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The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice by Leslie, Nathan (October 30, 2012) Paperback
When Tommy’s parents abandon him as baby, his grandmother Gaga takes him to her reclusive house near the top of Pike’s Peak. When Gaga casts him out, Tommy’s journey takes him to the countryside homestead of Aunt Tess—who hides surprising objects in her fizzy, voluminous hair—to Aunt Penny’s four enormous city houses and her preferred communication by ESP. In the cave-like desert home of Aunt Chelsea, Tommy learns how to hunt coyotes and the proper method of delivering newspapers. Shocked by a secret hidden beneath Aunt Chelsea’s house, Tommy runs off with a mysterious woman he meets on a bus, all while searching for a place to call home. THE TALE TALL OF TOMMY TWICE captures the innocence of youth and the complexities of contemporary life. It’s a fanciful debut about the wonderment of adventure and the profound effect of family in the increasingly rootless American experience.
Paperback
First published October 30, 2012
298 people want to read
About the author
Nathan Leslie
32 books13 followersNathan Leslie’s ten books of short fiction include Sibs, Three Men and Root and Shoot. He is also the author of Night Sweat, a poetry collection. His first novel, The Tall Tale of Tommy Twice, was published by Atticus Books in 2012. His short stories, essays and poems have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines including Boulevard, Shenandoah, North American Review, South Dakota Review, and Cimarron Review. He was series editor for The Best of the Web anthology 2008 and 2009 (Dzanc Books) and edited fiction for Pedestal Magazine for many years. He writes a regular music column for Atticus Review and was interviews editor for Prick of the Spindle. He is also the host of Reston Readings--a monthly reading series featuring three authors/month. Check him out at nathanleslie.com, on Facebook and Twitter.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 3, 2012
The cover may make you think this is a children’s book, but it isn’t: it’s an adult book about a child. It certainly was a tall tale! At first, nothing seemed amiss but when Tommy’s aunt grabs large objects from out of her unruly hair, it becomes clear that the story has some rather tall tale elements. It’s all funny as well as heart-breaking: orphan Tommy isn’t accepted with any of his family members and is moved from one to the other.
Tommy takes it all in his stride and tries to adapt to living with each of his aunts as best as possible. This must be one of the most deranged families ever! I loved how Tommy accepted every new situation and made the best of it. And how sad when he was made to move on to the next aunt!
The story is funny and never boring. It’s told in the matter-of-fact way a child looks at the world. While the story is quirky, the ending is very original. Actually, which ending? The author offers five possible and very different ways) to end the story. All discuss what happened after he left his final aunt and how he is doing now, at forty or fifty years’ of age. The reader chooses!
I loved reading this funny short book. It’s a story that isn’t easily forgotten.
Tommy takes it all in his stride and tries to adapt to living with each of his aunts as best as possible. This must be one of the most deranged families ever! I loved how Tommy accepted every new situation and made the best of it. And how sad when he was made to move on to the next aunt!
The story is funny and never boring. It’s told in the matter-of-fact way a child looks at the world. While the story is quirky, the ending is very original. Actually, which ending? The author offers five possible and very different ways) to end the story. All discuss what happened after he left his final aunt and how he is doing now, at forty or fifty years’ of age. The reader chooses!
I loved reading this funny short book. It’s a story that isn’t easily forgotten.
June 10, 2013
Another Good Reads WIN! This must be one of the most deranged families ever! I loved how Tommy accepted every new situation and made the best of it. And how sad when he was made to move on to the next aunt!
August 6, 2016
I see THE TALL TALE OF TOMMY TWICE as a hilarious, delightfully engaging story about the creation of an artist. In this case, a bizarre, peripatetic upbringing that develops in this child a unique way of seeing and reacting to the world that sets him apart from other children—real children, who grow up with parents, hugs, hot lunches, earmuffs, baseballs, bikes, kites, and a Labrador Retriever.
