美国国家公共电台 NPR Growing Up As A Bank Robber's Daughter In 'Bandit'

Growing Up As A Bank Robber's Daughter In 'Bandit'

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:02repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser¹ to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: 

Finally, today, in a lot of memoirs³, it seems safe to assume that the author really knows his or her subject. But sometimes that's not true - case in point Molly Brodak. Her memoir² is about her dad, a man she realizes she barely knew. In 1994, when Molly was in middle school, he robbed 11 banks outside of Detroit. He went to prison for a few years, got out and did it again. The FBI dubbed⁴ him the Super Mario Brothers Bandit.

Her new book is called "Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir." And Molly Brodak joins us now from member station WABE in Atlanta. Molly, thanks so much for speaking with us.

MOLLY BRODAK: Thank you so much for having me.

MARTIN: And I've just given the top lines of it. In fact, it's kind of one of those - sort of the shocking things about the book is that it doesn't take a long time to unspool the crazy. Do you want to just tell us just a couple of the other headlines, if you don't mind? And I do want to mention this is not a spoiler alert.

BRODAK: Well, yeah, that's part of the idea was that within the first 10 pages or so of the book, I essentially⁵ kind of give it away. And I kind of say, well, here are all the facts. You know, my dad robbed 11 banks over the course of one summer when I was 13 years old in secret. And then he served his time. He went to prison. When he got out, he robbed banks again and was caught sort of in the act that time.

And he had a gambling⁶ addiction⁸. That was one of the reasons why he decided⁹ to rob banks. He also had a sort of a secret life in terms of when he started to first date my mother, he was already married and had a child with another woman. And so there was a lot of secrecy¹⁰ and things that I didn't know about until I was much older. And to me, those facts aren't the most interesting part of the book. Really, to me, the most interesting part is just what it was like to grow up with a father like that and what it felt like to have that as my situation as a child and as a teenager.

MARTIN: When you describe - as I said, by page five of the book, you've recounted the fact that your father was a serial¹¹ bank robber, that he went to prison. And you say, there, see? Done with the facts already. The facts are easy to say. I say them all the time. Was it like that for you growing up? I mean, were the facts of your existence - like why you moved all the time, all your dad's various scams - was that something that was kind of out in the open, or did in a way you have a dual¹² life?

BRODAK: Well, yeah, I did. When he was first arrested, it was all over the news where I was growing up in the suburbs of Detroit. So everyone knew about it. And I was in middle school, which is hard enough as it is. And so at first everyone knew and everyone talked about it, and it was, like, a big deal. But then it faded and people forgot. And then it became a secret in a way that eventually in my course of knowing a friend or someone new it would come up. It would - we'd sort of get to that point in our relationship where I'd say, well, this is this thing that happened to me. And I'd have to tell this long story. And so, yeah, you become sort of pretty rehearsed at telling the facts and saying what happened.

So, for example, I would sometimes leave out the detail about my father's nickname that the FBI gave him when they were trying to find him, which is a funny nickname. And it would sometimes change the tone of the story as I was telling it because people would kind of start laughing. And...

MARTIN: What was the nickname?

BRODAK: His nickname the Super Mario Brothers Bandit because he had worn a fake mustache and suspenders and this, like, flat newsboy hat. And someone thought he looked like Super Mario Brothers' Mario, you know? And so part of the reason why he became notorious was the name.

MARTIN: Do you want to read a little bit.

BRODAK: Sure.

MARTIN: Do you mind? OK.

BRODAK: (Reading) I was something like 11, and I had a cloudy notion that it would be exciting and romantic to work in a recording¹³ studio to help create music but not have to play it. He fluttered his eyes upward, as he often did, and answered without hesitation¹⁴. He told me about the equipment and how bands work with producers and how much money sound engineers make and what their schedules were like, details, I started to realize, he could not possibly know. Some giant drum began turning behind my eyes. I could see he was lying. Something changed around his eyes when he spoke¹⁵, a kind of haze¹⁶ or color shift, and I could always see it from then on.

MARTIN: There again, that's what's remarkable¹⁷ about the book. I mean, you describe something that, you know, often happens to kids. At some point, they have to face that their parents are not heroic figures or that they're...

BRODAK: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...Just people. But in your case, it's something else. It's not just that you have to face that your father's not a hero but that he is a liar¹⁸ and that there's something very wrong with him - or the whole situation, let's say. And that's a heavy thing. That's a heavy thing for a kid to have to do, especially at that age.

