Sins of the Tribe

 

Sins of the Tribe by Mark A. Salter 400 pages

I grew up in the southern United States where college football was/is king. Especially in my home state of Arkansas, where cotton, rice, soybeans and the Razorback football made up most conversations. (When I was planning my wedding, Daddy told me that he was unavailable September through December, non-negotiable. Such is the power of college football. I married in July.)

Mark A. Slater’s first novel takes on the dark underbelly of college football and combines it with the deep human need for connections, to be with one’s own. Football teams are the perfect example of a tribe working, playing, protecting each other and dominating the other teams. And wow, does Slater pack a punch!

The story centers two young Georgia men, Wally and Henry. Henry suffers from an undiagnosed medical condition that I would describe as autism, but I’m not a doctor. Henry’s talent is his ability to kick a football. As long as Wally is the holder, Henry NEVER MISSES, whether it’s from twenty yards or sixty yards. Henry NEVER MISSES.

As kids, Wally suffered parental abuse while Henry was left largely ignored. Wally dreamed of attending Bastille University and becoming a member of the Tribe football team. (So much symbolism in that choice of moniker.) He had the grades to be accepted but not the financial resources. When the scouts come calling, Henry is offered a full ride, provided he can do he scholastic work, and where Henry goes, Wally goes, so the university makes it happen.

In the first half of the book, the team is led by Coach John Oldham. He and his coaching staff are trying to build decent young men as well as win football games. The team coalesces into a tribe that works hard and plays hard. Coach Oldham reminded of what I thought Bear Bryant would have been like.

In the second half of the book, Coach Oldham is replaced by Coach Castritt. The staff he brings with him have the same belief: Winning is the only thing and everything.

Castritt and his staff don’t care about the team as individuals. Players are dehumanized and believe they can get away with anything and everything, from treating others as dirt to committing a horrendous crime. How Wally navigates this new regime is what makes this book a page turner.

One thing did irritate me though. One of the teams that the Tribe played against with the Arkansas A&M Aggies.  No such school.  It’s Texas A&M. All the other colleges/universities were given the correct name.

 “Sins of the Tribe” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Gypsy Boy on the Run: My Escape from a Life Among the Romany Gypsies

Gypsy Boy on the Run: My Escape from a Life Among the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh   
320 pages

The continuing story of Gypsy, Mikey Walsh as he runs away from home at the age of 15 to live with his lover, their stolen moments, the beatings that continue from Mikey's Dad and relatives beating his lover up then his lover taking it out on Mikey and becoming his new abuser.    This second book by Mikey Walsh tells the story of what happened to Mikey beyond his first lover, how he learned to make his way in the world and maintain a place to live and food to eat to his coming out as a gay man to his friends and eventually his family.   He tells the continuing story of his family as they all struggle with the demons they are dealt.   Such an interesting story to read, I couldn't put it down.  Such a hard life all the way through with the occasional happy moments.  Gives inspiration to keep on pushing toward what you want not what people try to make you be.    Very adult matter so I wouldn't recommend this for the very young but mature highschoolers on up for sure.   I highly recommend both of Mikey's books they address so many issues and I think might offer some saving grace for anyone going through similar circumstances.   Bravo, Mikey.

Breathing Underwater

BreathingUnderwater by Alex Flinn, 279 pages

“To his friends, popular and handsome sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas has led a charmed life. But the guys in Nick's anger management class know differently. So does his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. Now it looks like the only person who doesn't realize how far from perfect Nick's life has become is Nick himself.” This was a powerful, if predictable book.  Teens who like realistic fiction will enjoy the story.

Lighter Than My Shadow

Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green, 508 pages

“A graphic memoir of eating disorders, abuse and recovery. Like most kids, Katie was a picky eater. She'd sit at the table in silent protest, hide uneaten toast in her bedroom, listen to parental threats that she'd have to eat it for breakfast. But in any life a set of circumstance can collide, and normal behavior might soon shade into something sinister, something deadly. One day you can find yourself being told you have two weeks to live. Lighter Than My Shadow is a hand-drawn story of struggle and recovery, a trip into the black heart of a taboo illness, an exposure of those who are so weak as to prey on the weak, and an inspiration to anybody who believes in the human power to endure towards happiness.” I guess I need to stop saying I don’t really like graphic novels.  I do like certain graphic novels, although I don’t think they will ever be my first choice format.  I like them when the story is good, just like any other book.  This is a great pick for teens, especially those who like realistic stories.

My Name is Lucy Barton

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, 193 pages 

As the title suggests, this book is from Lucy's perspective. She is looking back on her life. She focuses on a time in her life when she had to stay in the hospital for an extended period of time because of complications from surgery.

