Tag: Pete Hamill

The Christmas Kid: And Other Brooklyn Stories By Pete Hamill

The Christmas Kid: And Other Brooklyn Stories By Pete Hamill

Posted on by Jack

I was born in the Bronx in 1950 and moved to the suburbs a few years later. I mention this little bit of personal history because I have read several of Hamill’s books as an adult and it always make me nostalgic for the New York that existed before I did.


In the introduction to The Christmas Kid: And Other Brooklyn Stories, Pete Hamill does identify nostalgia as New York City’s most enduring emotion and I understand that entirely. The city is a very special place but it seems it was always a bit better when our parents or perhaps just a decade or so before we were born.

A New Yorker or even a near New Yorker like me definitely feels the nostalgia. But anyone from anywhere could relate to these stories. Such is the magic of his storytelling. Although the stories are specifically about working-class people in a certain neighborhood, they are really universal.

Pete Hamill is one of my favorite authors so I was pretty sure I was going to like this book. And I liked it even more than I expected. This book is a collection of 36 short stories. Pete Hamill was raised in the tenements of a working-class area of Brooklyn and these stories are set in the Brooklyn of his youth which spanned the Depression and the Korean War. The author is gifted at telling us about the time, place, and characters.

Most of these stories were published in the Sunday Daily News in the early 1980s. The stories vary in length; several are 5 pages or so; some are about 15 pages. Some have happy endings; some don’t; but that’s the way it is.

The nice thing about a collection of short stories like this is that you can enjoy without much commitment. With a longer book, I often find myself in a situation where after reading 50 or even 100 pages that are just OK, I wonder if I really want to spend the time reading hundreds of pages than might be the same or might get better. With short stories the commitment is only a few more pages. By the way, there were no stories in this book that I even considered not finishing.

Definitely add this to your reading list if you like Pete Hamill’s other books. Give it a try if you are not a fan or maybe even never heard of Pete Hamill. Reading a few short stories is not a big investment of time and you may find a new author worth following.

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill, a thriller of New York City

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill, a thriller of New York City

Posted on by Jack

Tabloid City has a double murder, a terrorist, a dying newspaper, financial fraud, New York, the Lipstick building, the Chelsea hotel, and more stuff. Well, it’s a thiller and it’s complicated and Pete Hamill tells the stories well and moves among them with apparent ease and ties them together into a bigger story about New York City. And nobody is better than Pete Hamill in writing about New York.


The stories are told in brief, sometimes very brief, snippets. When he moves on to the next story, I often missed the story he just left as I wanted to know more, but usually that feeling didn’t last more than a few sentences as you were pulled into the next story. I highly recommend this book to the Pete Hamill fan. If you are not a fan but think you might be interested in his writing, this is a great way to start. The book is only 280 pages and it moves quickly so it really doesn’t seem that long. As you move about with several characters you get a lot about the city as it is now but also a flavor of the New York City of a generation or two back. So all you have to lose is spending several hours with a good book. And if you like the New York City history aspect of Hamill’s writing I suggest Forever as your next Pete Hamill book.

I like Pete Hamill’s writing. I usually don’t finish books I don’t like and so I don’t review them. And if you’ve browsed through this blog, you may have noticed several reviews of Pete Hamill’s work. I also like New York and I think the 2 things are related.

In my review I don’t like to tell too much of the story because I think it may diminish the pleasure or reading the book. On the other hand if the reviewer doesn’t say enough you may not be interested and will definitely miss the pleasures of the book. So if you like a longer review, here is a good one by the Women of Mystery. I completely agreed with the review and since they are mystery writers from the New York City area, their opinions about this New York City thriller are well worth reading.

They Are Us: A Plea for Common Sense About Immigration by Pete Hamill (Kindle Single)

They Are Us: A Plea for Common Sense About Immigration by Pete Hamill (Kindle Single)

Posted on by Jack

This was my first try at a Kindle Single. When I got the email from Amazon, I thought it was an interesting idea – short pieces of writing where the author is free to determine the length needed to present the idea without the constraints of size imposed by a newspaper or magazine.

Try a Single from Amazon

So I downloaded They Are Us: A Plea for Common Sense About Immigration by Pete Hamill. There has been a lot of talk about immigration and specifically illegal immigrants so I thought I would like to read his thoughts on the subject. His thoughts seemed especially relevant as New York has been the center for American immigrants for long time is he is a well- known New York journalist and writer. (I’ve seen him called the quintessential New Yorker in many places.) I had been hoping for a book length treatment of this but that project was cancelled and this shorter version was available. I had enjoyed a number of his books and articles before and thought it well worth the 99 cent price even though this single seemed very short. It was about 25 pages in the size font I like. I do hope that longer version eventually does come out.

This is really a personal view based on the author’s experience. (The author tells the reader that this is his view not an objective analysis). And it is a well written account of those views and how and why he came to them.

Too often in in our endless discussions on illegal immigrants and possible solutions we focus on the illegal part. People need to be punished for breaking our laws. Let’s deport all of them. But that ignores the children. They did nothing wrong. Some were born here. Other travelled with their parents. (Does a child really have many other choices?) How do we deal with that? Do we have some empathy or even compassion ? It is good to see this side of the debate passionately presented.

Forever by Pete Hamill a novel New York City history

Forever by Pete Hamill a novel New York City history

Posted on by Jack

Forever by Pete Hamill is one of my favorite books. I read it several years back and re-read it recently. I’d highly recommend it. It is a novel dealing with the old Celtic religion, 18th century Ireland, the history of New York City (colonial times to the tragedy of September 2001), and love in an unusual way. I enjoyed it when I first read it several years ago and enjoyed it again recently.

The book is a bit over 600 pages; so be aware reading this is large time commitment for all but the fastest readers. And a fair bit of magic is involved. So unless you are willing to accept that for purposes of the story, the story will seem stupid. But if you do accept the magic for the story (or at least suspend your disbelief), you will be amply rewarded with a great story.

Pete Hamill is a great writer with a long history as a New York City newspaperman and author. It is hard to imagine someone better to tell the story of The City.