Real children don’t play chess and drink tequila at the age of five. Real children know how old they are and when their birthday is. Real children’s cousins don’t have names like Hose and Stump. Real children don’t grow up, look back, and say, “I grew up frightened. Ready for the worst to happen. . . . I grew up feeling like one of those parasite-eating birds in a symbiotic relationship with a hippo.”
As in the sad childhoods of many foster children, little Tommy was knocked around from home to home, and in nearly every move to the next place, he was summarily dumped:
“I suddenly felt like someone had scraped my insides out with a spoon. I didn’t know this at the time, but in retrospect I’m sure I was exhausted by the upheaval. I was living with one relative or another when I should have been living with my mother and father—wherever they were. . .whoever they were. I just wanted to be a kid. Instead, I had to function as a little adult. All I wanted to do was eat dinner and sleep. I missed Aunt Tess already. I missed her mountain of red hair, helping with the chickens, picking corn. Even her rotten sons.”
TOMMY TWICE is a tragic tale, uproariously funny in the telling. The treatment of this child was, of course, outrageous—his entire upbringing a hotbed of child abuse. That Tommy survived and actually made it to adulthood seems like a miracle. But couldn’t you, at times in your reading, say the same thing about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn?
Leslie’s bold caricature and sharp satire are, above all, Rabelaisian—humor that is exaggerated, bizarre, and way, way larger than life:
“I saw the woman I knew for sure to be Aunt Tess: the wild nest of red hair. . . . I could see that her hair was a mountain, and that within this mountain things shifted and moved. I could see small wheels and food and animals scurrying in her hair. I could see handles and sacks and string. Pens. A broom handle. Bits of ribbon. A knife. . . .”
From Tommy’s Cousin Mickey, a traveling salesman, we have this:
“There was this one woman I met down south. . . . She was a wild one. She was tall and thin as a sapling. Her neck was the size of my arm, and her head was just as long. At any rate, when I met her the first words out of her mouth were, ‘I’m somebody special.’ That’s what she said. . . .
“She wore this purple dress that hugged her curves. The dress was affixed with some kind of gold trim. It looked like it was made out of real gold. And she wore enough jewelry to break a horse’s neck. . . .
“She had a face that looked like a combination of a turtle and a snake, if that makes any sense. At any rate, we became friends, if you know what I mean. She said maybe I could help her. Well, who knows what her real story was. You can’t trust a woman who wears a purple dress, can you?”
And this:
“And I met this man down there, just a few towns away. For a living he spent time in traffic. Isn’t that a way to earn a buck? Anyway, I went with him once. He would sit in traffic and take notes. I wasn’t sure how those notes translated into money, but it did for him. Everyone hates traffic. Traffic wears you down. It breaks your spirit. Well, this guy loved traffic. ‘What I like,’ he said, ‘is watching people suffer. . . .’”
The humor may be Rabelaisian, but the added deadpan and delayed reaction timing in the homespun comedy of Twain, Keaton, and Chaplin also come to mind.
Leslie’s writing is mesmerizing everywhere I’ve seen it. Tommy wanders through the city:
“I walked from the leafy streets to the shops where an old man swept the sidewalks with a push broom and where fat women with maroon moles on their cheeks sold dingy orange flowers in the middle of the street.”
I can’t compare Nathan Leslie to any other writer. He's simply not like anyone else I know of. I think Leslie is as good as Steinbeck (I’m thinking right now of CANNERY ROW), but he doesn’t write like Steinbeck. Leslie’s writing is unique, and even his own books are dissimilar. In my opinion, this is because Nathan Leslie is writing out of one of the deepest and broadest emotional ranges of any contemporary author. That the inner life he has to draw from is deep and rich is everywhere apparent in his work, no matter what the story is, or how he chooses to tell it.
THE TALL TALE OF TOMMY TWICE was a pleasure to read. I loved it!
