Mike Tyson Slept Here

by Chris Huntington

Every May college graduates across the country ask themselves one very important question--now what? For Brant Gilmour the answer is prison. With little thought to a career, indeed, despite the bitter consequences of institutionalization, Brant takes a job teaching GED classes to inmates at an Indiana correctional facility made famous when Mike Tyson was incarcerated there. And so begins Brant's education.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2011

Reviews

[Dave Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book, stories that rise up and dance around until they become a novel. Chris Huntington reminds me of all those good-hearted outsider writers like Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan. The plot here is miniscule. The insights are everywhere. Much of the book revolves around a recent college graduate named Brant who's taken a job teaching English in prison to inmates who want to get their GEDs and six months knocked off their sentences. There are funny lines and sad lines and, mostly, an intense honesty that runs contrary to so much contemporary literature and the way the righteous sound on the internet. Every character in this book has a self-awareness that reveals all of our true natures: what often appears selfish or criminal is only a desire not to be crushed. Save yourself, every character in this books says, and the ones who can do.

[Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2011 by Boaz Publishing Company

First - a confession. I know the author of this book. However, the last time I spoke to him was most likely in December of 1989. We had one class together in high school and 3, maybe 4, classes together at the School of Education at Indiana University where we discussed movies, a mutual love of reading and Roy Orbison.

But, I've kept track of Chris as a writer in magazines and newspapers - mostly essays about his new family and his globe-trotting life teaching in all sorts of places, including ten years at a men's prison in Indiana - the subject of this book.

The book Mike Tyson Slept Here is set in and around the Plainfield Correctional Facility, where Mike Tyson served nearly three years for rape from 1992 to 1995. Tyson does not appear in the book, but he was its most famous resident, seeing as how he went in at the height of his career.

Mike Tyson Slept Here is not an autobiography, but there are semi-autobiographical elements to the book. The main character is Brant Gilmour, a new teacher who just got a job trying to help the prisoners earn their GEDs at the men's prison in Plainfield, Indiana - a suburb of Indianapolis. He meets another, older female teacher and they start dating.

Most of the book is about Brant, his girlfriend and their relationship, but not all of it. This book is really a ...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2017/...

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for a class, and I suspect my intense workload may have colored my rating. Maybe take those three stars with a grain of salt. With that said, I simply didn't enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would. I don't know if that reflects on its author or me, but there it is. I will say there were some wonderfully executed elements in this book, so even though it's a three-star novel in my eyes, it might be worth checking out anyway.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be biased, but...

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like it. kinda like a grilled cheese sandwich; nothing special, but always hits the spot.

i did LOL at time because the main character is well..a character. i recommend it for a good, quick, read. still not sure what the lawyer's story was about....it's purpose, so if you know, feel free to share (add a spoiler though!)

[Michael Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brant Gilmour, fresh out of college, gets a job teaching inmates at Plainfield Correctional Facility (the same institution where Mike Tyson once spent time) to prepare for their GED. Some of the men learn a thing or two, though never nearly enough, and some drop out, but Brant is really the one getting the education. Along the way he meets Isa (short for Isadora) Boone, another teacher, and dates her despite her wisecracking attitude. Interspersed with chapters about their relationship are stories about others who cross or will eventually cross his path, among them, Isa’s friend and co-worker, Liz Cady, the inmate, John Martin John, who can only read about 100 words, and some other lively characters studying (?) while serving time, and before taking up with Isa, who is ten years older than he is, Brant dates a younger woman named Pearl. There’s also a disgraced lawyer – Karl Whipker. While the sideliners have interesting and amusing tales to relate most don’t show up again in the main story of Brant and Isa. Some who do make a reappearance are Englehart, Billy Beck, and Katie Pence, known as K.P. How and in what way they are pertinent, you will have to read to find out. It’s a very enjoyable read because the style is easygoing and the characters relatable. A highly recommended novel from the hand of poet/writer Chris Huntington. I look forward to hearing more from him, though it has been a while since this book was released.

[Leandro Galindez · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful

[Barbara Ashford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The power of this novel comes from the voices of its many narrators. Brant Gilmour's experiences as a GED teacher (working at the Indiana correctional facility in which Mike Tyson was incarcerated) is enhanced by the first- and third-person narratives of inmates, prison staff, and two characters outside the system: Billy, a former inmate who tends bar, and K.P., the young woman whose glass eye seems to blind her to her own beauty and strength. These read like stand-alone short stories and many are powerful and heartbreaking: the journey of K.P. and Billy who drive to Mexico so Billy can reunite with his former lover; the overheard conversation of two inmates who long to see a tree again and the "pome" one writes that captures the resilience of the human heart in beautifully spare prose.

It's worth reading the book for these brief glimpses into the lives of the secondary characters. Brant's journey is less compelling. You see where he is heading long before he gets there, which renders the ending predictable and a bit flat. And although the book ends with a "What have you learned, Dorothy?" moment for Brant, it is the life lessons of the secondary characters that will linger far longer in the reader's mind.

[H R Koelling · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really nice and endearing novel. I'm at a loss for words because it's such a simple and wonderful little book that delves into the social dynamics of work, and relationship paradigms.

My only critique concerns the lengthy fourth chapter, which introduces us to a few characters, only to have them virtually disappear from the book until almost the end. Mr. Huntington spent a great deal of effort creating and defining these wonderful characters, yet they end up having almost no further presence in the novel. I thought this was strange. I kept wondering what happened to these people, yet I never found out; there are very brief cameos at various points until they reappear again at the end of the book.

The prose is superb. This author really knows how to write well. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the snappy dialogue and interwoven plot of this novel. For one things, most fiction or films about prison seem to be form the inmates perspective; the guards, staff etc either are one dimensional or invisible. And I like that we do not get the Tyson references til near the end, and just like all of the characters, it seems to not be quite what you expected at first.

I got to meet Chris on a visit to his class in March 2013, and was intrigued to read this novel that was built off of his own inside experiences.

[Van Tilburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. Well done. I felt like I was in prison with the author. I liked the other characters and how they interconnected. The author may have watched, "Pulp Fiction", one too many times, but he made the device work for him.

[Tricia Friedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this---the implicit and explicit violence, the hidden and witnessed acts of kindness rope around you as you come to see yourself in the protagonist. A compelling tale of expectations serving their sentence.

[Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! The ending was really spectacular and tied everything together really well!

[Nita]

Indiana + hapa = maybe I shall read this

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I very quick, light read about a recent college grad who teaches GED classes at a prison. Not very deep, but interesting characters.

[Todd baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming in a first novel way. I like reading things that don't try to bear down on me snd this was it for January.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quirky book that reads a bit like a short story collection.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the only truly realistic teaching stories ever written. Quick but satisfying read. I wish I'd read it 10 years ago.

[Jmolentin]

Read it twice a few years apart. Enjoyed it both times.