This one must have been a hard sell, a debut novel about a disabled teenager with a sexual abusive father written by a man best known for being thrown twenty feet from the top of a steel cage and knocking a tooth out through his nose. But a troublesome job for the marketing department is nothing but a joy for the reader as Tietam Brown. Is. Fantastic.Those familiar with Foley will know that prior to this novel he had already completed two autobiographies, Have a nice Day: A tale of blood and sweat socks and Foley is Good: and the real world is faker than wrestling. No stranger then to the graft of writing, but his novel is a much different entity from his non-fiction books. His writing style which, in his autobiographies is incredibly loose, jumping from story to story, occasionally switching from past to present tense, is here replaced by a much more solid style that rivals the output of many established authors.The book centres around Andy, a young boy who, his whole life, has been shunted from one foster family to another with each pairing ending in tragedy. Here we find him, reunited with his biological father the eponymous Tietam Brown. Tietam as a character is an interesting one, a hard drinking body builder, obsessed with telling his son every gory detail of his, incredibly prolific, sex life. He is at once a totally abhorrent and oddly loveable man, and as you go through the novel you find yourself continually switching from hatred and pity towards him. One scene finds Tietam turning up drunk in Andy’s room in the middle of the night and giving the boy a photograph of his dead mother. Contrast this with an unforgettable exchange in which Andy, asking his father for advice about girls, is told “Whenever possible, get them to lick your ass. That way you’ve always got something over them”These contradictions not only create realistic and flawed characters but also showcase Foley’s talent as a writer not afraid to take risks. Indeed there is not a single character in this novel is the kind of two dimensional creation you might expect from a first time writer, especially one from a non-writing background.Foley’s style is simply wonderful, he perfectly captures that feeling of early teenage passion. And just as he is able to make these lusty moments of youth feel sweet and true, he is also able to write the dark abusive past of Andy in a way that is genuinely horrific, to the point that I found myself needing to take the occasional break from the novel just to get away. The end result is a mix that groups together the explicit sexuality of John Irving with the genuine youthfulness of John Green. There are occasional slip ups, dialogue is occasionally clunky, the worst offenders coming off as escaped lines from a soap opera but these are few and far between. Over all, Foley does a fantastic job and makes great use of his knowledge base, some wrestling turns up at the end but in a way that doesn’t seem crow barred in like you might expect. Tietam Brown is a brilliant piece of work, a book that I devoured over the space of three days, genuinely struggling to put it down. Leave your preconceptions at the door. This isn’t a wrestler playing writer. Mick Foley is a bona fide author, albeit one who knows how to sell a chair shot.
I have no idea how one thinks up a story like this, but good job! This was the first book (and one of few actually) to make me cry. Mind you I was 15 when I first read it, but still.But the tears are not just from the heartbreak of how TB is treated,there is also a delightful humor, which some call "cheesy". I think it's a good kind of cheesy. I bought this book at an author signing when it came out and Foley looked at my dad and said "Not sure you want her to read this..." my dad laughed and said "Her favorite movie is American Psycho." "Oh, then by all means." Mind you, I looked younger than 15, but I agree this is probably book for older teens.
What do You think about Tietam Brown (2003)?
Mick Foley, a great guy and a fine writer better known for being a pro wrestler, kind of is between The Rock and a hard place for this novel: If he weren't famous for his time in the WWF, many would have never read it; however, the fact he was means a fine first novel can't get the fair reading it deserves from many. Most will focus on the bloody violence, and there is some, but it's not the main focus: What is, is a surprising sweetness and what feels very much to be an accurate take on a teenaged boy's first love and the protectiveness he feels toward her, having lived a rough life himself. I'm 40 now, near Foley's age, but I finally connected with my own little first love last year, and I can remember quite well putting her on that same pedestal Tietam does, and wanting to protect her when I was just a kid. We talked about it as adults, and she thought it very sweet. It nails how a young kid feels, accurate at least in my own remembrance of same. Read this one without prejudice. Forget what you know about the author. You will be glad you did.
—Mark Stalcup
I'm not going to blow smoke up your rear, and tell you that this is the greatest book of all time. That said, it's a backhanded compliment to hear somebody say "that's a pretty good book, for a wrestler."It's a pretty good book for a first-time novelist. It's a tale of isolation and loneliness, and I'd daresay it comes from a very personal place for Mick Foley.There are corny jokes interspersed, and I don't care for them. I think it showed Mick's lack of confidence in the material, which was stronger than he and (apparently) his editors gave him credit for.On the whole, this one surprised me. Give it a look. Maybe it'll surprise you, too.
—Tommy
Antietam Brown, aka Andy, the teen protagonist, is a true-blue coming-of-age character, falling in love for the first time, trying to fit in at a new school — and readers will root for him. But his is a hardcore life where normal rules don't apply. Broken bones are plenty here, but the injury count also includes a severed head, an amputated ear, lots of smashed teeth, an ear ripped off, and more blood than found in most horror novels. Sexual violence is just as prevalent, mostly rape, but even more disturbing are Andy's father's sexual antics and attitudes. The real main event in the book is the relationship between Andy and his father, which resolves itself in another cacophony of violence. Like many first time novelists, Foley loads the book with too much clatter, but beneath the noise is an intriguing novel about coming of age against the odds, about the weight of family history, and about wrestling with tough issues of coping with loss, betrayal, forgiveness, and acceptance.
—Patrick