--Arlene Sanders
August 13, 2016
A Mellow, Sometimes Edgy, Work of Delicate Craftsmanship and Detail
This is a rewarding but sneakily demanding book, and it's a very hard book to describe in any helpful way. So, even though I think describing a book by comparing it to other books is usually a lazy and misdirected way to review, it seems like the best course here; certainly better than using vague descriptions like "evocative" or "lyrical" or the like.
This book seems to exist at the intersection of four of my favorite books. For the wealth of detail, precise description, honest feeling and charm consider Truman Capote's "The Grass Harp" and "A Christmas Memory". For manic over-the-top family misbehavior, add Augusten Burroughs' "Running With Scissors". For a protagonist with keen, innocent and untutored insight but virtually no real world experience and no frame of reference to judge the events surrounding him, toss in Chauncey Gardiner from Jerzy Kosinski's "Being There". Finally, for pure bravura picaresque tall tale story telling, wrap in some of Daniel Wallace's "Big Fish".
I guess one of the grand questions about this book is whether it is meant to have a message, (about family, or society, or youth, or maturity, or belonging, or the like), all of which it does in its way, or if it is meant primarily as a display of technical writerly skill and superb craftsmanship. (Stated differently, is a ship in a bottle supposed to show you something about ships or teach you something about woodworking?)
Either way you approach it this is a well written, funny, sharply observed, sly, deadpan, bemused and generous work of fiction. While it starts out like a basic, honest bit of American orphan fiction, (but with an odd undertone), and ultimately ends up in a shower of meta-fictional fireworks, every step along the way is engaging, instructive and entertaining. The author is sort of kidding around with the reader, but it's refreshing and kind hearted and good enough that you'll follow where he leads. And, I'm always up for "high-minded absurdity." So, if you like a mellow, but sometimes pointed, reading adventure, this is a nice choice to consider.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
This is a rewarding but sneakily demanding book, and it's a very hard book to describe in any helpful way. So, even though I think describing a book by comparing it to other books is usually a lazy and misdirected way to review, it seems like the best course here; certainly better than using vague descriptions like "evocative" or "lyrical" or the like.
This book seems to exist at the intersection of four of my favorite books. For the wealth of detail, precise description, honest feeling and charm consider Truman Capote's "The Grass Harp" and "A Christmas Memory". For manic over-the-top family misbehavior, add Augusten Burroughs' "Running With Scissors". For a protagonist with keen, innocent and untutored insight but virtually no real world experience and no frame of reference to judge the events surrounding him, toss in Chauncey Gardiner from Jerzy Kosinski's "Being There". Finally, for pure bravura picaresque tall tale story telling, wrap in some of Daniel Wallace's "Big Fish".
I guess one of the grand questions about this book is whether it is meant to have a message, (about family, or society, or youth, or maturity, or belonging, or the like), all of which it does in its way, or if it is meant primarily as a display of technical writerly skill and superb craftsmanship. (Stated differently, is a ship in a bottle supposed to show you something about ships or teach you something about woodworking?)
Either way you approach it this is a well written, funny, sharply observed, sly, deadpan, bemused and generous work of fiction. While it starts out like a basic, honest bit of American orphan fiction, (but with an odd undertone), and ultimately ends up in a shower of meta-fictional fireworks, every step along the way is engaging, instructive and entertaining. The author is sort of kidding around with the reader, but it's refreshing and kind hearted and good enough that you'll follow where he leads. And, I'm always up for "high-minded absurdity." So, if you like a mellow, but sometimes pointed, reading adventure, this is a nice choice to consider.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
January 7, 2013
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was well written, imaginative, thought provoking, and more than a little crazy. On the other hand, it was not a kid's book, even though it is classified as one. It contains language, violence, and sexual situations (non-explicit). It is an adult book about a child.
Tommy is passed from relative to relative, each one unique in their craziness. They are passionate, violent, dysfunctional, angry, bitter, sweet, stoic, silent, and the list goes on. Tommy learns different things from his experiences with each relative and their families. He even spends some time with a mother figure that has no relation to him.
