The Last Hurrah

Rating:
Summary: Old Politics Vs. New
Review: As a Bostonian and registered democrat of Irish descent, I just had to read this story of an old political warrior (obviously modelled on Boston's famous Mayor Curley) who decides to make one last run for office.

This book becomes more engrossing as it goes on. See if you too don't find this old scoundrel preferable to the plastic spokesmen we have today!

Rating:
Summary: My new favorite book...
Review: Edwin O'Connor's masterpiece on the demise of the complex and facinating world of old-school Boston politics is simply my favorite book. O'Connor painted a more vivid, compelling picture of this peculiar phenomenon through fiction than any political biography or history could ever hope to.

Skeffington is one of the most interesting, amicable characters I have ever encountered in any book of any genre. Quick-witted, funny, and heroic, he is the epitome of the old-fashioned politician. O'Connor's work truly makes me yearn for the past - when, although far from perfect, politicians had something they will NEVER have again: charisma.

O'Connor's foreshadowing of what local (as well as state and national) politics would become has proven amazingly correct - know-it-all, made-for-TV blank slates that are as charismatic as the processed, artificial backgrounds they are manufactured from.

A great work of fiction, biography, history, and the American experience. A masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: For those not politically inclined...Read it anyway
Review: I didn't want to read this book. But sometimes, just sometimes, professors sneak a novel past you, one you're positive is just going to make for a horrendous reading experience, but then turns out to be quite a pleasant surprise. In all honesty, *The Last Hurrah* was one of the best books I was "forced" to read in college.

It would seem as though in order to read this novel you would have to have some kind of interest in the political world, that you would need a grand knowledge of it to even keep up. Not true. Edwin O'Connor portrays Boston politics in a very appealing and human way. You notice the characters first--and then you see what they do to maneuver the city to their liking.

Rich in atmosphere and driven by wonderful character interaction, *The Last Hurrah* is a novel to be appreciated and enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: American classic
Review: I find it hard to be impartial about this book, which is one of my favorites, and is the basis for the great John Ford/Spencer Tracy film of the same name. The main criticism of the novel appears to be that O'Connor was too benevolent in his portrayal of a big city political boss and of machine politics generally. But I think that this complaint really misses the central insight of the story. Whatever Frank Skeffington's faults may be--and it is at least implied that he is financially corrupt and is readily apparent that he has become morally corrupt in the pursuit of power--he is also undeniably an interesting and compelling personality. As the Monsignor says at his funeral :

The bigger the man is in public life, the bigger the praise or the blame--and we have to remember that Frank Skeffington was quite a big man.

What Edwin O'Connor discerned was that the modern, clean-cut, college-educated, television-age, politicians would be equally corrupt, but would be little men. Like news anchormen, they would look well-polished and nicely groomed, but they would be empty suits. Marketed like household products, they would be chosen specifically because they were so colorless, so unlikely to put off the voter/consumer. And so we are left with the worst of both worlds : the politicians are still power hungry crooks, but now they have no entertainment value to redeem them.

Skeffington's ultimate legacy is bookended between two other sentiments expressed after his death. Nathaniel Gardiner, the old line WASP who sparred with but respected the Mayor, thinks to himself : "If only he had not been such a rogue..." but then realizes that had he been less a rogue, he would have been less of a figure. But perhaps the final assessment belongs to the Cardinal who had battled him for so long :

Whether you realize it or not now, you will later on. This man cheapened us forever at a time when we could have gained stature. I can never forgive him for that.

O'Connor, though he makes Skeffington an immensely entertaining and likable character, can hardly be accused of whitewashing the true nature of such men. To say that someone "cheapened us" is, or used to be, a pretty serious indictment.

GRADE : A

Rating:
Summary: American classic
Review: I find it hard to be impartial about this book, which is one of my favorites, and is the basis for the great John Ford/Spencer Tracy film of the same name. The main criticism of the novel appears to be that O'Connor was too benevolent in his portrayal of a big city political boss and of machine politics generally. But I think that this complaint really misses the central insight of the story. Whatever Frank Skeffington's faults may be--and it is at least implied that he is financially corrupt and is readily apparent that he has become morally corrupt in the pursuit of power--he is also undeniably an interesting and compelling personality. As the Monsignor says at his funeral :

The bigger the man is in public life, the bigger the praise or the blame--and we have to remember that Frank Skeffington was quite a big man.

What Edwin O'Connor discerned was that the modern, clean-cut, college-educated, television-age, politicians would be equally corrupt, but would be little men. Like news anchormen, they would look well-polished and nicely groomed, but they would be empty suits. Marketed like household products, they would be chosen specifically because they were so colorless, so unlikely to put off the voter/consumer. And so we are left with the worst of both worlds : the politicians are still power hungry crooks, but now they have no entertainment value to redeem them.

Skeffington's ultimate legacy is bookended between two other sentiments expressed after his death. Nathaniel Gardiner, the old line WASP who sparred with but respected the Mayor, thinks to himself : "If only he had not been such a rogue..." but then realizes that had he been less a rogue, he would have been less of a figure. But perhaps the final assessment belongs to the Cardinal who had battled him for so long :

Whether you realize it or not now, you will later on. This man cheapened us forever at a time when we could have gained stature. I can never forgive him for that.

O'Connor, though he makes Skeffington an immensely entertaining and likable character, can hardly be accused of whitewashing the true nature of such men. To say that someone "cheapened us" is, or used to be, a pretty serious indictment.

GRADE : A

Rating:
Summary: The greatest book ever written about Boston Politics
Review: There was a day when politics was about quick witted men speaking directly to the constituency. This is a book about the end of those days in Boston. Skeffington, the mayor of Boston (a thinly veiled James Michael Curley) is running for one last term as mayor. This is the tale of that race and of Skeffington's life in politics.

What makes this book particularly precious is the, still accurate, portrayal of the hatred between the Irish and the Old Yankees in Boston. Skeffington, an Irishman, has adroitly played the political game for years. This book tells of how the Irish came to power in Boston. More important it tells how at the end, politics became less about speaking clearly and shaking hands firmly and more about money and television.

To me, Skeffington is the king of the political characters. He has humor and sensitivity. Would that there were anyone left with the entertaining humor he brought to the world of politics.

A most entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: A fun, literate read
Review: This book is a gem. It shows that a political novel can be engageing with interesting characters and lovely wordcraft. A convincing evocation of ward politics. I didn't want it to end, what more can I say.

One annoyance: the political insider friend who spells out every policial nuance making full use of the new pronoun "sport"