Don't Scoot on Past (Scooter - Mick Foley)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	Scooter - Mick Foley
Date:	29/08/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very descriptive and emotional writing

Disadvantages: Some of his character names

There are some places you don't expect to find someone with great novel writing talents. Actors, models, politicians and presenters have tried writing with varying levels of quality and success. Perhaps the most unlikely and possibly the best of them all is Mick Foley, a man who spent a long career as a WWE wrestler, which involved being hit around the head rather a lot. Despite this, or maybe because of this, he has subsequently become a very decent writer and "Scooter" is his second novel.

Scooter Reilly is a young child in 1960s New York, inheriting his unfortunate name from the former Yankees player Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto. It's a time of historical change for the country and a major change in the Bronx where Scooter and his family live. It's a time of great change for Scooter himself, as when he is four his grandfather has a nasty accident that costs him an eye. Soon after, his father and grandfather become estranged from each other after an argument and then his father steals from Scooter first his baseball playing dreams and then, after another nasty accident, his ability to walk properly.

As if his name wasn't enough to cope with, Scooter's life never seems to take the easy path. He finally finds someone who can love him, but first his mother and then her brother comes between them. He is frequently in fights, some of which he wins, but mostly not. His only solace is the grandfather he is forbidden to visit, but does anyway, and a giant McCovey baseball bat he collected in his only visit to Shea Stadium to see the Mets, New York's other baseball team. Between the two, Scooter has all the knowledge he needs to get by and is able to keep a finger on his dreams.

Considering he's not been a novelist for long, Foley's writing of character is incredible. Early in the story, where Scooter is only four, Foley portrays the naive innocence of youth perfectly and the tone and manner of his speech is perfect and allows for some very funny moments. As Scooter gets older, Foley manages to follow this as his actions and speech develop and you see him mature through the writing. Even if the dates and references to Scooter's age weren't present, you'd still be able to feel Scooter getting older.

Foley also has a good eye for a story, which is perhaps a touch less surprising, given that his wrestling career would have involved acting out storylines given to him by the WWE writers. He manages to pack Scooter's life with plenty of events, but separates them well enough that it doesn't feel too unrealistic. There is some suspension of disbelief required, but this is common in such books and it's certainly nothing that sticks out as being any different from elsewhere in the genre and Foley's writing has a touch more realism than many.

Part of the reason for this is that he doesn't neglect the mundane as so many writers do. The hours of sitting around bored with nothing much to do may be glossed over and not touched upon in much detail but they are at least present, which is rare in novels. This adds a touch more realism into a story that already had plenty. Scooter is a young man with a young man's interest; he loves baseball, he experiences young love and he's driven by pain and a desire for revenge. This makes him a character you can relate to and sympathise with a lot better than most.

Foley's grasp of writing emotion helps with this as well. After one serious incident, Scooter goes into shock and Foley's writing is descriptive enough that you can almost experience that with him. Early in the book, Foley puts across the bewilderment of youth very well and later, during the more emotional periods of Scooter's life, it's difficult not to feel some empathy with him. Foley has a rare ability to write characters and their emotions with the same skill and touch that he writes the events they are involved in.

If there is one down side to Foley's writing, it's that his character names aren't always entirely imaginative, especially his minor characters. It seems strange that someone who can create stories so effortlessly can't think up enough names to fill the story. A number of the minor characters later on in the story have names that will be familiar to anyone who has read Foley's autobiography, as they are the names of those who had an influence on his life. This isn't in itself a bad thing, but the latter part of the book is crowded with familiar names and it does seem a little lazy, especially considering the amount of invention that appears in the story. Readers who are discovering Foley as a novelist wouldn't have this issue, it will just be fans of the man who will notice it but, at this point in his writing career, I suspect they may still be the majority of his audience.

This is a book that may be sneered at by literary snobs, who don't see that a wrestler's place is on the fiction shelves. But whilst they are busy sneering, they'll be missing a decent read. In terms of writing stories of people, Foley is up there with Tawni O'Dell and Donna Milner as being an expert in the art. Foley may not use clever words and his humour can be a little juvenile at times, but he presents a slice of life with plenty of imagination and emotion. Foley is a writer who should appeal to fans of the genre and not just wrestling fans and for as little as 99 pence on eBay, "Scooter" will appeal to those who love a good value read, too.

Summary: Foley's second novel is as good as anything