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The Rackets

The Rackets

List Price: $24.00
Your Price: $24.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: this books rocks.
Review: A page turner a potboiler full of fiddle tunes with Saintly Irish descendants trying to right the corrupt world of New York politics and trade Unions.Written in typical Irish-American ghettoized prose.Where all the women are saintly moral compasses and the men hard workin, hard drinkin,hard fightin,laborers with the moral righteousness to clean up the social and political messes they helped create(kind of like the Kennedy clan). Although they live in the most cosmopolitan melting pot in the world,none of the characters have ever left the Irish-reservation they grew up in.New York has the widest array of restaurants in the world yet these bobbleheads never stray from the local pub.Kellys plot with all its politcal machinations into N.Y.C's dirty incestuous politics would be more fascinating if his cliched Irish Saints were more worldly.With all this Irish goodness Kelly fails to provide a more interestingly modern glimpse into New York than we already have from old portrayals of the Boss-hogs of Tamany Hall.The Rackets is a typical Irish-American stew it could have taken place in Boston Chicago or weeDublin because except for some Italian and Russian mobsters no ordinary Americans appear in the book(lets hope in Kellys next book he can get the sounds of ``the pipes the pipes`` out of his head for a page or two). The Rackets Summer read, Autumn forgotten!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Disappointing Sophomore Effort From Thomas Kelly
Review: After having enjoyed most of "Payback", I was eagerly looking forward to reading Thomas Kelly's "The Rackets". Although Kelly is a good writer with an excellent eye and ear for the sights and sounds of Irish-American New York City, especially Inwood, his plot and characterizations border perilously close to generic crime novel fiction. Unfortunately, as in "Payback", Kelly shows a tendency of trying to wrap up plot elements too neatly by eliminating major characters through means most foul. Yet not enough of the plot is tied up neatly here, leaving ample space for a sequel. If you're interested in reading novels which truly live and breath New York City in their pages and are first class examples of literary art, then I have to recommend either Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire Of The Vanities" or Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn". Unfortunately, "The Rackets" doesn't quite come close.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Read
Review: After having enjoyed most of "Payback", I was eagerly looking forward to reading Thomas Kelly's "The Rackets". Although Kelly is a good writer with an excellent eye and ear for the sights and sounds of Irish-American New York City, especially Inwood, his plot and characterizations border perilously close to generic crime novel fiction. Unfortunately, as in "Payback", Kelly shows a tendency of trying to wrap up plot elements too neatly by eliminating major characters through means most foul. Yet not enough of the plot is tied up neatly here, leaving ample space for a sequel. If you're interested in reading novels which truly live and breath New York City in their pages and are first class examples of literary art, then I have to recommend either Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire Of The Vanities" or Jonathan Lethem's "Motherless Brooklyn". Unfortunately, "The Rackets" doesn't quite come close.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing Second Novel From New York Writer
Review: Frankly, I was disappointed by "The Rackets". Thomas Kelly is an engaging writer with a fairly unique view of New York City and its social components, with an easy-to-read style and a healthy sense of social commentary. Unfortunately, he has major difficulty in resolving his plotlines; Kelly's means of wrapping things up is to start eliminating major characters, and not peacefully, either. This "last man standing" approach to writing was also evident in his previous work "Payback", another engrossing novel that falls apart towards the end.

Kelly is clearly an ambitious novelist, and we could sorely use a great urban novel for our time. "The Rackets" is not that book. One hopes that Kelly continues to grow as a writer because he certainly possesses an interesting voice. He seems to know and understand the world of which he writes, and his characters are engaging and believable. If only he could figure out where to take them in his stories.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This book should be titled the stinch of crappy writing.
Review: Mr. Kelly's tedious and boorish descriptive method of writing forced me to put this book down and take a nap after only ten minutes of reading. A high school student could easily write circles around Kelly.

Let us get some things straight, first teamsters are not construction workers, the only jurisdiction they have in the Building Trades are truck drivers. There isn't a true construction worker that would correlate truck driving with swinging a hammer. Do a little research and you find out that Kelly was nothing more than a yes man for the Mayor who made some connections in the publishing business during his time at city hall.

Kelly's concepts of union politics are complete fiction based on gangster movies and 3rd rate reporters rather than reality. I believe he only twisted this little tale in an effort to titillate readers that already have preconceived notions of the labor movement. I found his creation full of tired stereotypes more likely generated by somebody working in the public relations office of the Associated Builders and Contractors than a former union construction worker.

Myself being an Irish Catholic and a Construction worker that is involved in my union find the author guilty of stealing ...($$) of hard earned money out of my pocket. I recommend that you don't buy this bound collection of toilet paper but rather spend your money on something worthwhile such as Hoffa by Sloane. Better yet some Bukowski and a bottle of 12-year-old Jameson's

I just hope that I can get store credit for this, the worst piece of literary fecal mater that I have read in ten years.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hey;I really enjoyed it!
Review: This book grabbed my attention and held it to the end.Another reviewer rated it low saying he much preferred Tom Wofe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" which I gave up on half way through.So;I guess how good a book is depends on the reader.I doubt that my English teacher would agree with me;but then again it wasn't he who inspired my love of reading.I worked in Lower Manhattan in the early 70's and this book brought back a lot of memories.Kelly has also portrayed the Irish blue collar and middle class culture of NY very well.There may be some things that were not entirely factual;but so what! I've read Tyler Anbinder's "Five Points" and have seen "The Gangs of New York"and I guess one might say the same about them.Remember,this is a novel written to hold one's intrest,not a history book to record facts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hey;I really enjoyed it!
Review: This book grabbed my attention and held it to the end.Another reviewer rated it low saying he much preferred Tom Wofe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" which I gave up on half way through.So;I guess how good a book is depends on the reader.I doubt that my English teacher would agree with me;but then again it wasn't he who inspired my love of reading.I worked in Lower Manhattan in the early 70's and this book brought back a lot of memories.Kelly has also portrayed the Irish blue collar and middle class culture of NY very well.There may be some things that were not entirely factual;but so what! I've read Tyler Anbinder's "Five Points" and have seen "The Gangs of New York"and I guess one might say the same about them.Remember,this is a novel written to hold one's intrest,not a history book to record facts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This guy can really write
Review: This book kicked ... . I was really impressed with the way the writer developed the characters and constructed the scenes. Some people write books. Tom Kelly, on the other hand, is a genuine writer. I already loaned it to a friend.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This guy can really write
Review: This book kicked ... . I was really impressed with the way the writer developed the characters and constructed the scenes. Some people write books. Tom Kelly, on the other hand, is a genuine writer. I already loaned it to a friend.


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