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Those Characters Are Alive
Being Brothers is a compelling coming of age story following two brothers growing up in the Bronx during the 70’s. What were some sources that informed this novels development?
I grew up in the Bronx during that time period, played in the Little League, and had an older brother, and so I enjoyed writing this book because I was able to revisit those times. I didn’t know it, but they were the best of times and with the birth of cell phones, became extinct.
I enjoyed the story within a story idea and felt like it really drew me in. What was the inspiration behind this idea?
I write all of my stories as screenplays first and then I create the novel and since I loved the idea of Jack narrating about his younger self, Jackie, I didn’t want to lose that voice. No matter how many ways I thought of it, it would have ruined the ending and that narration if I turned it into a novel. I got the idea of having Mark Marino, a screenwriter, looking over his screenplay so the reader would be following the journey with him. It worked.
Mark and Jackie were characters that felt authentic and relatable. Did you plan their character development before writing or did it develop organically while writing?
Since I lived those days and absolutely loved growing up in The Bronx, those characters are alive inside of me. I didn’t plan them out, it was an organic approach. I also went to Catholic school and endured that brutal educational style. I only scratched the surface of that reality. If I wrote the darker side of that it would have added a color to the book that would have been a distraction to the mood I was trying to establish.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently rewriting the film version of Being Brothers, as it was picked up by a production company and is in development, but what I stopped working on is a new baseball story that’s been in my head for roughly 40 years. It has really interesting characters with back stories so it can easily become a trilogy. I’m creating a thorough outline with the important dialog included and I am halfway through. Like I said, I write the film first, so once I write the film, I will start on the novel and it will be the same story, but very different. I hope that I’ll have the novel out within the next 18 months.
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Our first friends. Our first enemies.
Our past. Our present.
From the multi-award-winning author of MADNESS:The Man Who Changed Basketball comes another inspiring novel about Friends, Family… and Baseball.
The Bronx, New York, 1972
BEING BROTHERS is a story, within a story, within a story, sparked by the fortuitous, life-changing epiphany of Mark Marino, a content middle-aged man who discovers an untapped well of repressed, unrealized dreams.
Another character, Jack Amato, frequently revisits the Neighborhood to ground himself by the sights, smells and memories of the past, through the coming-of-age experiences of Jackie, the spacey, slightly awkward, yet lovable version of his younger self who grew up in the Bronx in the 1970s — a time of street games, young love, best friends, little league, mean teachers, and the love/hate, friend/enemy dynamics of sibling rivalry.
While Mark, Jack, and Jackie exist in separate worlds, they are all connected by the outcome of Mark’s serendipitous moment.
BEING BROTHERS takes the reader on a journey back in time, to a much simpler era, and examines the experiences of family, friendship, life lessons, and the profound impact of our past.
For those who lived it, enjoy the story of your past, and for those who didn’t, sit down, get comfortable, and enjoy the ride.
BEING BROTHERS
![BEING BROTHERS by [Mike DeLucia]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/5129c2gnX1L.jpg)
If you’re looking for a heartfelt coming of age story, you should definitely read Mike DeLucia’s Being Brothers. This book takes readers through the life of Jackie, an 11-year old boy growing up in the Bronx in the 70s. It specifically focuses on his relationship with his brother Sal and how their mutual love for baseball brought them together.
The fact that the brothers’ story is told as a screenplay written by Mark Marino, a writer who digs into his own life to birth the character that is Jackie, makes it even more intriguing. The story within a story narrative allows us to be in a unique position where we are both an insider and an outsider, creating an intimacy that is hard to replicate.
Moreover, the author’s knowledge of baseball is so vast that the game scenes could be mistaken for real-life events. But if there is something that truly warms the heart, it is the part of the story where Jackie realizes that despite appearances, his brother always had his back, from birth in fact. Needless to say, this story has a strong family theme to it, with the love and comfort of Jackie’s being at the foundation of the narrative.
The book also succeeds in bringing to life the realities of male bonding and friendships, especially those formed in childhood. With the 70s as a backdrop, it almost feels like this narrative was set in simpler, sweeter times. The music titles the author adds to his scenes also add a subtle realism to them.
Honestly, the only minor thing I could complain about would be that sometimes the jump from scene dialogue to prose can be disorienting especially when Jackie is in dialogue. The jump between Jackie talking in the first person and then referring to himself in the third person is a little odd.
Otherwise, Being Brothers is extremely well written and easy to read. Moreover, the perspective of Mark Marino adds a layer of reality that many writers can relate to. For instance, when he catches his own grammatical errors and talks about all the rules that govern writing, he pulls any writer in. Ultimately, the author has done a great job at making us care about Mark and Jackie and even clearly see the Jackie in Mark.
Being Brothers is an thoroughly entertaining story that expertly integrates sports in a compelling coming of age story with a literary prowess that only author Mike DeLucia can pull off.
Pages: 162 | ASIN: B08LGJB71H
LITERARY TITAN 