Book Description
A powerful short novel that's vintage Hamill-an evocative, emotionally involving tale of fathers and sons, loss and yearning, forgiveness and approbation-is restored to print. Brooklyn, 1952. It is Christmastime and a young sailor named Pete is home on leave, temporarily liberated from the specter of war in Korea. He's back in the old neighborhood, discovering firsthand that the girl he left behind evidently meant what she said in the Dear John letter she sent him. He's back in the dreary Seventh Avenue apartment that his mother can ill afford to decorate for the holidays. And he's back facing off with Billy, the gruff Irish factory worker who is his father, yet seems forever a stranger-until, on Christmas Eve, Pete pays his first visit to Rattigan's, the local bar where his father hangs out, the place where Billy seems most fully alive. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Loved it
I told my wife, after I completed reading The Gift, that I loved the book but I thought it was a man's book and not for her. But she loved it as well, reminding her as it did of people she knew back then...friends of relatives.

I, on the other hand, see a little too much of people who sacrifice current relationships because of past bad luck. Get over it and get on with it. So having Hamill do his take on these people was good for me.

I always say that an eyeroll is sometimes involuntary. When I start to hear a story of self-pity I can feel one coming so I quickly turn my head. A friend of mine says that doing an owl-like turn of the head is every bit as bad.

But Hamill's treatment of the one who has suffered is well done. Other people, and Hamill himself, speak of his glory days and his subsequent misery, leaving the man to almost ruin in silence any relationship he might have had with his grown son.

Pete Hamill, One of New York City's BestWriters
Even though I wanted more out of the book but because I so much enjoy how Pete Hamill writes I have rated this book a 5 star.Being from Brooklyn, I so much enjoy Pete's detail to the trains, the churchs, the bars, the streets and so forth.To me the book is great but I can see for others how they wanted more.I picked up the book on Christmas Eve at Strands Bookstore on Fulton Street and finished it by nightime.The book it only 135 pages long and you can finish it in one evening.The main character, a 17 year old on home from leave from the Navy comes home to what many 17 year old from that time frame faced, with girlfriends, parents, other friends and so forth.All the problems one has, feelings (he wants a gun to shoot someone who now is dating his old girlfiend, parents lack of money (no phone, just got steam heat).If you like Pete Hamill you will enjoy this book (not one of Pete's best but it still is Pete Hamill). If you can't get enough Pete Hamill read this book you will enjoy it.

Truly a Gift
Pete Hamill Never dissapoints. One beautifully told story of whats important in life. Love and Family

An Elegy for a Time, a Place, and a Father Long Gone
When it all comes down to it, this is a love story.During a Christmas leave from the navy in 1952, seventeen-year-old Pete returns to Brooklyn to confront unrequited love--for his high school aged girlfriend and for the father he admires but does not know.Through this story the author expresses his love of family, of comrades, and of a Brooklyn that will always be a part of him.Hamill captures the sound of New York in the dialogue of his characters, and he also captures the dreams that so many young people have as they look toward their futures.This is an archetypal story of the American Dream, fathers and sons, and young love.The narrator at times reminds you of Tom Wingfield from THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and the visits to various barrooms may remind you of THE TENDER BAR.That is pretty good company to be in.

Disappointing Book
I love Pete Hamill and was looking forward to reading another of his stories about New York at Christmas time.This was a major disappointment. ... Read more

Book Description
One snowy New Year's Day, in the midst of the Great Depression, Dr. James Delaney--haunted by the slaughters of the Great War, and abandoned by his wife and daughter--returns home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep, left by his mother in Delaney's care.Coping with this unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in Delaney begins to melt.Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader will soon forget. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Transports the reader
This book moves through the streets and characters of 1930s New York City like Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief" did for war-torn Germany during WWII. I agree that the characters are too predictable at the outset, but give it time. The plot, character development and, above all, the humanity of the story evolve in a gripping way that is warming and unexpected.

Hamill has the rare ability to make you feel the cold, see the colors, taste the food, etc. All while telling a simple story of a poor New York City doctor's soul and conscience.

This is Hamill's best work yet.

A great book to listen to
I listened to this book on audio cassette and loved it. It is my first Pete Hamill and will surely not be my last.If you're going on a drive and want an engaging story that holds your interets I would strongly recommend NORTH RIVER.

Beautiful woven tapestry of history. Worth the read.
Pete Hamill's style of writing makes his novel easy and enjoyable to read. The tapestry of life in New York during the 30's comes to life for the reader, then he throws in a beautiful love story! It was a very worthwhile read.

I loved this book!
"I am loving this book!" was what I sent in emails to my friends and family during the days that I was "reading" this on my commute to and from work each day. My gas mileage got bad while I read this book. When I got to work, when I got to the store, when I got to any destination, and when I got home, I would sit in the car with the motor running, listening. I laughed. I cried. I just loved it.

I bought two hard cover copies for others who may not drive 100 miles a day so they can enjoy this book. I gave one to my chiropractor (an interesting fellow and voracious reader).

Note to Recorded Books: Please, Please, Please, get the rights to all of Pete Hamill's books. Hire Henry Strozier to read again (he was perfect).

I looked and it seems, as is often the case, audio versions that are available are only on cassette and/or abridged. I believe there are many of us car-bound audiobook consumers who will only buy unabridged books, and cannot play cassettes in our cars.

While you're at it, publish MP3 versions. (MP3 CDs are so much safer ... less drivers looking for and changing discs when they should be paying attention to the road.)

Audiobook with Henry Strozier
I listened to the audio book of North River, narrated by Henry Strozier.It was one of the best narrations I've ever heard.He really captures the accents so that the story comes alive for the listener.If you enjoy stories with a New York atmosphere, you will love this story. ... Read more

Book Description
A rich historical and personal portrait of Manhattan from the bestselling writer who is for many the living embodiment of the city.

Manhattan, the keystone of New York City, is a place of ghosts and buried memory. One can still see remnants of the British colony, the mansions of the robber barons, and the speakeasies of the 1920s. These are the places that have captivated the imaginations of writers for centuries. Now Pete Hamill brings his unique knowledge and deep love of the city to a New York chronicle like no other.

During his 40 years as a newspaperman, Pete Hamill has been getting to know Manhattans neighborhoods and inhabitants intimately, bearing witness to their greatest triumphs and tragedies. From the winding, bohemian streets of Greenwich Village to the seedy alleyways of the meatpacking district and to the weathered cobblestones of South Street Seaport, Hamill peels back the layers of history to reveal the citys past, present, and future.

More than just history or reporting, this is an elegy by a native son who has lived through some of New Yorks most historic moments, and who continues to call this magnificent, haunted city his home. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Visit Manhattan with Friend Pete Hamill
My attraction to this book was unexpected.As I got into it I became helpless to stop reading.

To reveal too much would be a kind of sin.You must read for yourself.You'll learn, you will chuckle, cry and, I promise, the historical facts will amaze you at times. The history of New York is the history of our country, and our known history goes back only so many years.Just looking at some of the buildings, the architecture, the streets, will bring old stories to life. As a native New Yorker, Pete Hamill has lived his life as journalist and reporter, soaking up the flavor and moods of the city.He has been editor in chief of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, as well as author of numerous books and many articles and stories for other distinguished publications.

