Whitcoulls Recommends: The River is Waiting and Baddest Man

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb. He’s beloved by loads of readers, especially for his brilliant book I Know this Much is True. This new one is, to a large degree, informed by the years he spent teaching creative writing to incarcerated women in a Connecticut prison. It’s the story of a man whose life is in a downward spiral. Corby Ledbetter is out of work and self medicating when he causes a devastating accident which upends both his entire life, and that of his family and sends him to prison. Isolated and fearful, he’s desperate for a way back, and for redemption, which neither he nor his family might be prepared to give.

Baddest Man by Mark Kriegel. Mike Tyson was boxing’s youngest ever heavyweight champion, and this is the story of the first 22 years of his life. I’m no fan of the sport but I’m fascinated by boxers – years ago I read Tyson’s autobiography, Undisputed Truth and loved it. This book gives his origin story – the author’s written a terrific account of the forces which shaped Tyson and what made him into the extraordinary athlete he became – but also into the baddest man. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Joe McKenzie, Good morning, Good morning. You have got a
book by Wally Lamb called The River is waiting for
us this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yes, I hope that his name might be familiar to
some people listening, because he shot to fame many years
ago now with his first book called She's Come Undone,
and then he did one which I know has been
loved by literally hundreds of thousands of readers called I
Know This Much is True And if that rings a bill,
then this is the book for you. Because Wally Lamb
is back after about I think a ten year break,

(00:41):
and as well as the writing career that he's had,
he spent several years teaching creative writing at a women's
correctional facility in Connecticut, and I think that a lot
of the interactions and the environment that he had when
he was working there informs the story of this book,
which is about a guy called Corby Ledbetter who's a
husband and father to twins, but he's out of work

(01:02):
and things are spiraling downwards, and disaster strikes him and
his family and as a result, he gets given a
prison sentence and he's locked away, where he spends the
first few months in complete state of denial, sure that
he's not the bad guy who did this terrible thing.
But self awareness grows as he navigates the prison system,
and he discovers a huge amount about himself that he

(01:24):
didn't know before, and he's looking for redemption and finding
a way home. And the thing about Wally Lamb is
that he writes so well about people in crisis, and
his books are full of humanity, and that's what this
one is all about.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Isn't that interesting? Clearly obviously inspired by his work.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
I have to, I imagine, So, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Random question. Aside from thriller writers, it can be quite
normal for authors to write a book every ten years,
isn't it.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Oh yes, Think of someone like Donna Tart who wrote,
Oh you're true, We're all had more than ten years now,
we're all hanging out for the next time on late
you know that's true. I think I just get so.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know, thriller writers are always telling you when you're
talking about their book or the next one's out next year,
so you kind of get used to that. But I
forget that the rest of the world takes a little
bit more time to craft a book. Okay, let's talk
about Baddest Man by Mark Krigel.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Well, the subtitle of this is The Making of Mike Tyson.
And you might be surprised to know that I'm interested
in people like Mike Tyson. But I don't know anything
about boxing, although I understand having read this book, that
he was the youngest heavyweight champion in the world, and
actually ten years ago I wrote, I read his own memoir,
which I thought was just outstanding. I loved it. So

(02:37):
I know nothing about boxing, but I'm fascinated by the
mindset and the psychology of people like Tyson who get
involved with it. And he had a terrible, terrible childhood
you can't imagine. Brought up on the mean streets of
New York. His mother had to scrabble just to survive.
He ended up in a juvenile correctional facility in New York,
and one day Muhammad Ali came to visit, and that

(03:00):
litter spark in Tyson and he went on, of course,
to have an extraordinary career. So you can see that
he's been incredibly successful. But this book actually is his
origin story and it only goes through until the age
of twenty two, but as you read it, you can
see that, yes, this is a guy who's very talented
and clever and works hard. He's terrible with women. There's
all sorts of things in his life that are really

(03:21):
not good. And you see all the hangar is on
that encourage him to go on and be the best
because they can all click the ticket on the way.
So you've got this young guy not even in his twenties,
who's got a whole crowd of hangers on, and all
of them are getting something from him, the whole story.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Of fame and that you're taking a lot of people
are writing on your coat tails at the same time.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
Fascinating And the opening bit of the book is where
he's watching his twelve year old daughter have a tennis lesson,
and it's really hard to reconcile the dad sitting with
his daughter playing a very well, I don't know what
the word is, but a very respectable, lovely sport. And
then you get into his backstory and realize where he
came from, and the juxtapositions extraordinary.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Okay, so did you learn more about Mike Tyson even
after reading his memoir like is this? Is it a different.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Perspective, perspective and it as somebody who's saying, I think
that this might have been a contributing factor to that.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Okay, it's a bit of a different perspective and I
love it. Okay. So that's Baddest Man by Mike Krigil
and the first book by Wally Lamb, The River is Waiting.
Thanks John, we'll talk me this weak to see it then.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.