Her mother comes to visit. Through conversations with her mother and reminiscences we learn about her childhood, her distant relationship with her parents and siblings, and how she became a writer.

Growing up, her family was very poor. Her parents loved her but they abused her when she was young. In some ways it was a hard book to read. Strout is fantastic at saying a lot with a little. Overall, I was very pleased with the book.

The War That Saved My Life

The War That Saved My Life, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, 316 pages

Ada is a young girl living with her mother and little brother in a one room apartment in London, and it's only months before England enters WWII.  The plan is to send many of the children of London away to the countryside, with the expectation that the city will be bombed by Germany.  But for Ada, this means that her brother will be sent away- not her.  Why?  Because she has never been allowed outside the apartment due to having a clubfoot that her mother says made her unlovable and evil and she would only disgust anyone who met her.

Record scratch.

Yikes- reading children's books with prominent child abuse, both mental and physical, is not something I enjoy doing.  But I will say this- the abuse is never, ever treated as a convenient plot point, or something that some fresh air in the country fixes; it's treated like the wound that it is- one that will never go away, but with the right kind of love, can become a scar one day.

I found myself raging alongside Ada at her mother, society and the world, but also frustrated with her for continuing to love her mother, and then frustrated at myself for victim-shaming a make-believe character.  It's a children's book, and one that I really feel could enter the canon of classics, but I did not find it easy to read. And I think I mean that in a really good way.

Orbiting Jupiter

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt, 183 pages

Jack’s new foster brother, Joseph, is a little scary.  They say he tried to kill a teacher and that he has a three month old daughter, even though he’s only thirteen.  But Jack isn’t scared of him.  When Joseph helps to milk the cows, they trust him and besides that, Jack can see something in Joseph.  He isn’t sure what, but he knows that Joseph needs a safe place.   Little by little Joseph starts to trust his new family and starts to share some of his story with them.  As Joseph’s story unfolds, Jack and his family become more determined to help him.  This is an excellent story about a pair of boys who are just trying to make their way in the world.  Teens who like realistic fiction will really like this book.

No Name

No Name by Tim Tingle, 160 pages

Bobby’s dad is really hard to live with.  He drinks too much and when he drinks he gets mean.  He beats Bobby and sometimes he really hurts him.  When Bobby’s mom leaves on a vacation from work, she doesn’t come back for a long time.  Bobby decides to dig a hole in his backyard and live in it.  He covers it with a door that he hides with leaves and stays there for a week, coming back to the house for food and things while his dad is out.  Bobby loves his dad but he doesn’t feel safe and he doesn’t know if his dad can change.  This was a good book for reluctant teen readers.  It was pretty simplistic and the resolution came about too easily but it was a decent story and an easy read.

What Lisa Knew

What Lisa Knew: The Truths and Lies of the Steinberg Case by Joyce Johnson, 303 pages

Everyone knew her as Lisa Steinberg, and she herself had never known any other name, but her birth certificate read "Baby Girl Launders" and her death certificate, issued six years later, would read "Baby Girl Launders, also known as Lisa".  The day she was born, her mother handed her over to attorney Joel Steinberg, who claimed to know a wealthy family eager to adopt the girl and give her every advantage in life.  Instead, he and his girlfriend Hedda Nussbaum kept her and raised her in their own hell of sadism and drug abuse, until the day when Joel beat the six year old so badly that she died slowly and painfully while Hedda watched, not calling an ambulance until hours later, by which time it was far too late.

Nussbaum is the real mystery.  Steinberg was a sadistic control freak, while Lisa (and Mitchell, another child Steinberg illegally acquired, only 16 months old at the time of Lisa's death) was a helpless child.  At the time she met Steinberg, Nussbaum had a successful career as an editor at Random House, was a published author herself, and had multiple serious relationships with men behind her without a hint of abuse.  Yet by the time of Lisa's death, Steinberg's beatings had left Nussbaum a hollow shell of her former self, with prematurely gray hair and the face of a veteran boxer.  Her defense attorneys presented her as a case of battered woman syndrome, but Steinberg maintained that most of Nussbaum's injuries resulted from consensual sado-masochist activities, fueled by their mutual abuse of crack cocaine.

Johnson gives a plausible account of the psychodrama between the two principals, though whether it is an accurate account can never be known - indeed, the author admits explicitly "What Lisa knew will never be known."  Some of her confidence in certain witnesses is questionable, as are her negative insinuations about other people involved.  Overall, it does have an interesting account of how a woman with so many advantages could proceed one step at a time down a spiral with murder and madness at the bottom, though like most true crime (especially when it's well-written), it also disappoints - the madness turns out to be more pathetic than fantastic, and the cruelty merely depressing.