New York IS history - and I think New York is Pete Hamill - and the natives live with it as they breathe.Pete Hamill will surprise and delight you, sharing his life and style while gently informing.

Coming to the end of this book is like having to say a reluctant goodby.

Please rebuild the Twin Towers as they were but stronger!
During Pete Hamill's lifetime, he has lived mostly in Manhattan which is usually the priciest and most expensive borough in the city. I live in New Jersey which is considered the poor sibling to the most exciting city in the world. Pete's right about writing about how much the twin towers' presence is missed alright. Where I live about thirty miles south of the city, you could have seen the twin towers. My grandfather's home was right across Manhattan where you could have seen the New York City skyline. He passed away before September 11, 2001. Every time I drive to Jersey City for school, I see the skyline without the twin towers and it's heartbreaking. It's just not the same without them there. Even though I didn't lose somebody I know, we all know people that did or survived the disaster with horrifying memories. Hamill's cynical but New York cynical, he writes about a city he loves so much, warts and all. Of course, most people just can't afford to live in New York City or they would not have moved away to the suburbs. People don't choose to run away from the city, they just have too because it's just expensive. Nobody unless you make six figures can afford to live decently in Manhattan or most of the five boroughs. The Village is not the same anymore since it has become so fashionable not just for gay couples but for straight couples with children. According to the times, the West Village has become family friendly. The East Village is following suit in becoming expensive and gentrified. It's all about money, who has it and doesn't that determines who gets to live there. Even Harlem has become gentrified like the rest of the city. Hamill doesn't talk much about the celebrity invasion that has determined who gets to live in the greatest city in the world. I love Manhattan! Would I live there? I don't know but it's got the best restaurants in the world, the best shopping, and the best sight-seeing of celebrities. In New York City, I feel so alive but it's still so expensive for the artists' population. Where do the artists like writers, artists, actors, and actresses go? The Village is no longer the place unless you're successful in your career. I wished the city well in the future and Hamill too. After September 11, 2001, there was a line in my church for confession which there never was or has been since. Many of the victims of 09-11-01 lived in New Jersey too. Commuters to New York City make up a lot of the foot traffic and business but they also contribute by spending the time to commute which can be difficult to do. If you want to see something in New York City, you should go to Penn or Grand Central Station and watch the commuters around rush hour. You'll see thousands of people waiting to find out which track their train is on and rush to get on board. I think of those stations as a place where I most likely run into people I know. New York City's great to visit, work, and even live if possible. I beg that the twin towers be rebuild but stronger because it's just not the same city anymore. I remember when I was in Warsaw where almost the entire city was destroyed about 90 percent I believe from World War II. After the war, the Poles rebuilt the city best as it was before the war and even added some Russian influence from the Soviet Communism. New York City should be rebuild those twin towers to make them stronger as well. There too busy concentrating on contracts and politics rather than remembering those lost their lives. If only, New Yorkers would stand up and demand the twin towers to be rebuilt and a memorial to honor those who were killed on that fateful day. By not rebuilding the twin towers, they are only cowering to the terrorists themselves.

a gem of a tour through Manhattan...
being an ex-NYer and having been changed forever by the years I lived there this book was a whirlwind tour through my favorite city. Pete Hamill knows his history and takes you through the history of buildings, people and the vibrant city that it's always been. Parsing bits of his own life with the life of the city it's like being on personal guided tour by one of NY's finest writers. My only problem was it was too short, I wanted to read more.

Romancing the Island
Mr. Hamill takes on every bit of New York and discusses why he loves even the worst parts of it. He crafts a walk downtown thru the 1800's past buildings and men who shaped this city and produces a novel that inspires.

Start Spreading the News...
This book was much more than I had expected.Thinking that it would be more autobiographical, I was pleasantly suprised to find that it was really the story of New York City, specifically the downtown area of Manhattan. Being a native New Yorker, Hamill gives great insight not only into the historical facts surrounding the city's origin, but also its lore, its people, its music, its drama, and its tradition. This book is so heaped with history, yet it reads so easily like a great love story.Like most New Yorkers, the names and faces of those who came before are soon forgotten, but Hamill brings them back to life again in a very real way.He leaves us with this feeling of connectedness to our past and a senseof longing nostalgia for old New York. However, he reminds us that New Yorkers do not live in the past and that self-pity is a mortal sin.The story of New York is verymuch one of constant difficult change, earned renewal, progressiveness, tolerance and optimism.These traits have been a part of the city since its origins and more important than ever as we see these traits come alive once again after 9/11.This book is a treasure to anyone who loves New York and wants to understand its history and its people without having to sift throughtextbooks that only gives facts. Put your vagabond reading glasses on and be a part of it. ... Read more

Book Description
It is 1934, and New York City is in the icy grip of the Great Depression. With enormous compassion, Dr. James Delaney tends to his hurt, sick, and poor neighbors, who include gangsters, day laborers, prostitutes, and housewives. If they can't pay, he treats them anyway. But in his own life, Delaney is emotionally numb, haunted by the slaughters of the Great War. His only daughter has left for Mexico, and his wife Molly vanished months before, leaving him to wonder if she is alive or dead. Then, on a snowy New Year's Day, the doctor returns home to find his three-year-old grandson on his doorstep, left by his mother in Delaney's care. Coping with this unexpected arrival, Delaney hires Rose, a tough, decent Sicilian woman with a secret in her past. Slowly, as Rose and the boy begin to care for the good doctor, the numbness in Delaney begins to melt. Recreating 1930s New York with the vibrancy and rich detail that are his trademarks, Pete Hamill weaves a story of honor, family, and one man's simple courage that no reader will soon forget. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

Transports the reader
This book moves through the streets and characters of 1930s New York City like Markus Zusak's "The Book Thief" did for war-torn Germany during WWII. I agree that the characters are too predictable at the outset, but give it time. The plot, character development and, above all, the humanity of the story evolve in a gripping way that is warming and unexpected.

Hamill has the rare ability to make you feel the cold, see the colors, taste the food, etc. All while telling a simple story of a poor New York City doctor's soul and conscience.

This is Hamill's best work yet.

A great book to listen to
I listened to this book on audio cassette and loved it. It is my first Pete Hamill and will surely not be my last.If you're going on a drive and want an engaging story that holds your interets I would strongly recommend NORTH RIVER.

Beautiful woven tapestry of history. Worth the read.
Pete Hamill's style of writing makes his novel easy and enjoyable to read. The tapestry of life in New York during the 30's comes to life for the reader, then he throws in a beautiful love story! It was a very worthwhile read.

I loved this book!
"I am loving this book!" was what I sent in emails to my friends and family during the days that I was "reading" this on my commute to and from work each day. My gas mileage got bad while I read this book. When I got to work, when I got to the store, when I got to any destination, and when I got home, I would sit in the car with the motor running, listening. I laughed. I cried. I just loved it.

I bought two hard cover copies for others who may not drive 100 miles a day so they can enjoy this book. I gave one to my chiropractor (an interesting fellow and voracious reader).

Note to Recorded Books: Please, Please, Please, get the rights to all of Pete Hamill's books. Hire Henry Strozier to read again (he was perfect).

