ghost writer here and what Foley has created is a raw coming-of-age tale... A tougher "Catcher in the Rye," if you will. What makes this tale work is main character and his antagonist. (I use this term loosely for Andy's father because for more than half the story there is no hint of antagonism at all in Antietam Brown, and ultimately it is this deception pulled on the reader that will literally anger them but allow them to enjoy it all the same) Andy Brown is a kid who has seen it all, lived through it all, and lived to tell the tale. We earnestly hope that Andy (short for Antietam, his father's name) can live to see better days and for a while, we get to see that dream become a reality. Life, however, has a way of snapping reality into direct focus and we realize that life is only as good as you can make it. Poor, poor Andy Brown. Like I said, we feel for this kid, although rage and violence are his staple emotions, we want to see him win. As for Antietam Brown Sr., we like him for most of the duration...even if he is a womanizing pig who keeps trophies from his conquests (read the story, you'll see what I mean). But oh how quickly our thoughts about him can change. He clearly is the villain here, and a bloody darn good one at that. He and his son are the reason this works so well and reads so fluidly. The rest of the characters, although they are not the focal point of the story, hold up well on thier own too... however, some of them are disjointed and make way too brief of an appearance. I hope to see Foley develop his characters a bit more deeply in the future - - that's my only complaint. Overall, a hell of a debut from a guy with a hell of a knack for writing. I had no idea he had it in him, but I'm glad he does. 4 1/2 stars!
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