Buffalo Nickel

by Floyd Salas

Through intensely passionate prose, this unique autobiography charts Salas' dramatic coming of age in the conflicting shadows of two older brothers: one drug addict and a petty criminal, the other an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155885049X
• ISBN13: 9781558850491
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press
• Length: 347 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

this book ain't just about boxing

Floyd Salas' autobiography, told through a series of vignettes, reads like a novel and yet captures the feel of life as it is lived. Buffalo Nickel follows Salas' relationship with his brother Al, a James Dean-like figure who has the misfortune of growing older, spending much of his life in and out of prison. Trapped in a bad marriage and unable to hold down a job, Al makes the transition from theif to husler, later becoming hooked on heroin. He becomes a tragic figure, unable to take responsibility for his own life. Buffalo Nickel begins innocently as an entertaining coming of age story but ends as a frightening tale of an entire family addicted to drugs. As finely crafted as any novel, this autobiography is powerful and disturbing, creating a stunning portrait of the darker landscapes of contemporary life.

Important, moving tale of brotherly love and drug addiction

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 F

Salas Delivers Hard Hitting Bio

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