BRODAK: Yeah, it is. And I think kids do get to an age where they realize that their parents are people. And they have their own lives, and they don't exist solely¹⁹ to serve them. But to realize that on top of realizing that your dad isn't an honest person, you know, realizing that he lies - and another scene I describe in the book is watching him steal tires in the middle of the night. He had taken me along for the ride for some reason. I was in the car when he was doing that.

And so that's sort of another level of realization²⁰ that you might have as a child, that realization that your parents are not only not perfect but maybe disordered in these very severe ways. And you feel disappointed in a way. And thank God I had my mom, who was always a very good model to me, even though she suffered mightily²¹ because of my father and because of her own issues. But she was always a good person, and I'm really grateful for that.

MARTIN: You talk about how you learned to live with this because you really had no choice. You learned about how you learned to live with this by making yourself small. Can you talk a little bit about that?

BRODAK: Well, I have one sister. And my sister and I had sort of opposite reactions to our family situation. My sister wanted to make a lot of noise and get the attention that she felt she deserved. So she became sort of angry and acted out and would do things to kind of get, you know, her parents' attention because they weren't really paying that much attention to us because they had their own issues or problems.

And I took the opposite route. I decided I didn't want to be any more of a problem to anyone in the family. And so I sort of removed myself by reading books and staying in the library and studying plants and insects in the backyard and just sort of building my own private world that felt safe. And I felt like I was doing something for my family by just sort of being a non-problem and not making any fusses and just kind of being quiet and peaceful.

MARTIN: As I understand it from the book, you were warned by several people, including your sister and your mother, not to write about this. Why is that?

BRODAK: Well, part of it was practical. My father, being a gambling addict⁷, is always looking for money (laughter). So I think they were worried, well, what if he sues you? Part of it was that.

But I think every family has a secret. Every family has darkness and heaviness that people would prefer to not talk about. And when you choose to become the person who's going to bring light to the dark family secrets, you can sometimes be perceived as the betrayer. And I think that my story's not unusual in that way. I think that there's a lot of people who can relate to that. So I think they were warning me in that sense, like, oh, well, do you really want all this on you? And I was so beyond that point when I started writing it. I just - I was so ready to do it, and I was so ready for all of the light to shine on the story. So it didn't - it didn't faze me.

MARTIN: What about him? Has your father read it? Do you think he will read it?

BRODAK: He knows about the book, but I don't think he's read it. And I don't know if he will. I imagine he would want to. But his reaction - I am sort of bracing²² myself for that, you know? I don't know. Most people who know him will say, well, he's going to be really upset because this is kind of revealing all of the things that he would like to hide. But other people say, well, he's kind of an ego²³ maniac²⁴, so maybe he'll love it, you know? (Laughter) I don't know. I guess we'll have to see.

MARTIN: Molly Brodak is the author of "Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir." She was kind enough to join us from member station WABE in Atlanta. Molly Brodak, thanks so much for speaking with us.

BRODAK: Thank you so much.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MARTIN: For Sunday, that's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. You can follow us on Twitter - @npratc or follow me @NPRMichel. Coming up later tonight is the second presidential debate. Our colleague Robert Siegel will anchor live coverage²⁵ airing on many NPR stations beginning at 9 p.m. Eastern Time along with live fact-checking at npr.org. We are back next weekend. Until then, thank you for listening, and we hope you have a great week.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

3 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

7 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

8 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 secrecy   

n.秘密，保密，隐蔽

参考例句：

• All the researchers on the project are sworn to secrecy.该项目的所有研究人员都按要求起誓保守秘密。
• Complete secrecy surrounded the meeting.会议在绝对机密的环境中进行。

11 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

12 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

13 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

14 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

15 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

16 haze   

n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊

参考例句：

• I couldn't see her through the haze of smoke.在烟雾弥漫中，我看不见她。
• He often lives in a haze of whisky.他常常是在威士忌的懵懂醉意中度过的。

17 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

18 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

19 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

20 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

21 mightily   

ad.强烈地；非常地

参考例句：

• He hit the peg mightily on the top with a mallet. 他用木槌猛敲木栓顶。
• This seemed mightily to relieve him. 干完这件事后，他似乎轻松了许多。

22 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

23 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

24 maniac   

n.精神癫狂的人；疯子

参考例句：

• Be careful!That man is driving like a maniac!注意！那个人开车像个疯子一样！
• You were acting like a maniac,and you threatened her with a bomb!你像一个疯子，你用炸弹恐吓她！

25 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。