I looked and it seems, as is often the case, audio versions that are available are only on cassette and/or abridged. I believe there are many of us car-bound audiobook consumers who will only buy unabridged books, and cannot play cassettes in our cars.

While you're at it, publish MP3 versions. (MP3 CDs are so much safer ... less drivers looking for and changing discs when they should be paying attention to the road.)

Audiobook with Henry Strozier
I listened to the audio book of North River, narrated by Henry Strozier.It was one of the best narrations I've ever heard.He really captures the accents so that the story comes alive for the listener.If you enjoy stories with a New York atmosphere, you will love this story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Rattigan's again - - -
Never any secret about where he grew up.Have read most of his work, and "Snow In August" remains my favorite. The references to Bird, Miles and Minton's (yeah, I'd take the A-Train up to Harlem and would be the only white face for miles, strolling to see Tony Scott, Percy, Klook, Baby Washington -- and Carman MacRae tried to get me to actually like Soul Food -- never did, but she was a super lady!)---(also flunked a tryout with the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in '52, but that doesn't matter; I know his haunts, well) -- and, although his experiences were different, there were sooooo many familiar feelings.Talks my language.Good book. Not great, but good.

Good story, but anachronisms abound
I liked Pete Hamill's "Loving Women" and found most of his characters real and sympathetic. Michael Devlin, the young sailor growing up after boot camp at his first duty station is a character with whom any of us who served in the military can identify. The characters at the Navy base are familiar and could have been found on any military base in any branch of the service.
The love affair with Eden Santana is absorbing. The erotic passages are well done - you can almost taste and smell the sex.
However, it is a little jarring when he gets some of the historical details wrong. Though the novel was set in 1953, he went on about the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles which didn't happen until April of 1958; wrote about James Dean and his famous red jacket from "Rebel Without a Cause" which was released in 1955.
These kinds of sloppy writing mistakes jar a reader out of his suspension of disbelief for a moment or two and make what otherwise would be a wonderful historical novel into just a pretty good one.
Still a good read - but it could have been a great read.

Deserves to be reprinted
I found this book in a used book shop, and being a fan of Hamill's, I bought it.Somewhat semi-autobiographical, the book follows a Brooklyn youth into his induction into the Navy and life at its most raw.The storythrusts one suprise twist on top of another, one exciting episode isimmediately replaced by one even more thrilling.And this may be the mosterotic book I have ever read.Not quite pornographic, the scenes of lustbetween two lovers are very descriptive and will stick with the reader forsome time.I have read thousands of books, and this has to be in my topten.Look for it, the search will be highly rewarding. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (41)

Growing Up Irish in Post-War Brooklyn
Pete Hamill"s deeply introspective memoir of his coming of age during the late 40's and 50's in working class Brooklyn is a brutally honest account of how alcohol gets integrated into certain rights of passage as people , especially men navigate the transition to adulthood.

His story could be anyone's, except that Hamill writes in a gripping personal style that infuses each episode in his young life with a sense of urgency. The struggle to reconcile with a distant father never deteriorates into a sense of victimhood. I admired the fact that Hamill is able to describe his youthful feelings of anger toward his father without wallowing in them and always with a sense of someone seeking to understand and forgive.

This is a great book on several levels. Hamill captures a sense of the old neighborhoods of New York that have vanished and the strong influence that a sense of place had on young people of his generation when the world was quite a bit smaller.

A robust tale of liquor and literature
In my quest for chronicles that detail the often entwined aspects of drink and journalism, I was delighted to discover Pete Hamill's candid tale, robust and surly - an account that carries the reader through his lushly-detailed memoirs that began in blue-collared Brooklyn.As the son of struggling Irish immigrants, Hamill grew up during the Depression with the enduring beliefs of the working-class neighborhood in which he lived -street-fights, low pay, loyalty to the neighborhood, and machismo drinking. His tale is rich with the nostalgia of days long past - marbles and stickball, Milton Caniff, Captain America, and the city Athletic League.He details his own lack of connectedness with an alcoholic father he longed to love and vowed not to imitate, only to fall prey to the same lure of the bottle.

Hamill recounts his loss-of-innocence submission to wine at eleven, along with the internalization of the street-tough attitude that shapes his life in the ensuing years.His talent for graphics and natural ability in academics often leads him to the edge of success, only to fall victim to his own self-destruction. Dreams of becoming a cartoonist are interrupted by the reality of a Navy Yard job, yetresurrected again through art lessons from Burne Hogarth, then dulled by a desire to imitate stoic drinkers like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.The romantic association of absinthe and literature appeals to Hamill, a seduction that eventually draws him to a career in journalism.He details the rocks and bumps along the way - through newspaper strikes and Mexican jail.His obvious wanderlust takes him from Barcelona to Dublin, Rome to San Juan to Washington D.C., while trying to sustain a turbulent marriage, peppered with an infinite immersion into parties and booze, and eventual divorce.

In 1966, Hamill meets Shirley McLaine at a party in Rome, and he details, very briefly, the eventual celebrity life he shared with her, but shies away from giving us a paparazzi view of truly personal details.Although he denies it, he is perhaps too immersed in drink to recall the nitty gritty.In his final look inward, he describes a New Year's Eve party and his feeling "as if I were shooting the scene with a camera from across the bar...I noticed that my hand was trembling and wondered if that was in the camera shot," - his own personal play that has lasted a lifetime, one written with a bad script that he rewrites at that very moment.Kudos for him.

This is not a book that shows you how to quit drinking; rather, it is a searing, vivid account of one man's recognition of his own problem with alcohol.Despite years of succumbing to the liquor that constantly dragged him into the depths of the gutter, he emerged with a brilliant tale to tell.

Real Life with Compassion
A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill is a reflection on his drinking past.Without sentimentality Hamill tells a hard story.He portrays a loving mother, and an alcoholic father. He chronicles his impoverished childhood, his tough coming of age, his difficult search for meaning, his newspaper career, and his regrets about the way he treated his first wife and children.As the title implies his memories are tied together by recollections of alcohol, and a drinking culture that both fascinated and repelled him. The bar was a place of refuge where Hamill could be a man.It was a place to celebrate, to commiserate, to identify with others, to escape loneliness.It was the only place he bonded with his father.

But the bar and the alcohol that fueled it had an evil side.It stifled human consciousness; it dulled pain, boredom, and joy.It allowed unconsciousness in the midst of living.During the 1960's at the peak of his newspaper career he realized drink was making his hands shake when he typed, and his mind so soft he couldn't spell easy words.He quit.Drinking memories ended.Hamill's love for the writing life was more important than his love for booze.

His memoir is not a cautionary tale against using alcohol, nor is it a self-serving whine against the way he was brought up.He writes like the reporter he is.Honest sentences, specificity, and recalled emotion inform his text.He presents clear snapshots of his 1940's childhood in Brooklyn.He lets the reader draw conclusions, or judgments.He presents the characters who walked across his mother's kitchen floor--his Irish father, mostly drunk, and his siblings.He gives us his friends.He moves into the 1950's with raw adolescent energy--lots of sex, lots of booze.Drinking so overpowers the narrative, that at times I felt exhausted just by reading of his drinking binges.

