North River by Pete Hamill (Audio book: Unabridged. 2007. Recorded Books. ISBN: 978-1-4281-5652-4)
Having never read or listened to any Pete Hamill books, and being without a book to dig into on my drive back from a recent ski trip to Montana, my sister Annie offered up a host of audio books for me to select from. Without any predisposition to Hamill’s work, and with no knowledge of the subject matter of North River, I selected it because the cover art seemed interesting. Pretty lame word; interesting. But, thankfully for my long ride, the book’s content soared beyond such a tepid adjective.
Set in Depression era New York City along the banks of the North River (the northernmost branch of the Hudson within the city), the story chronicles the struggles of Dr. James “Jim” Delaney, the son of a Tammany Hall operative, “Big Jim” Delaney after the disappearance of Molly, the doctor’s wife, and sudden leave-taking by his twenty year old daughter, Grace. The characterization of the good doctor is exquisite. Hamill is a master of having the characters and the exquisitely drawn settings propel the story forward. There is action. There is tension. There is danger. But above all, there is great writing in the manner of George Elliot or Henry James but with a bit more pace.
The narrator, Henry Strozier, has the male voices down cold. But he struggles to give life to the voice of Rose, a young Sicilian woman who comes into the Delaney household to care for Carlos (Grace’s child) when Grace traipses after her Mexican husband (who is seeking his fame as a revolutionary in the Spanish Civil War). Strozier also struggles to hit the mark when portraying the characters of Grace and the doctor’s nurse. But these are but minor aggravations in this fine, fine depiction of internal and external struggle set against the grit and grime of 1930s New York City.
A great book to listen to and I’d guess an even better book to read. 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
