Wrestling with the Devil

"Wrestling with the Devil is an entrancing tale of perseverance, hard work and the pursuit of the American Dream. My reverie was broken only by surges of inspiration to make the best out of my life.'' --Jason Quick, The Oregonian

"This work is an important contribution to the world of wrestling and a must-read for enthusiasts of the sport." --Curley Culp, Professional Football Player, NCAA Wrestling Champion, 1967 Arizona State University

"This wonderful book captures the whole of the immigrant experience in America, the bravado, the ingenuity, the struggle for survival, and most of all, the grace and strength of the Italian-American family. Oral history at its most thrilling." --Merridawn Duckler, Senior Fellow, The Attic Institute Portland, Oregon

Volume 15, Number 8

August 2015

Home | RBW Index

Wrestling with the Devil
Antonio Russo and Tonya Russo Hamilton
Gemelli Press
9600 Stone Ave North, Seattle, WA 98103
9780982102398, $28.95 (Hard Cover), $19.95 (Paperback)
www.figsandfamiglia.com, www.gemellipress.com
B008EWZ0TW (Kindle), www.amazon.com

Marlan Warren, Reviewer
roadmapgirlsbookbuzz.blogspot.com

Italian American Immigrant Memoir

"I had an outlet for my demons." -- Antonio Russo, "Wrestling with the Devil"

"Wrestling with the Devil (A Story of Sacrifice, Survival and Triumph from the Hills of Naples to the Hall of Fame)" by Antonio Russo and Tonya Russo Hamilton takes readers along the simple-but-not-easy path that Russo took to Honor and the fulfillment of his Destiny. The father-daughter authors give a rare "insider" view of Italian immigrant experience and one determined man's journey from his cozy Neapolitan childhood to his "Italian American Graffiti-meets-Rebel Without a Cause" adolescence in Portland, Oregon to his rather miraculous college wrestling scholarship and finally, to Russo's successful coaching career and induction into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

We are treated to a slice-of-Italian-American-Life in the 50s and 60s with all the warmth and family confusion, goodwill, great food and "immigrant drive for success" that such a cultural experience often entails. What adds to this memoir's tenderness and heart, and sets it apart, is the equally touching fact that although it is told in First Person, it is actually written by Russo's daughter, Tonya Russo Hamilton, who has spun a compelling, seamless narrative in her father's voice from what must have been hours and hours of taped anecdotes.

Hamilton and her father deliver an honestly told story of a 10-year old Neapolitan boy who gets the shock of his life when his parents suddenly put him on a boat to New York for a "better life," ripping him away from their idyllic but poor world. The post-traumatic stress of "abandonment" eats away at Antonio for the rest of his life, and bedevils him. His parents and siblings eventually do join him, but by then he has had to deal with being shuttled from one relative's home to another after enduring a horrific voyage and arriving as a foreigner in the U.S.A. with no English.

Russo's demons stay with him for a lifetime, and might have led to self-destruction rather than self-construction had it not been for his strong will to succeed and exorcise the "devil" within through pursuit of his chosen passion: wrestling. After dabbling in some teenage pranks that verge on juvenile delinquency, he finally comes to a crossroads that forces him to find his moral compass.

I enjoyed the humor, especially in his loving portrait of his mother, an awesome cook who would tell her children to "go play in the street," and who wished for her son what all mothers wish: that he get a good job, get married and give her grandkids. Russo is fair in his portrayal of his siblings who also faced challenges similar to his own. His sister fared the worst and here the writing offers this poetic gem:

"Catching a glimpse of her smiling was like finding an agate among river rocks."

Reading "Wrestling with the Devil" was like finding an agate among river rocks. An unexpected jewel amid a literary landscape that has brought us so many exaggerated or negative views of Italian life in America.

This is Tonya Russo Hamilton's first book, a sports memoir beautifully written in the voice of her father.

Antonio "Tony" Russo came to the US from Naples, Italy at the age of ten years old by himself. Today, Tony Russo is a well-known and beloved wrestling coach in Newberg, Oregon. He regularly speaks at wrestling events, conducts book signings with his daughter, and continues to be heavily involved in the wrestling community. His first book signing at the Newberg Public Library drew over 200 people and and sold out of even more than 200 books.

Tonya is an elementary school teacher. She has grown up not only listening to the stories of her father about his life, but also watching him tend to his beloved garden . . . especially his tomato plants. Her second book, Tino and the Pomodori, an illustrated children's book, is the story of her father as a young boy and the life cycle of the tomato plant.

Tonya has been active promoting both of her books through events, signings and online through her website, social media -particularly running the Facebook page Italian Portland.