“Muck City” by Bryan Mealer – The Narrow Bridge to Survival

First off, though it may seem like a real story at first, Muck City by Bryan Mealer somewhat thankfully happens to be a work of fiction, though it isn’t so far-fetched that its events could not be reproduced in the real world. 

It tells the story of three young people living in the Everglades burg, a place where poverty, violence, drugs and AIDS run rampant and where very few actually make it out of there.

Our first protagonist is a quarterback by the name of Mario Rowley, who dreams of nothing more or less than winning a championship to finally appease his deceased parents. The second person we follow is a former NFL star and head coach Jessie Hester, as he returns to his hometown in an attempt to help save its youth. Finally, the third hero in this story is a young woman by the name of Jonteria Williams, who must work herself tirelessly and pray incessantly to accomplish her dream and become a doctor.

Though much of the story is focused on those three characters, Mealer also takes the time to look into the town’s history, explaining how things got to where they are. The context he provides is quite useful in helping the reader become familiar with the town, breathing life into it, and perhaps even going as far as making it into a character in itself. In the end, we worry as much about the fate of this mysteriously charming town as we do about its inhabitants.

There are two main persisting themes in this book: incessant struggle for survival and success, and football. And the latter is virtually everywhere, though there is a reason for it: despite being at the bottom of the barrel, the town has nevertheless managed to produce more NFL stars than most other towns in the states; for many people living there, football (the American version of course) is literally the only bridge to salvation for most people.

All in all, Muck City is an inspiring and heartwarming story of perseverance, of how relentless the human spirit can be, even in the darkest of days. This book had a memorable effect on me, and I believe any fans of such dramas will be similarly stricken.

---

Bryan Mealer Bryan Mealer is the American author of the New York Times bestselling novel, The Boy Who Harnessed the wind. He spent many years living in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has covered extensively his experiences there in All Things Must Fight to Live. His writings have been chosen for the anthology Best American Travel Writing and was chosen far an Award Citation at an Overseas Press Club.