Hamill's talent, in this memoir and in other work, is a passionate love for real life.He spreads humanity on a broad canvas without moralizing.He paints violence, gentleness, loneliness, and companionship.Real life is hard to look at.Hamill gives it to the reader like he gives it to himself.Without bitterness, with humility, with forgiveness, and with compassion.

A colorful life, a well-told tale.
Oh, the places Hamill will take you in this gritty, unflinchingly honest look at a fascinating interior life. Growing up in a poor neighborhood in Brooklyn, complete with cockroaches, Pete slowly acquires an understanding of what it means to be an Irish-American.
Around age 8, his father, Billy, walked him to Gallagher's, the corner saloon, where young Pete got his first introduction to the camaraderie of the neighborhood bar. There he witnessed his father's serenading of the crowd, after loosening himself up with booze.
It was an initiation that would influence Pete for many years to come. Throughout the book, Hamill notes the persistent, persuasive messages that our society gives, that drinking is an essential social lubricant.
Be it a wedding, a funeral, the beginning of a job, or ending of one, joining the Navy, going on leave or vacation, on and on, drinking was invited, expected, nearly demanded.
The book provides great insights into the times. Hamill writes, "We lived to the rhythms of the war (WWII). Before the War, During the War, After the War."
Hamill's forays into the world of art are enlightening. While taking a drawing class, he becomes enamored of a nude model, and they become involved. His loves, travels, thoughts on religion and family kept me entranced, as well as his inevitable slide into an alcohol-induced moral deterioration.
The surprising aspect here, was Hamill's moment of clarity, when he realized he had a choice, that he could disrupt the cycle of the "Irish-curse". We cheer for him as he strives to make a sober life for himself. An interesting life, told by a great writer.

to drink was to be a man..that what was expected of you..
growing up in an Irish Catholic family I remember for my 18th Birthday my father brought home a cocktail for me from the local bar. To drink was to be expected of you. Pete Hamill has written a poignant, funny, sobering look at his life and his journey with alcohol. When he finally realized how much his life was defined by booze, he just quit. This is a courage book, beautifully written full of Irish vigor and spit. ... Read more

Amazon.com
A New York newspaper veteran of more than 30 years and a contributor to such magazines as New York, Esquire, and Vanity Fair, Pete Hamill has collected his best articles in this stunning collection illuminating his insights and his grasp of the vital issues of our times. As he puts it in Piecework's subtitle, it's "Writings on Men and Women, Fools and Heroes, Lost Cities, Vanished Friends, Small Pleasures, Large Calamities, and How the Weather Was."And it's much more: evocative visits to Northern Ireland, Mexico and Vietnam; time spent with Sinatra, Jackie Gleason and Madonna; and thoughts on race, drugs, and the mob.Book Description
A New York newspaper veteran of more than 30 years and a contributor to such magazines as New York, Esquire, and Vanity Fair, Pete Hamill has collected his best articles in this stunning collection illuminating his insights and his grasp of the vital issues of our times. As he puts it in Piecework's subtitle, it's "Writings on Men and Women, Fools and Heroes, Lost Cities, Vanished Friends, Small Pleasures, Large Calamities, and How the Weather Was."And it's much more: evocative visits to Northern Ireland, Mexico and Vietnam; time spent with Sinatra, Jackie Gleason and Madonna; and thoughts on race, drugs, and the mob. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Valuable perspective
A recurring theme in "Piecework" is that America has become a place in which people no longer seem to have the basic toughness to accept life's hardships, and must therefore heap the blame upon everyone else.

The situation is made worse, Pete Hamill says, by television, which allows people to have deep emotional experiences without "earning" them. This attitude is summed up most effectively in two essays, "Letter to a Black Friend" and the disturbing "Endgame."

When Hamill isn't shaking his head at our collective mistakes, he is shining the spotlight on individuals -- as he does in solid features on Mike Tyson and Frank Sinatra -- or examining a city gone wrong, the Miami of the 1980s. Here, and throughout you see the keen observation skills, dogged research, and common sense that made Hamill a top-flight reporter first, an insightful columnist second.

Whether or not you share Pete Hamill's old-fashioned, hard-nosed worldview, you won't be able to deny that he expresses it brilliantly here.

Words in the hand of a master craftsman
Some beautiful writing--the kind of material you go back to over and over again just to see how he does it. The piece titled "Endgame" is worth the price of the book. It describes the craziness and the downwardspiral of this splintered country of ours better than anything I've everread.

Throw out your j-school textbook!
Here it is folks: How To Write 101. All you ever needed to know about writing columns is between these two covers, in my opinion. ... Read more

Book Description
This widely praised bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains...forever. Through the eyes of young Cormac O'Connor--granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan--we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know all the city's buried secrets--the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (159)

Loved it
Got this at the recommendation of Don Imus.Absolutely loved it.Great historical perspective of Ireland, the United States during the Revolution and New York City.As a student of history I learned things about New York's history that I never imagined.Highly recommended

A finely crafted, fascinating novel rich with history and magic.
This is an amazing, beautifully written, spellbinding book. It is the perfect mix of fantasy, history, and adventure. Pete Hamill gives us rich characterizations and displays his wonderful mastery of language. Forever moves forward effortlessly, and is full of detail without being extraneous. It holds a wealth of tidbits of life and customs in other places and times, as well as a fascinating history of the growth of Manhattan Island, intertwined with a character study of one young man who is, in some way or form, every man. This is one of the best books I've read in many years.

Disappointing, and here's why ...
... this was not the book that I expected it to be.Every plot summary of this novel describes it as a history of New York City as experienced by a man who is granted immortality only so long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan.Granted, that does happen, but first you have to slog through an annoying, practically-a-novel-in-and-of-itself three hundred pages of trifling backstory(taking up roughly half of the novel's length).That would have been fine if only it had been more interesting.Hamill seems to back himself into a corner with a curiously apathetic protagonist, Cormac O'Connor, who goes about tracking down the man responsible for the deaths of his parents with all of the passion of a man running errands on his day off.After arriving in Manhattan he wastes time doing ... nothing really.He learns a trade as a printer's apprentice, dabbles in a relationship that he doesn't seem too passionate about either, and agonizes about how he really kinda should be looking for his sworn enemy.Imagine Hamlet without any of Shakespeare's wit or dramatic urgency to redeem him and you have a pretty good idea of how frustrating Cormac is.The only thing he feels passionately about is fighting slavery, which ultimately - perhaps fatefully - leads to his gift / curse.That's another sticky point of this novel for me: there is no grey area when it comes to political issues such as slavery.All of the good guys possess an inexplicably modern perspective when it comes to social issues, while the villains are fierce racists who strive to use slavery to their own advantage.It's so simplistic, and not historically accurate.I find it hard to believe that people who were raised in a society where slavery and racism were so ingrained into the mainstream would instinctively know how to think outside the box.

The historical aspect of the novel is often interesting when Hamill draws out episodes of history that are unfamiliar, such as the period when Manhattan's water supply was severely restricted by greedy bureaucrats in the 1830s (leading to city-wide pestilence and frequent cholera outbreaks), but it is less so when Hamill indulges in a lust for big cameos and cheesy set-ups, such as when Cormac saves General Washington's life during a skirmish at the onset of the American revolution, screaming "We need you alive, God damn you!" (again, it seems, Cormac has been blessed with an unnatural prescience).And despite his ardor for throwing off the shackles of tyranny, Cormac engages in some pretty misogynistic relationships with women (his mandate for eternity in Manhattan even includes an order to "love women," and while it also orders him to respect and protect them it still results in a series of non-emotionally attached relationships that essentially reduce the woman to the means for sex only).

