Tragic Hero

On September 5, 2013, Walter Bressler was stripped of his clothes and given a white jumpsuit that he couldn’t zip up to cover his 475-pound frame. He was logged in as inmate 12331-049 of FCI Forrest City—where he would serve a 366-day sentence for mail fraud. Though he’d evaded penalties for his bad behavior for more than four decades, he was finally forced to face his demons in a 48-square-foot cinder block cell. Still, Wally was far from rock bottom. It would take an abusive relationship and him being minutes away from attempting suicide for this tragic hero to rebuild his life from the aftermath of moral bankruptcy.

Luckily, Wally’s fervent internal call to live influenced him to seek the counsel of a dependable guide. Together, they set out on a journey to unshackle Wally from the beliefs of his subconscious mind, ultimately liberating and re-parenting Little Wally—a boisterous protagonist with a wild imagination and penchant for mischief; providing a harbinger of hope for readers, emphasizing—it’s never too late to save oneself!

In his breakout memoir, Tragic Hero, Bressler reveals the most harrowing secrets of his childhood: from surviving sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; to escaping the gnarly roots of addiction that claimed his life at a young age. Through a transformational story that emphasizes the importance of dismantling the victim mentality—Bressler challenges his readers to venture through the pain of their past so that they might take radical responsibility for their future.