I Am Sorry to Think I Have Raised a Timid Son

December 22, 2014
Russell, who has written for the New Republic, n+1, and other outlets, provides an intriguing but uneven collection of previously published essays. At their most provocative, the pieces examine the pleasure and excitement that violence can stir in people. Russell devotes an essay to a childhood friend, Ryan, who joins the army seeking the adrenaline rush of gunplay. A profile of a hockey player explains how, after being caught up in fighting during games unwillingly, he found himself in the new position of hockey goon, and thereby a key team member. These selections and others, including one about a man who self-immunizes by getting bitten by venomous snakes and an account of a gathering of "juggalos" (fans of the hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse), showcase Russell's clean, clear style. He shrewdly shifts gears for two final, less dark selections about Amish baseball and a man who moves to an island off northeastern Australia, to "take out of the world." Russell is less compelling in the sections about his own life, such as when he justifies his interest in getting a lesson from horror-makeup guru Tom Savini. His justification is unnecessary; getting to know these fascinating people on the page is reward enough.

January 1, 2015
Generational insecurity locks horns with machismo in this hybrid collection of personal journalism and first-person profiles.Believer and n+1 essayist Russell is a type of millennial George Plimpton: the nerd conquering his fears by plunging into the unknown. "I have come to fetishize opaque brutes," writes the author, who proceeds to meet some cautionary examples. He visited the annual Gathering of the Juggalos, the subculture of Insane Clown Posse fans-people who "weren't born into the respectable middle class and didn't see a path that led there, so they said fuck it." Russell spent an even scarier amount of time with Tim Friede, who regularly gets bitten by poisonous snakes as he pursues his long-term goal of developing a "Swiss-army immune system." Another superhuman, hockey legend John Brophy, explained to Russell how he spent a lifetime cracking heads on the ice without losing his own in the process. The author also took a class in gory special effects makeup with Hollywood's "Sultan of Splatter" Tom Savini. On a remote Australian isle, he met a former marketing executive-turned-modern-day Robinson Crusoe. In between these and other essays, Russell weaves together his own story, focused mainly on growing up with his loudmouth Vietnam vet father, who was constantly trying to beef up the kid's testosterone ("He thought it was important that I should greet Death as part of my morning routine"). Russell is an observant, skillful and funny writer who draws out the essence of each person he meets, but the framing device-in which each story becomes another chapter in his own process of self-realization-becomes a wearying shtick. Russell himself, staggering between ironic detachment and overt pathos, ultimately becomes a grating witness to his own life. An ambitious but patchy debut, better in parts than as a whole.

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March 1, 2015
Russell's bold but fractured essay collection considers various facets of manhood, from reckless adventurer to bloodthirsty predator, sensitive protector to resolute social outcast, and ultimately he turns his journalistic lens on himself. Framed by lyrical essays surrounding Russell's youth and his father, a Vietnam vet whose postwar purpose was to instill in his son a love of war and patriotism, the book also features Russell's portraits of individuals who have discovered their own unorthodox form of masculinity. Russell pitches a tent at the Insane Clown Posse's annual Gathering of the Juggalos, a demented festival calling for recognition and social justice. He meets Tim Friede, a Milwaukee man whose body has adapted to snakebites, as he allows his many venomous pets to prove. And Russell learns the art of terror and violence from a horror-movie makeup artist, a ruthless NHL player, and a magnate-turned-outdoorsman who has settled on an inhospitable island near Australia. With droll humor and sincere compassion, Russell stalwartly exposes himself, and his readers, to his past and to people longing for significance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)