Buffalo Nickel: A Memoir

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Summary: Important, moving tale of brotherly love and drug addiction
Review: Buffalo Nickel by Floyd Salas is a poignant and moving tale of a man and his older brother. The strife and hardship experienced by the characters within their complex relationships allow the reader to experience a true-to-life story about the effects of drug abuse and suicide. The metaphor presented early in the novel of the buffalo nickel can be applied to the relationship of the brothers Floyd and Al Salas. In the first chapter, Al presents his little brother Floyd with a buffalo nickel. Floyd had just been in his first fight. Al later asks for the nickel back; Floyd returns the nickel. It is this metaphor, the giving of something desired and the subsequent demand for its return, that runs throughout the relationship between Floyd and his big brother. The physical action of Al giving and retrieving the nickel in the first chapter can actually be found through the entire novel. The promises that Al didn't keep becomes the focus of thier hardship. It is a tale of the anguish involved in loving an addict, the trouble that that gets Floyd into, and the eventual reality of letting go. From the beginning of the book, Floyd loves and admires his brother. After the buffalo nickel incident Floyd remarks, "he'd do that a lot to me before it was over." (p. 15) Al teaches Floyd to box. Boxing would, throughout Floyd's life, be a mixed blessing. Due to his brother's aggression Floyd finds himself in many bar fights that he would otherwise have not been involved in. When Al acts as Floyd's coach he is supportive when Floyd is winning, and extremely abusive when he feels Floyd could have done better. It became a bond between the two boys when they were young and remained to be one their entire lives. Boxing would later be extremely important and lucrative to Floyd, as it would earn Floyd a scholarship to college at University of California. Al taught Floyd how to box. He helped him earn this athletic talent. Eventually Al would waste his talent, and desert it for drugs and alcohol. Many of Al's fights were illegal and unfair, and he often got Floyd involved. He gave Floyd something valuable, the drive and ability to box; but he often used his own and Floyd's abilities for the wrong reasons. Floyd completely trusted his brother when it came to boxing, from the very beginning. When Al puts Floyd in the ring with a gypsy-kid a lot taller than him Floyd is fearless. "My brother had put me in there, though I was scared, I wasn't afraid." (P.22) Due to his drug addiction Al had an extreme tendency to steal and be involved in illegal and unfair business. This ultimately would harm the whole family; and early on it harmed Floyd. The second chapter foreshadows Al's future. Al plays with Floyd by pretending to steal his saved money. When Floyd is caught stealing from a store with another child, Al ironically reprimands him, "...don't let anybody lead you into anything like that again." He says to Floyd, "You don't want to end up in reform school like me." (P. 29) Al had saved Floyd this time. Later, Al promises to help Floyd buy a bicycle, because he doesn't want him "...hanging around the streets..."(P. 32) to sell magazines. It seemed as if Al was going to really let his little brother down (again) when he offered a pair of Levi's instead. Then their father stepped in. If he hadn't it would have been the buffalo nickel all over again - promises unkempt. Floyd often feels optimistic about his brother and their relationship during his childhood. As the two of them rode home on the brand-new bike he remarked, "He'd come through again. My brother." (p. 36) Al often warned Floyd against the evils of drugs and crime. During the time that the two were training together Al would say, "Never lie, never cheat, never drink or smoke... and don't take many from people... always be loyal to your buddies..." (p. 64) The extreme irony in these statements become evident as the story progresses and Al proceeds to do all of these things. Worse than that, he encourages Floyd to participate in them. Despite his apparent efforts to steer Floyd away from this kind of life Al's influence gets Floyd into trouble time, and time again. Floyd and Al would end up swindling people for their money as a collaborative effort. This is something that Floyd had watched his big brother do for years. When Al quit training and began drinking and using drugs heavily, this was how he used his time and made his money; he would then blow his money on booze or smack. Floyd is eventually able to use his intellect and his talent to help him overcome the heart breaking disillusionment that Al's unreliability as a brother caused. Through establishing his own separate life and through his poetry and writing Floyd is able to free himself from the invalid personality of his brother Al Salas. When Floyd notices he is being followed by the police he realizes that Al ratted him out. "...The one thing I knew: I could never trust my brother Al again." (P. 276). Ultimately, Floyd is able to release his pain caused by his brother, his addiction, and his unreliability through his writing. A boxing match helps Floyd get out his aggressions as well. During the match Floyd hits Al for some of the many wrongs Al has done him: "...that's for forty years of bullshit!" (P. 341) Floyd is even able to tell Al, "You've cheated everybody you've know and manipulated every situation to your own benefit! To this very day!" (P. 344)

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Summary: Salas Delivers Hard Hitting Bio
Review: Floyd Salas, author of the classic Tattoo The Wicked Cross (a novel that was originally written as a short story about a rape in a juvenile detention center)delivers with a memoir about the love and respect he had for his family, his life, and particularly his older brother, a man who would have a tremendous affect on him. Honest, tough, funny, and sometimes so sad it's hard to read, Buffalo Nickel is written in the same stark realist fashion as Fred Exley's A Fan's Notes and throws the same righty-cross Charles Bukowski hit us with in Ham On Rye