A lot of people seem to enjoy this book, and I suppose I can see why.What I offer here is a different perspective from someone who did not enjoy it ... at all, really.

Incidentally, I don't know why Amazon only lists this novel as available from individual sellers, because it is still on the shelf in bookstores as of this review's publication date (take it from me - I work in one).
Grade: D+

I had to give it 5 stars even though I knew how it was going to end
Now THIS is a book you'll remember "forever," perhaps going back to read it again and again. You will certainly recommend it to your friends, especially if they're Irish and had ancestors arrive in New York as immigrants.

Pete Hamill not only gives us new information we might not have known about New York City and its various stages of development, destruction and stagnation, but he even presents people we have heard about, such as Boss Tweed, as different people just trying to do as much good as possible in a system they did not design, but inherited.

Hamill gives us New York through the eyes of one individual, Cormac O'Commer, an Irish Celt, as he travels from Ireland to New York to settle a blood feud in accordance with Celtic tradition. Because he helped save the life of an African, Kongo, destined for the slave trade, he is awarded enternal life so long as he doesn't leave the island of Manhattan. Nearly 300 years pass in the narrative, including his youth in English-dominated Ireland, until he is afforded the opportunity to pass into the Otherworld and end his eternal life in New York.

It's an extremely interesting narrative which charts the influences that shaped the island, and not only that, the eras the City passed through to what is has become today. It's also more than that. It's a passionate story of a passionate young man, forever young, as he makes and loses friendships and loves.

Hamill does us the favor of telling us in an Afterword what books influenced and shaped his manuscript. Many of these books I have already read and I recommend them as well. But many I have not, and Iwill be sure to do so because like Pete Hamill, I too love New York!

New York City Through the Years, the Good the Bad and the Ugly
After I read North River, I decided to read Forever.I had no idea what New York City was like during the 1700's.The majority of the book takes place during the 1700 and 1800's.New York City was a very, very dangerous place during that time period especially if you were Irish or Catholic.The book goes up to 9/11 and the days afterwards.This book is a love story but not a conventional one, magic is interwoven into the story but does not take from the story.Details of the characters and story line are given in other reviews so I will not repeat them. The area where the story takes place, primarily lower Manhattan, is accurately described by the author.I worked in lower Manhattan for many years.Pete Hamill is a New York writer through and through.Even though the book seemed very drawn out in the first 50 pages stick with it, the story needs to be laid out.Even though the book is 600 pages plus the chapters move very fast and the story does not jump to many different story lines.Enjoyable reading, I especially liked the ending.Pete Hamill is the best. ... Read more

Product Description
From Publishers Weekly:Hamill has spent most of his life in New York City, and he knows its history and its pulse intimately. In this paean to his hometown, he moves from southernmost Manhattan to its center, and from the city's origins to its current state. Each CD focuses on one area, beginning with Battery Park and working through Trinity Church, the Bowery and the Villages before jumping to the city's heart: Times Square. The only sound effects (brief jazzy riffs) can be heard at the beginning and end of each disc, and the stark quiet of Hamill's narration seems odd for a book about such a noisy city. However, his gruff, seen-it-all voice, filled alternately with wonder at the beauty of a building, disdain for modern trends and indignation at how some worthy historical character has been forgotten, is that of a wise older relative revealing the true past of a place he loves. He speaks often of the "human alloy" of new and old immigrants that comprises Manhattan, and intersperses his own experiences growing up in Brooklyn and coming of age in the Lower East Side. Hamill's narration is somewhat monotonous, but his way of traveling seamlessly through neighborhoods and years, relating fascinating anecdotes and little-known facts, keeps the tour lively. Simultaneous release with the Little, Brown hardcover (Forecasts, Nov. 15, 2004). (Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In another life, before becoming one of the best known and most popular journalists in New York and the author of the bestselling memoir A Drinking Life, Pete Hamill studied art on the GI Bill in Mexico City. Upon seeing the monumental work of José Clemente Orozco, however, he abruptly lost his nerve: "It seemed an act of self-delusion to try to be a painter."

After 44 years, Hamill has found a way to integrate his early affair with art, his lifelong love of Mexico, and his narrative gifts in this riveting and lushly illustrated book on Diego Rivera, Mexico's best-known, widely loved muralist. Hamill's text, he says, was completed before the publication of Patrick Marnham's Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera. This one is less scholarly but respectably researched, and Hamill's fervent opinions on which of Rivera's works are worthy and which are the sad effluvia of a Communist Party hack are remarkably persuasive. Hamill's esthetic judgment has led him to avoid reproducing any second-rate clunkers. He has chosen the great murals, paintings, and drawings that suit the godlike stature of this outsize artist who lied, cheated, womanized, and evaded responsibility his entire life, but who worked like a demon in the service of his art.

Rivera's shabby genteel childhood; his flight to France during the 10-year Mexican Revolution, during which nearly a tenth of his countrymen died; his callous abandonment of his first wife; his ugly political gambits and high-flown society contacts; his ultimately sad relationships with both men and women--Hamill weaves it all into a fantastic read. The book is not as balanced as Dreaming with His Eyes Open, but is nonetheless a passionate first look at an artist whose complicated life will probably still be examined decades from now. --Peggy Moorman Book Description
Diego Rivera (1886-1957) was the greatest Mexican painter of the century-an audacious muralist, voracious lover, and ardent leftist who befriended Pablo Picasso, married Frida Kahlo, and quarreled with Leon Trotsky. Pete Hamill, a best-selling novelist and one of America's most esteemed journalists, gives us an extraordinary book, now in paperback, on Rivera's life and art. Hamill, once a young art student in Mexico City, shows how, despite the political passions, Rivera created a body of work that still astonishes. Filled with superb reproductions and documentary photographs, Diego Rivera is a tour de force.

"In this tight and balanced look at Mexican painter Diego Rivera, Pete Hamill focuses on Rivera's work. While Hamill touches on Rivera's unpredictable temperament . . . notably displayed in his infamous marriage to Frida Kahlo . . . this gorgeous book devotes itself to Rivera's development as artist and political icon. . . .Hamill deftly shows why Rivera deserves to be remembered as one of the great painters of the twentieth century."-The Progressive

"A fascinating book . . . Hamill writes authoritatively about Rivera's work and diverse styles."-The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

great artist, great writer
Buy this for the beautiful reproductions and intriguing photos that will have you dreaming of the non-beach areas of Mexico.

Buy this for the warm and beautiful writing even if you don't know who Diego Rivera is.

Re the reviewer who thought Hamill was hard on Rivera's politics: he was equally hard on Rivera's religious affiliation.Hamill is not interested in convincing the reader of any political or religious belief; he is interested in describing the difference between Rivera's greatest and weakest works.His opinion, of course, but the overall impression is one of great admiration for Rivera as a person as well as a painter, and the overall influence on the reader is one of opening the mind and not closing it.

