Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

It won the Pulitzer, so no surprise, it’s really good. The format is a collection of interconnected short stories that focus on the inhabitants of a small town in Maine. Olive Kitteridge, who is funny and terrifying at the same time, is in some way large or small connected to each story. She often has great insight and empathy for the characters around her, but doesn’t understand herself. The writing reminds me of Andre Dubus, which means I think it’s top notch. The stories deal with the commonalities of the human condition- relationships, love, loss, loneliness, surviving. The book is poignant, insightful, and all the other key words one uses to talk about quality literature.

Tyson- Directed by James Toback

I watched Tyson the documentary over the weekend.  Mike narrates the story of his life in several interview formats with archival footage and photos interspersed.  In my opinion, the sequence illustrating his unification of the Championship belts at the age of 20 leaves no doubt that he was the greatest boxer ever in his prime.  His speed, power, and head movement were unparalleled. He was a heavyweight with the speed of a lightweight.  On top of that, he was vicious in the ring.  No one could weather the storm he brought.

And then he fell apart.

Mike is very eloquent and candid in these interviews, and he admits to feeling insane at times in his life.  James Toback’s editing often gives a sense of disorientation and even schizophrenia. Mike admits his weaknesses and mistakes. His ringside interview after his last fight is especially telling- “I don’t have the fighting guts… I’m just trying to pay some bills… I don’t love this anymore.”

I read Unforgivable Blackness a year or two ago, and Tyson’s life is eerily similar to that of Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion. He had the same hubris and need for the public to love him, but at the same time feared what everyone thought of him. Paranoia, certainly justified in Johnson’s case, over racial and social-class prejudice by the media, government, and public fed his insecurities and erratic behavior. And he ends up playing the monster he fears everyone sees him as.

Shamrock Alley by Ronald Damien Malfi (ARC from ijustfinished.com)

Shamrock Alley is a fictional cop thriller based on the true story of an undercover Secret Service agent who infiltrated an Irish gang in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1980s. The agent was the author’s father.

John Mavio and his partner lose the trail of a counterfeiting case until an informant connects John with Mickey O’ Shay and Jimmy Khan. At first the two appear to be street punks, but as John goes deeper undercover, he realizes the two have managed to gain control of organized crime in Hell’s Kitchen through sheer brutality and terror. John becomes obsessed with sending both Mickey and Jimmy to prison for a very long time, but Jimmy remains elusive and lets Mickey, who is a psychopath, deal with John. John becomes desperate for an arrest and Jimmy begins to question who John is.

This is a decent cop thriller. It starts with an action scene in the basement of a bar, but once John and his partner lose their leads, the book slows down until John starts dealing with Mickey on a regular basis. The characters are well-written and the book is hard to put down once you get past the halfway mark.

IJustFinished.com