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Jennifer's Reviews > The Man With the Golden Arm
The Man With the Golden Arm
by Nelson Algren, William J. Savage Jr. , Daniel Simon , Kurt Vonnegut , Studs Terkel
by Nelson Algren, William J. Savage Jr. , Daniel Simon , Kurt Vonnegut , Studs Terkel
I can't believe I've put off reading Algren for so long. I had no idea what a brilliant writer he was. Not to mention, as a born and raised Chicagoan, 3rd generation Pole, and having lived in Ukrainian Village for a spell, I have a special appreciation for his descriptions of post WWII Chicago and his masterful use of the vernacular. The image of Piggy-O's bleeding gums turning the froth of his beer pink is one I can't erase from my mind and I love the quote about "the great, secret and special American guilt of owning nothing, nothing at all in the one land where ownership and virtue are one." Sparrow Saltskin is without a doubt one of the most memorable characters ever written, and the ever-present rumbling of the "el" conjures up so many ghosts of various apartments I lived in as a child and as an adult where the train provided the soundtrack for my life. This book is achingly sad, funny and beautiful. A brilliant tribute to all the untold stories and unsung lives from my grandparents' generation and on.
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Eric
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rated it 5 stars
26 de Jun 07:35
This is one of my all-time favorites. What a fantastic look at post WWII Chicago from the eyes of Division Street low lifes, malingerers, addicts, drunks, gamblers, and cripples. At the end of the book there's an almost mystical depiction of Wicker Park and Ukranian Village in wintertime, in the alleys and streets that lead to all the bars, always leading to the bars. Great, great book.
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I am loving it. I finally got inspired to pick it up because Patrick brought home this great photography book from the library "Nelson Algren's Chicago." He is poetic, and at the same time his use of the vernacular cracks me up. This morning on the train I couldn't help but think of Mitch when reading about Sparrow's love of a "sandrich."
Mitch lurks in many corners of that book! I also like the description of and distaste for the "fancy clubs" (which are an early precursor of gentrification, I suppose) - he gets down on the Rainbo for serving "cocktails" (i.e., mixed drinks) rather than just the more workmanlike beers and shots. Anyone who lives in this town should read this book. Algren's got others nearly as good: A Walk on the Wild Side is also pretty great. You may find it interesting that Algren had an on-off affair with Jean-Paul Sartre's longtime mistress and muse Simone de Beauvoir. Algren's rough American (half Swedish, half Jewish, and hailing from Detroit, I think), brawling blue-collar persona must have been a thorough change of pace from the existentialist godfather with the wall-eye.