Highly recommended.

Anti-left diatribe

The artwork in Hamill's volume almost makes the book worth its price, but his commentary is so unrelentingly anti-left that he does an injustice to Rivera's memory. Consider a representative passage: "The violent triumph of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 and the swift and bloody [sic] creation of the Soviet Union provided an instant model [for Mexican revolutionaries]. Many young intellectuals were persuaded that a Marxist-Leninist ideology could be imported to Mexico... They believed the lies about communist successes that were being sent to the world from Moscow. They truly believed that the new and glorious Soviet Union was a state where artists and writers flourished, and where millions of happy Russians, Slavs, and other ethnics were working selflessly toward common goals....It was an oddly innocent time. Nobody had yet heard the word gulag." Now any reader with even a limited knowledge of Soviet history can't help but find the sarcasm of this passage arresting. One need not be an apologist for Stalin and the crimes of the later Soviet Empire to acknowledge that in the early years of the revolution there was, in fact, a flowering of art and culture, a truly revolutionary environment that produced luminaries like Bakhtin and Eisenstein. Furthermore, Rivera, himself, was not an apologist for Stalinism and his own work fits well within the critical Western Marxist tradition that includes Lukacs (who, by the way, also admired Lenin), Benjamin, and even Adorno.

Hamill never loses an opportunity to attack Rivera's politics. Why such a strident anti-leftist would write a book on Rivera I'll will never understand. But the fact that this is the most readily available and one of the most handsome books on Rivera speaks volumes about the politics of the art publishing industry.

The life and the art. First rate!
Prior to reading Hamill's bio of Rivera I had read some of another, published the same year. I'm not sure why I was so cool to the book or why it left me irritated. But that would have been the end of my investigation of Rivera's life if I hadn't come across Hamill's book by accident.
I read a couple of pages and was hooked. Hamill is known to me as a fine journalist, editor and novelist but an art biographer? Yes! Yes! This book is a pleasure to read. The prose is clear, clean and engaging, yet it packs a lot of information. And what's the point of writing about a major painter and not printing any of his work? This book is filled with glorious, excellent color reproductions covering Rivera's entire life work. Hamill is not afraid to offer judgments but I thought they were fair and relevant. This is a solid piece of work. As a young man Hamill wanted to be a painter and went to Mexico City to study. He later lived in the city as a journalist. So there are many years of the love of Mexico and art behind this book.
If you want to know more about the Mexican revolution, the art scene in Paris around the years of WWI (Rivera accused Picasso of stealing ideas from him) how Mexico nurtured and esteemed its artists, and much more, read this book.

Coffee Table Material
If you admire Rivera, buy this book. It sits on our coffee table and is very alluring. It makes a great gift for any fan of this extraordinary artist.

Submitted by the author of "I'm Living Your Dream Life."

Blends both the highs and lows in his struggle
Unforgettable reading, Diego Rivera is a vivid, emotionally written biography of the famous Mexican artist, mural painter, and Communist activist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Biographer Pete Hamill narration of Rivera's remarkable life is enhanced with Rivera's great works of art both in full color replications and through black-and-white photographs. With an informed and informative text more heavily weighted toward relating Rivera's life story than simply being a showcase of Rivera's great murals, Diego Rivera blends both the highs and lows in his struggle through life for meaning against a background of turbulent politics, as well as the overwhelming messages of his art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Still timely, despite 1983 copyright
I have never been one to follow the ongoing political and religious difficulties among the different factions of Ireland. Everything I know about the IRA, I learned from the books of Daniel Silva and Frederick Forsyth, and the films of Jim Sheridan and Neil Jordan. But, whether you know more than I do, or have only read those books yourself, Pete Hamill's The Guns of Heaven can now be added to that list of helpful reference works, primarily because it feels as if it were written yesterday, despite its 1983 copyright date.

Sam Briscoe is a writer for a New York newspaper. Half-Irish and half-Jewish, Briscoe used to write a much-read column on Ireland (for which he is still recognized on the street, many years later), and still produces the occasional piece on the subject. On the way to visit his daughter Alice at her boarding school in Switzerland, he promises his editor he will drop by Northern Ireland (to visit his uncle) and come up with another article, thus getting the paper to pay for the trip.

This simple, highly irreverent beginning sets the scene for all that comes later in The Guns of Heaven, as Briscoe's life is turned upside down almost from the moment he steps off the plane in Belfast. There he meets Commander Steel, a mysterious leader of the Irish Republican Army, who asks Briscoe to deliver a letter for him once he gets back to New York.

From that point on, Briscoe gets signs that he is being followed, even once he arrives in Switzerland. After a dangerous car chase, he retrieves his daughter and takes her to her mother's house in Spain, whereupon he returns to New York to deliver the letter. Things from that point take a definite downturn as more people die and murderous intent comes from unexpected sources.

Pete Hamill is probably best known to fiction readers as the author of the bestselling New-York-after-9/11 realistic fantasy Forever. Even crime fiction aficionados are unlikely to be aware of the three Sam Briscoe novels he wrote early in his career, of which The Guns of Heaven is one (Dirty Laundry and The Deadly Piece are the others). His fiction is often steeped in New York atmosphere (not surprising given that Hamill has edited both the Post and the Daily News) and this one is no different.

I have to be honest and say that the whole Northern Ireland plot did not really interest me (probably because of my lack of Irish heritage), but I kept reading because of Hamill's skill at narration and description. He writes like a dream. Fans of Madison Smartt Bell's Straight Cut (another Hard Case Crime novel) will enjoy the "literary" feel of The Guns of Heaven. My favorite part of the book was an unexpected aside about Swiss pizza that die-hard New Yorker Briscoe narrates while eating lunch with his daughter:

"Pizza is the most mysterious of all foods. You find it on sale all over the world now, but for me it never works anywhere except in New York. I don't care who makes it, as long as it's made in New York: some of the best pizza I ever had was made by a Puerto Rican in an Irish dance hall in Coney Island. Not even Italy gets it right, although the cooks at least try. But the Swiss didn't have a clue about making pizza. The crust was too thin, and there was not enough cheese. The cheese wasn't mozzarella, so the long strandy texture was wrong, and the tomato sauce was watery, and the chef had covered the surface with chopped ham, olives, and mushrooms, as if an instinct for the baroque could disguise the flaws in the basic form. The thing didn't taste bad. It just wasn't pizza."

Another pleasant surprise was that there were a couple of books mentioned within the text of The Guns of Heaven that may make me curious enough to pick them up. I always pay attention to whatever books a character is reading, as it tends to give extra insight into them, even when they are reading particularly uncharacteristic choices. Briscoe is discovered reading Stendhal's treatise On Love by a few other characters, all of whom react differently to this information. It was such an odd choice (even given what we learn about Briscoe in later chapters) that I came to instantly respect the character for making it. Also, in another instance, Briscoe calls Michael Farrell's The Orange State "one of the best books on Northern Ireland," and Hamill ties Farrell in with one of the other characters, making the novel feel just that much more realistic.

