Reading 1001 discussion

The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
3/5 stars

Frankie Machine (Majcinek) is the man with golden arm, a card dealer. “They didn't call him Machine just because he was fast. They called him Machine because he was regular.” His side kick Sparrow (Solly Saltskin) is the steerer. They run card games in the local joints in a poor neighborhood of Chicago. The two have a very complicated relationship. Everyone in town has a nickname or a label more like it; Nifty Louie, Blind Pig and Drunkie John. The characters in this story are barely scraping by, living day to day and hand to mouth. It is not a happy story from start to finish. “God has forgotten us all,” Sophie told herself quietly. Many of the characters held a monkey on their back. Frankie's monkey held baggage from World War II, his complicated marriage to Sophie and his drug addiction. “My name is Private Nowhere now,” he told himself with his wry half grin. “Private Nowhere from every place but home. And I won't be here long.”

Winner of the first national book award, I believe this book deserves its place on the list. It was probably very progressive for the time period.

I gave this one 3 stars. I respect how it was a bit of a groundbreaker in terms of representing the hated "underworld" and downtrodden people post WWII, and even though it shows the sleaze of these people's lives, manages to be sympathetic in its own way. Especially in showing the difficulty in breaking the cycle of addiction/poverty/ crime etc.

However, I'm rarely interested/invested in stories about drug addiction and underworld crime. So, my enjoyment of the book was somewhat lower than my respect for what it was getting at.

Reason read: this was my TBR takedown for July in Reading 1001. I've had it for a very long time. I think I must have found this book at my mother and dad's home when I was cleaning it out to sell. The copy I have is the first printing of the Crest printing 1964. A mass paperback printing, the cover is in very bad shape but the pages were all in tack. This was the very first National Book Award winner. I think it is a book that has legacy and probably a jumping off point for many a book about the down and out, drug users. It also is about veteran's returning after the war (WWII) with wounds, addictions, homelessness. The language may be very politically incorrect but it is appropriate. It is street slang and it gives the story its reality. The author is American and the father of a Swedish convert to Judaism and a German Jewish mother. The book features all kinds of losers dealing with the consequences of choices, drug use, and family failures.

Pre-2017 review:

***

Chicago, after WWII. In the underbelly of the city, we follow the struggles of 2nd and 3rd generation Polish migrants, some who fought in the war, some with drug addiction, many frequent visitors of the local jails; Frank Majcinek aka Frankie Machine aka The Man with the Golden Arm fits all three categories. Expert card dealer, dice roller and pool player, he also tries to shake off addictions to alcohol and morphine, but did not succeed in the end. This could read pretty much like the sequel of The Jungle from Upton Sinclair, both in plot continuation and in readability; it is pretty slow going, full of criminal lingo, it took me more than 50 pages to get my bearings and to start appreciate the story. But at least it was better than The Jungle...