The story was written in a matter of fact way, that made me wonder if Tommy had any personality at all or if he was just content to float along and do what he was told. He didn't really seem to have strong emotions about anything. If he was told to listen, he did. If he was told to clean, to shovel, to learn, to fight, to eat, to sleep...he did.
In some ways, I absolutely loved the crazy story of this little boy and my heart went out to him. He never had a home with parents that loved him, but was passed around from relative to relative until there was nobody left to take care of him. In other ways, the book irked me beyond belief. So I'm going right down the middle on this one and giving it three stars.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Tommy is passed from relative to relative, each one unique in their craziness. They are passionate, violent, dysfunctional, angry, bitter, sweet, stoic, silent, and the list goes on. Tommy learns different things from his experiences with each relative and their families. He even spends some time with a mother figure that has no relation to him.
The story was written in a matter of fact way, that made me wonder if Tommy had any personality at all or if he was just content to float along and do what he was told. He didn't really seem to have strong emotions about anything. If he was told to listen, he did. If he was told to clean, to shovel, to learn, to fight, to eat, to sleep...he did.
In some ways, I absolutely loved the crazy story of this little boy and my heart went out to him. He never had a home with parents that loved him, but was passed around from relative to relative until there was nobody left to take care of him. In other ways, the book irked me beyond belief. So I'm going right down the middle on this one and giving it three stars.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
March 2, 2013
Loved this little book! It reminded me very much of a modern Roald Dahl . The people and events were weird and harsh but the writing style kept everything light. Tommy and his cast of aunts will not be forgotten. Especially Tess - I have such a clear picture of her pulling all that stuff out of her hair! I think there are many, many metaphors and lessons to be learned from the book, some were absorbed easily as you read, but I think some will sneak up on me as time goes by. Very glad I read this book. PS - #1 or #3.
December 9, 2012
*****I recieved this book from Goodreads giveaways****
This is a book that I think a lot of people will like that just isn't the type of book that I really like. It is told more in a memoir type style, had it been told more as a fictional- in the- moment type book I think I would have really liked it.
The author comes up with some quirky characters and situations for the main character, Tommy, to meet and be in that I think I would have really enjoyed if it was written differently.
I did really like the alternative endings at the end, very creative!
This is a book that I think a lot of people will like that just isn't the type of book that I really like. It is told more in a memoir type style, had it been told more as a fictional- in the- moment type book I think I would have really liked it.
The author comes up with some quirky characters and situations for the main character, Tommy, to meet and be in that I think I would have really enjoyed if it was written differently.
I did really like the alternative endings at the end, very creative!
March 7, 2014
Not every author is able to get adults to care about a story of a child, but Leslie can. Tommy is presented in a looking back kind of way, but Leslie makes the present ambiguous in a way that is enigmatic and also focuses our view on Tommy's childhood. The combination of tall tale and bildungsroman makes this book particularly interesting. It's definitely an engaging story, but the lines it straddles make it much more complex and rich than it appears on the surface.
February 26, 2013
When I first read the description, I wasn't quite sure if this was for me. Then I saw Nathan at a local reading and that was a big sell. Then I started reading and I truly loved this book! I'm sure at some point we've all felt like orphans or have had crazy families. This book made you want to root for Tommy. A coming of age novel I think we all can get behind. Bravo!
March 16, 2013
Fairly light & enjoyable read. Should only take a couple of hours. Not particularly deep but worthwhile. Think Harold Pinter rewriting Huck Finn as a comedy. The end didn't quite work but was imaginative.
October 15, 2012
I can't decide if it was a young adult book or a book that happened to be about a young adult. A quick, enjoyable read. I didn't much care for the ending, but it's certainly creative.
October 30, 2012
What a fun book: a series of fables capturing the life of this young boy growing up. Half fable-half experimental fiction, this book was a rollicking read.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews