Marino reviews Mike Tyson’s memoir for Wall Street Journal
St. Olaf College Professor of Philosophy Gordon Marino, a nationally recognized sports journalist, recently reviewed Mike Tyson’s new memoir for the Wall Street Journal.
Calling the book, titled Undisputed Truth, “raw, powerful and disturbing — a head-spinning take on Mr. Tyson’s life that captures his peculiar, sometimes ranting voice,” Marino goes on to paint a realistic picture of Tyson’s story touching on both its triumphs and its pitfalls.
“Unlike other sports memoirists, he doesn’t pull punches, offering up slashing comments on people who were once close to him,” Marino writes.
“His narrative reminds us of just how far he has come from his rough beginnings, and, in a way, how close he remains to them. He had a punch like a thunderbolt from Zeus, but there have been a lot of big bangers in boxing; Mike Tyson’s came with a pulsating story line like few others.”
After walking the reader through Tyson’s telling of his life, Marino concludes that “to judge by the pain and implicit self-reproach in Undisputed Truth, the man [Tyson] lost to most often was himself.”
In addition to his teaching and writing, Marino serves as curator of the Howard and Edna Hong Kierkegaard Library and co-coaches the St. Olaf Boxing Club with Associate Professor of English Carlos Gallego.