Another Great HCC!
This series will never disappoint!A gritty, hard edged pulp mystery with the right balance of sex, deception, controversy, and beatings.Buy this book!!!!!

great subwaybook
A fun look at New York City during the 1980's. This is the first Pete Hamill book that I have read and am now a fan. He writes with a quick pace, excellent descriptions that you feel like you are right there. It was an excellent mystery and the story is still very current to 2006. ... Read more

Amazon.com
In 1940s Brooklyn, friendship between an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy and an elderly Jewish rabbi might seem as unlikely as, well, snow in August. But the relationship between young Michael Devlin and Rabbi Judah Hirsch is only one of the many miracles large and small contained in Pete Hamill's novel. Michael finds himself in trouble when he witnesses the 17-year-old leader of the dreaded Falcons gang beating an elderly shopkeeper. For Michael, 1940s Brooklyn is a world still shaped by life in the Old Country, a world where informing on a fellow Irishman is the worst crime imaginable--worse even than the violent crimes committed by some of those fellows. So Michael keeps silent, finding solace in the company of Rabbi Hirsch, a Czech refuge whom he meets by chance. From this serendipitous beginning blossoms a unique friendship--one that proves perilous to both when the Falcons catch up with them.

Interlaced with Hamill's realistic descriptions of violence and fear are scenes of remarkable poignancy: the rabbi's first baseball game, where he sees Jackie Robinson play for the Dodgers; Michael's introduction into the mystical world of the Cabbala and the book's miraculous ending. Hamill is not a lyrical writer, but he is a heartfelt one, and this story of courage in the face of great odds is one of his best.Book Description
In 1940s Brooklyn, friendship between an 11-year-old Irish Catholic boy and an elderly Jewish rabbi might seem as unlikely as, well, snow in August. But the relationship between young Michael Devlin and Rabbi Judah Hirsch is only one of the many miracles large and small contained in Pete Hamill's novel. Michael finds himself in trouble when he witnesses the 17-year-old leader of the dreaded Falcons gang beating an elderly shopkeeper. For Michael, 1940s Brooklyn is a world still shaped by life in the Old Country, a world where informing on a fellow Irishman is the worst crime imaginable--worse even than the violent crimes committed by some of those fellows. So Michael keeps silent, finding solace in the company of Rabbi Hirsch, a Czech refuge whom he meets by chance. From this serendipitous beginning blossoms a unique friendship--one that proves perilous to both when the Falcons catch up with them.Interlaced with Hamill's realistic descriptions of violence and fear are scenes of remarkable poignancy: the rabbi's first baseball game, where he sees Jackie Robinson play for the Dodgers; Michael's introduction into the mystical world of the Cabbala and the book's miraculous ending. Hamill is not a lyrical writer, but he is a heartfelt one, and this story of courage in the face of great odds is one of his best. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (154)

The Space Provided by Art and Sports
This was an extremely moving book, one of those that is hard to put down. It concerns the age old conflict between being a squealer and standing up for what is right. The friendship between Michael, the young boy, and the fascinating, mysterious, "forbidden" Rabbi is wonderful. There is also the interplay between standing with your friend versus self preservation.

Just as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra is playing in North Korea today, art and sports can possibly provide the space for hands to reach across differences and labels.

Snow in August
This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time.I saw the movie Snow in August on Hallmark.The movie inspired me to see if there was a book by the same title.I am so glad I found it.
I was raised in NY in the 50's (western NY) in a blue collar, working class neighborhood with Irish, Italian neighbors.Met one Jewish mas wneh I was about 10 and learned a lot from him.Nothing like Rabbi Hirsch though.
Te me, this book deserves a sequel.I could NOT put it down and had it read in 3 days.The only disappointment was the language but I do know that is how they talked in my old neighborhood as well.I would hesitate to recomment the book to the teens I know but would encourage them to see the movie as it omits the rough language.
Would love to read more books like this.Thank you Pete Hamill for an inspiring story.

Strange ... but worth a read
(***** = breathtaking, **** = excellent, *** = good, ** = flawed, * = bad)

In 1948, an Irish kid makes friends with an Orthodox rabbi who teaches him Yiddish and tells him fabulous stories while he reciprocates with lessons in baseball.When thugs from his tough neighborhood threaten their friendship, the kid wonders if he can reanimate the Golem of Prague to protect them.

Hard to classify this book!Its earnest tone and young hero give it the feel of a kid's book, but it is way too violent and filled with profanity to put in the kids' lit section.I'm fine with golems (in fact, I even like 'em).

The immensely likable characters of the rabbi and the kid are the strongest aspect of the book.Longer review at Snortyville-dot-com.

Is snow in August possible?
Snow in the month of August seems impossible: overcoming evil seems impossible too.And yet the story turns the impossible into redemptive hope, hope that triumphs against pessimism, hope that allows for simple moments of human goodness.Pete Hamill's Snow in August is a morality tale set in the 1940's.It pits good against evil, courage against fear.The protagonist, Michael Devlin, an eleven year old in search of answers to immorality he sees on Brooklyn streets, wants to live a heroic life; he wants to do the right thing.But when he watches Frankie McCarthy violently attack Mr. G, a Jew who has defended Michael and his friends, Michael freezes beneath Frankie's ruthless intimidation.Anti-Semitic hatred reigns.Michael's own weakness shames him.

Hamill gets into the mind of Michael Devlin.He gives us Michael's rational thoughts suffused with boyish fantasy. Reality and fantasy intermingle as Michael looks to mythic stories for answers, stories that explain how to live in the world with dignity.He feeds his imagination with comic supermen who prevail in spite of peril.Shazam stands against evil.He listens to his mother's tales of Irish heroes' boldness in the face of attack. He looks at the uniformed photo of his father who gave his life in WWII.He looks to Jackie Robinson the first Negro to play for the Dodgers.These stories feed his imagination but don't help him on the street.Where are living heroes?He looks to his friends Sonny and Jimmy, but knows they are as clueless as he is.Frankie McCarthy rules the neighborhood with hatred, knives and guns.Violence escalates against Michael, his mother, and Michael's new friend Rabbi Hirsch.The street code is silence.Evil prevails; Michael watches the weak go down in scary silence.

Michael yearns for friendship.With Sonny and Jimmy their motto had been one for all and all for one.But when Mr. G. was attacked Sonny and Jimmy left Michael standing alone.Is that one for all and all for one?Michael's relationship with Rabbi Hirsch brings friendship to a new dimension.Their friendship is solid, reciprocal, respectful, moving both forward to greater consciousness and humanity.The association between Rabbi Hirsch, whose struggles with evil wrought by the Holocaust have left him fragile, and Michael, an altar boy who is just beginning to see evil and understand his own limitation, is life affirming.Rabbi Hirsch learns English and baseball from Michael.Michael learns Yiddish and history from Rabbi Hirsch. Both make sacrifices to maintain friendship in spite of iniquity around them.And in spite of the cold streets they enjoy moments of joy--tickets to the Dodgers game to watch their hero Jackie Robinson.They laugh, they sing, they commiserate.

Hamill expresses a deeply cynical world; the self-interested players are capable of awful violence.Pessimism permeates the scenes. Is cynicism the only response to the evil world Hamill acknowledges?In an interview Dan Schneider asked Pete Hamill what his purpose was for writing (http://www.cosmoetica.com/DSI3.htm)?Hamill replied: "Stating a goal would sound pompous, and I have no slogan posted above my desk. As any writer grows older the goals are always shifting. But I suppose that in my journalism and my fiction, I've tried hard to make the world more human."

