Krishna
This is a story about Francis Majcinek, or “Frankie Machine” as he is known and his cohorts. They all live in a suburb – the poorest underbelly – of the 1950s Chicago. Frankie is the man with the “Golden Arm”; he is a card sharp (card dealer) in a club.
This book is ahead of times. It was published in 1959, and it was one of the very few books that dealt with the unsavoury parts of the modern society, the people left behind by progress, struggling to survive. The style takes some getting used to: you need to read about 50 odd pages of the book before you begin to see their world and start getting into the story per se.
The characterizations are well done. There is Frankie who dated and married Sophie. Sophie has been quietly controlling, always quarrelling, and when in an accident she gets hurt and cannot (or does not want to) walk again, spending her life in a wheelchair, she uses the guilt successfully to keep Frankie bound to her.
Molly-O, a rival for Frankie’s attention initially before giving way to Sophie, lives with Drunkie John who regularly abuses and beats her. Frankie can never figure out why she does not throw him out or walk out.
Violet, the gorgeous redhead, is stuck with the elderly Stash, who seems to lock up all the valuables in the house so that his wife could not get her hands on them. Vi finds solace in the arms of Solly Saltskin (alias “Punk”) whom Frankie rescued from certain perdition and `adopted’ to be his partner in petty crimes (dog stealing, shoplifting). Frankie dreams of escaping the life of a dealer and becoming a Drummer in a Band, where his interest is, and where he believes his true talents lie.
Frankie, in a weak moment, gives in to Niftie Louie and his drugs which seem to capture him and lead him in a downward spiral. He finds solace in the arms of Molly-O, who makes it her life’s mission to rescue him from the drug habit.
The misery and the futility of the lives lived, dreams dreamt, plans made, and disappointments swallowed regularly make this an interesting read.
The story is populated by further interesting characters like the Umbrella Man who goes everywhere with his umbrella, Piggy-O, a blind and dirty person perpetually cajoling people for a drink until he comes into a fortune unexpectedly by using his head at the right time, and who also inherits Louie’s drug trade after the latter’s untimely death, Antek, the owner of the pub, Record Head, the warden of the police station who struggles with his conscience and pity for the poor criminals, Jailor, who is a landlord for Frankie and others and others who are equally interesting.
The story style is interesting and the metaphors are riveting. The author talks about a person with a 35lb pound monkey on his back constantly, until you realize that it is a metaphor for his unbreakable drug habit. Also there is the repeated tear of the uniform of Frankie’s at the sleeve, which is a metaphor for his drug addiction. Molly tries to repair both with only temporary periods of success, after which they both revert to their state of disrepair.
The agony of the people is well brought out. The interplay of the characters is good.
All in all, a very different kind of read, and I think it deserves a 6/10
— Krishna