"Terrific historical saga"

In 1964 four year old Scooter Reilly grows up in the Bronx, a borough in flux with the working white middle class fleeing to Long Island. His grandpa, a retired firefighter who lives nearby, is around more than his dad, who works a police beat in Harlem. Dad has two interests: beer and the Yankees; ergo Scooter is named for legendary player Phil Rizzuto.

In 1969 dad gets drunk over the Mets not his Yanks winning the World Series. He fires his revolver hitting Scooter in the leg. For the rest of his life Scooter will limp.

In 1973, dad's partner is murdered. Raging out of control fueled by beer, he hits his daughter Patty; who suffers permanent brain damage. Upset with his father, Scooter breaks his dad's leg. Four years later they relocate to Long Island, but fastball pitcher Ferraggo faces Scooter on the field while bullying Patty off the field; at the same time Feraggo's sister seduces Scooter. Confrontation and reckoning are coming.

Though there is a bias as I grew up in the 1960s Bronx (terrific place) and was still there as the Cross Bronx Express (see THE POWER BROKER: ROBERT MOSES AND THE FALL OF NEW YORK by Caro) and the fire line (SEE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE BRONX IS BURNING by Mahler) destroyed the middle class West Bronx by the 1970s, Mick Foley captures the essence of urban decline. The story line is fabulous when it focuses on Scooter growing up just north of Yankee Stadium (Bronx Deco tenement buildings with classic relief and Dutch stoops). The tale loses some momentum towards the end when teenage Scooter has to confront his demons in Long Island, but remains a terrific historical saga worth reading.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 26, 2005