Genre: Novel
Grade A
Notable People: Pete Hamill
Title: River North
Review: Brilliant! Hamill is my vote for least appreciated American writer of the 20th century. More known as a newspaper columnist and drinking buddy of Norman Mailer, he amassed a really great body of work up until his death several years ago. His books are pure New York- written from the very strong perspective of the Irish immigrant. This one takes place during the Depression and centers on the life of Dr. Jim Delaney in Greenwich Village at a time when there’s was a great sense of shared community amongst the Manhattan immigrants. A sweeping story of love, grief, poverty and tumultuous times, it stretched from the trenches of France during the first world war to the burgeoning mob in little Italy to the last great period of the Tammany Hall politicos that ran the city with an iron fist for centuries. Sweet, tender, full of angst and unknowns, it is a masterful piece of fiction- livened by many historically accurate characters. Hamill goes down swinging…a great book.