The Last Days of Tony Harris

After having a half a day to digest the story, as well as reading through some of the comments by readers (including Harri's wife, Lori) attached to the E-Ticket piece, I have a question:

Did the form with which Wright chose to frame the story detract from the impact of said story?

There seem to be some very important pieces left out, and I can only assume it is because it didn't fit within the flow of the narrative.

The biggest: who was this Erika girl? Unless I missed something, we never really find out what, exactly, Tony's relationship was with her. Just seems kind of odd to have a really good girl friend in a foreign country far away from your wife. I would have liked to know more. At the least, I would have liked to know that attempts to reach her were unsuccessful.

Also, I would have liked to know a lot more about Tony's personal background. I want to hear some of Tony's former teammates saying whether they ever noticed signs of mental illness. Would have liked to hear from his parents, his coaches. Again, I'm sure Wright talked to all of these people. But I want to hear it from them. Not from Wright.

I think this is my biggest hang-up with narratives. I want to hear from the sources themselves, not from the writer.

Let's be fair: this took a ton of work. I can't imagine how frustrating it is reporting a story in which most of the subjects you need to interview speak a foreign language.

Still, my biggest issue is with the form. I just don't think the narrative form Wright chose worked as well as another form might have.

 

Dude, it was a line.

 

And it made me laugh. See you in hell.

 

Really liked the story.

One thing that bothered me was what his family and friends did after he disappeared in the jungle? Wouldn't the cab driver had called the police? Just seems strange.

 

Actually, the Times sending reporters and photographers all over the world is one of the reasons they're losing money, but that's probably more appropriate for another thread.

 

These are all very good questions, in my opinion.

I liked the story, it had my attention from the start. ... But there does seem to be tons of unanswered questions.

 

I'll keep a seat cool for ya.

 

Maybe the idea was to have the reader in a state of confusion like that which Harris was in, but I just didn't like the story.

 

It certainly is great writing.
I wasn't familiar with the story.
Solid piece, well done.

 

I read as far as the first subhead, then gave up....as lost and confused as Tony Harris must have been.
I know very little of Tony Harris and through the first section of another of Wright's typically meandering narratives, I learned absolutely nothing.
Overly long, descriptive writing leading nowhere.

Sorry, folks, I just don't see the greatness of Wright.

 

Ah, you're taking it too seriously. It's so hot-under-the-collar and overwrought that it's kinda hard <i> not </i> to like.

You at least to have to get as far as Heart of Darkness stuff. Swear to God, when I read this, I actually thought "Who's Kurtz?" was out of ignorance, which would have been perfect. Alas, I realized a half-second later it was a probe into even deeper absurdity.

 

I like Wright a lot, personally and professionally. But I thought this story was kind of all over the place. I liked the reporting more than the writing, to be honest. The writing had an airiness to it when I wanted authority (which obviously would have been hard here; the subject is dead). I thought it needed a hard, stripped-down edit, to be honest.

I'm not really a big fan of the Is the neon light going off inside his head... and Could he have been thinking... and the Was the voice telling him to...

Plus, there were a lot of paragraphs like this:

This lays Estevam low. He turns away, crosses his arms, sighs, cannot speak. He thinks of his friend, a man terrified of this place but willing to risk it all to provide for his wife and child. The courage that must have taken. He thinks about his friend and when the words don't come, he touches his chest with his fist.

You live in my heart.

These sentences seem to contridict one another, unless Thompson can read minds. He can't speak. But he's thinking all this about Harris?

To me it reads much better if you lose the climb-inside-someone's-head angle.

This lays Estevam low. He turns away, crosses his arms, sighs. When the words don't come, he touches his chest with his fist.

You live in my heart.

There are a lot of sections that I think the writing got in the way of the story, and those of you who've read my posts here know I'm not usually one of those guys.

To me it read like a good first draft. There are a few editors here who could have cut that baby by a third, and made it sing.

Still, I love the ambition, and am glad ESPN will send Wright to Brazil for a story about guy most of us have never heard of.