Helpful Score: 3
If you're looking for a real-life protagonist, this is your book. Phelan is a regular guy through and through, full of faults and foibles, stumbling every time a normal human would. For this, he's endearing. And frustrating. But throughout the book, you maintain a sense of hope that things will turn out alright for him. His story is worth the read.
Helpful Score: 2
I thought this book was interesting and somewhat well-written. The premise of the story is about bums and picks up where Kennedy's novel, "Billy Phelan's Greatest Game" leaves off. The lead character, Irish-American Francis Phelan is back in the city that he grew up in, where his past actions leave him filled with guilt; this is his attempt to come to terms with his decisions and appease the spirits who stalk his waking moments. There are a bevy of disparate and desperate characters, including Helen, his "woman," and Annie, his ex-wife. Despite the copious praise for this book, I felt that it had more pathos than necessary. I was glad it was a short read, and while it had some worthwhile inspired thoughts, I am not sure if I would have picked it to be a Pulitzer prize winner.
Helpful Score: 1
Oh this one, the third in the series, made reading the first two totally worth it! I liked Francis Phelan in the second book, and not much else besides him. Happily, he's the main character this third book is based around. Frannie's life is a mess, he's a drunk and a bum and he hides from his past... until he confronts and makes peace with it. All the back story that was so missing in the second book (Billy Phelan's Greatest Game) is filled in here. Super satisfying.
Great writing, but a little depressing! Really gives you the feeling of depression-era Albany, NY.
Book Description
Francis Phelan, ex-ballplayer, part-time gravedigger, full-time drunk, has hit bottom. Years ago he left Albany in a hurry after killing a scab during a trolley workers' strike. He ran away again after accidentally -- and fatally -- dropping his infant son.
Now, in 1938, Francis is back in town, roaming the old familiar streets with his hobo pal, Helen, trying to make peace with the ghosts of the past and the present.
"A powerfully affecting work, abounding in humor and heartbreak." (Chicago Tribune Bookworld)
Book Description
Francis Phelan, ex-ballplayer, part-time gravedigger, full-time drunk, has hit bottom. Years ago he left Albany in a hurry after killing a scab during a trolley workers' strike. He ran away again after accidentally -- and fatally -- dropping his infant son.
Now, in 1938, Francis is back in town, roaming the old familiar streets with his hobo pal, Helen, trying to make peace with the ghosts of the past and the present.
"A powerfully affecting work, abounding in humor and heartbreak." (Chicago Tribune Bookworld)
This is a tough one. It's a pretty stark story with lots of dying. It starts out in a graveyard with the man's dead parents talking about him.. so it doesn't sneak up on you or anything. It is a really rich and impressive story- the man is smart & insightful- just trying to deal with the mistakes he's made in life.
This is the third novel in Kennedy's Albany Trilogy. Set in the 1930s, it explores the world of vagabonds through Francis Phelan, former baseball player turned hobo. Although the trilogy has recurring characters, one need not have read the previous two novels--LEGS and BILLY PHELAN'S GREATEST GAME--to appreciate this beautiful story.
An absolutely stellar portrayal of simple and stark humanity, set deep in depression-era upstate New York -- characters seem to be shared among Wm. Kennedy's earlier stories as well, and makes this reader want to read more Wm. Kennedy : )
a classic--won the pulitzer prize
Well written and entertaining. read it on a flight from Charlotte to San Diego.
Pulitzer Prize winning novel of Depression era survival.
good book, good movie