Snow in August recognizes evil, but holds on to goodness.Hamill erases cynicism when the rabbi and the altar boy go to the baseball game together.The world becomes beautifully human.Michael Devlin's Golem fantasy at the end of the novel supports the possibility of poetic goodness with boyish triumph.

Vulgar Profanity Poor Literature
Vulgar Profanity Poor Literature

The attempt to write a story around a troubled youth is completely lost with the prolific use of every vulgar profanity possible which is peppered throughout the text. The skewed implementation of the Roman Catholic faith and the interjection a form of Jewish mysticism advanced as Kabbalah are misplaced and without merit lending no depth to the poor plot.

The book provides a nightmare for parents who entrust educators to select content that is appropriate for children below age 15. Our school system selected this book for its Honors English course as a New York Times best seller. If this is the best the New York Times can select it is no wonder that children are working overtime to create the next Columbine High School massacre.

In addition, the book contains two graphic descriptions one, of a woman being violated and the other in which a young man is "discovering himself" all in vivid details too graphic for a non-adult and adult audience seeking a "G" rating on entertainment materials.



End Analysis: Save your money
... Read more

Book Description
New York is a city of few boundaries, a city of well-known streets and blocks that ramble on and on, into our literature, dreams, and nightmares. We know the city by the byways that split it, streets like Broadway and Madison and Flatbush and Delancey. From those streets, peering down the blocks and up at the top floors, the city seems immense and endless.

And though the land itself may end at the water, the city does not. Long before Broadway was a muddy cart track, the water was the city's most distinguishing feature, the rivers the only byways of importance. Some people, like William Kornblum, still see the city as an urban archipelago, shaped by the water and the people who have sailed it for goods, money, pirate's loot, and freedom. For them, the City will always be an island.

William Kornblum--New York City native, longtime sailor, urban sociologist, and first-time author--has spent decades plying the waterways of the city in his ancient catboat, Tradition. In At Sea in the City, he takes the reader along as he sails through his hometown, lovingly retelling the history of the city's waterfront and maritime culture and the stories of the men and women who made the water their own. In At Sea in the City and in Kornblum's own humility, humor, and sense of wonder, one detects echoes of E. B. White, John McPhee, and Joseph Mitchell. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An interesting description of the, um, New York City archipelego
I recommend this book, especially to those who know a little about New York City and about sailing.I like the writing style and the descriptions of New York as seen from the water.

Thoroughly enjoyable
This is a delightful view of some of the Big Apple's waterfront.William Kornblum writes well, and I am pleased to meet the family, friends, and acquaintances of his journey.Having explored much of our city, and having studied many of the coasts from opposite shorelines, I nevertheless learned much from Kornblum's views from his catboat.I also enjoyed his flash-backs, particularly his days as a youth working at the Transit Mix dock.As another reader noted, the book has a few errors that should have been caught. The A train travels neither through The Bronx nor over Williamsburg Bridge (p. 91).In Red Hook, the parish school is within the Brooklyn diocese, not archdiocese (p. 122).When I find errors on topics I know well, I begin to worry that the publishing industry has a problem with fact-checking in non-fiction.Yet, I must say that this book is a thoroughly enjoyable meeting of humans, views, and story.I recommend this book as a gift.

A good read, but....
This is the account of a sailboat cruise, but rather than crossing an ocean the author travels maybe 40 miles from home, into the maelstrom that is NY harbor. It's an interesting book, sort of, but I expected more history of the harbor, more about what the place is, and less of the author's personal experience.

I expected the former thanks to a review in the NY Times, I think -- some newspaper, anyway -- that suggested it was less an ecological than an historical journey. Without this preconception, I probably would have liked the book more. If you're from NYC, it's worth a read, but there are many better sailing accounts if you want hairy-chested adventure, or to learn something about sailing in general. There are also better books about ecology of the shoreline.

But the style is pleasant and the author seems like a man who would be an enjoyable sailing companion. That's worth three stars.

Charming and pleasant, but a bit slight
The author, a sociology professor at City University of New York, was raised in the Big Apple and has lived most of his life in the area. In 1979 he bought a 24-foot New England catboat, built on Cape Cod in 1910, and proceeded to fix it and sail it around the New York area.

With this book he presents a portrait -- and sketchy history -- of the city from an angle few people know it. Structuring the story as a fairly continuous though interrupted sail from his home in Long Beach, around the southern tip of Rockaway and into Jamaica Bay, then into Upper New York Bay and the East River, and ultimately to Long Island Sound, Kornblum offers both close-up looks at the water and shoreline, and their past history.

The approach is light and pleasant: Few stories -- whether of the freezing disaster of the privateer "Castel Del Rey" in New York harbor in 1704, knowledgeable black sailors impressed by the British Navy in the War of 1812 and jailed in England for refusing to serve against the US, various ferry disasters, or the vagaries of Robert Moses -- last more than a page or three. The only sections where Kornblum lingers are in Jamaica Bay (its environmental degradation and return), and the dockside concrete industry that built New York's towers and for which the author worked as a kid. Manhattan itself is quickly bypassed though given a loving nod, and there is no venturing into the Hudson side.

In the typo sweepstakes, the book does all right, although it says "mechanical break" on p. 156 when "brake" was meant, and I believe I saw an unintended sentence fragment on p. 143. Most egregious, the great A.J. Liebling is identified on p. 103 as "Libeling" (though the name is correct in the bibliography)! A pity there apparently are youthful editors (I don't suppose there is such a thing as a proofreader in publishing anymore) who do not know this great journalist's work backward and forward.

Another ominous development -- to this reader, anyway -- is that the lovely cover photograph is an unreal composite. Different photographers are credited for different portions of it. I find this vaguely disturbing.

The writing is definitely four-star quality or better. Here's my favorite passage: "Up another shadowy bend stood two snowy egrets, with their outrageous yellow boots and platinum punk haircuts. How chic, these mudbank sushi bars. The egrets were spearing for sand bugs, moving along the edge of the marsh with the herky giant steps of students at a party stepping over empty beer cans."

I give the book only three stars because it is slight. Probably an excellent gift for the average non-reader who happens to love sailing or New York City, or the casual reader who knows little about either, but I would have liked to know more.

Great tour of the New York archipelago
City University of New York Professor Kornblum pays homage to what he describes as the New York archipelago.The full city consists mostly of three large islands, a bunch of small islands, and a peninsular.Professor Kornblum takes readers on a tour of the various waterways that tie the city together.Readers visit City Island off the Bronx Peninsular, Ellis and Liberty islands off lower Manhattan Island, and the Rikers Island Prison as well as several much smaller and less known rocks within the waterways.The author provides historical references and a crystal ball look into the future where nature in the present is fighting to regain a foothold from the vast urbanization.AT SEA IN THE CITY is an engaging look at the Big Apple from a different lens as the highways cross waters connecting the city such as the "byway" from Fulton St. in lower Manhattan to Fulton St. Brooklyn.Not just for natives, this is a wonderfully different perspective on New York that makes for a leisurely yet educational and enjoyable reading.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more