Pete Hamill is a New York author and journalist. Wait, let me get this straight. Pete Hamill is a New Yorker, through and through. And when his books are set in New York, the city becomes a character as vivid, troubled and beautiful as any other character in the book.
His newest book, North River, is set in New York during the Depression. Delaney, a WWI vet, is a local doctor seeing patients in his home and on house calls. Sometimes the patients pay, sometimes they can't, and range from Chinese prostitutes to mobsters to fellow Irishmen suffering from consumption and domestic violence. Delaney is scarred by the war, the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Molly, and the constant stream of grim patients he sees every day. In the middle of a snow storm, his grandson appears on his doorstep, quickly followed by an Italian woman to look after the child.
The rich characters and their complicated relationships make up most of the story, though there are some subplots of violence and mobsters. The most interesting aspect of North River however, is the city itself. The details from the streets are fascinating, and take a regular story and make it into something really worth reading.
Leave it to a real New Yorker to write a great story about New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment