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Tabloid City
In a stately West Village town house, a wealthy socialite and her secretary are murdered. In the 24 hours that follow, a flurry of activity surrounds their shocking
The head of one of the city's last tabloids stops the presses. A cop investigates the killing. A reporter chases the story. A disgraced hedge fund manager flees the country. An Iraq War vet seeks revenge. And an angry young extremist plots a major catastrophe.
The City is many a proving ground, a decadent carnival, or a palimpsest of memories -- a historic metropolis eclipsed by modern times. As much a thriller as it is a gripping portrait of the city of today, Tabloid City is a new fiction classic from the writer who has captured New York perfectly for decades.
The head of one of the city's last tabloids stops the presses. A cop investigates the killing. A reporter chases the story. A disgraced hedge fund manager flees the country. An Iraq War vet seeks revenge. And an angry young extremist plots a major catastrophe.
The City is many a proving ground, a decadent carnival, or a palimpsest of memories -- a historic metropolis eclipsed by modern times. As much a thriller as it is a gripping portrait of the city of today, Tabloid City is a new fiction classic from the writer who has captured New York perfectly for decades.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
127 people are currently reading
1441 people want to read
About the author
Pete Hamill
110 books561 followersPete Hamill was a novelist, essayist and journalist whose career has endured for more than forty years. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. in 1935, the oldest of seven children of immigrants from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He attended Catholic schools as a child. He left school at 16 to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a sheetmetal worker, and then went on to the United States Navy. While serving in the Navy, he completed his high school education. Then, using the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill of Rights, he attended Mexico City College in 1956-1957, studying painting and writing, and later went to Pratt Institute. For several years, he worked as a graphic designer. Then in 1960, he went to work as a reporter for the New York Post. A long career in journalism followed. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and New York Newsday, the Village Voice, New York magazine and Esquire. He has served as editor-in-chief of both the Post and the Daily News. As a journalist, he covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland, and has lived for extended periods in Mexico City, Dublin, Barcelona, San Juan and Rome. From his base in New York he also covered murders, fires, World Series, championship fights and the great domestic disturbances of the 1960s, and wrote extensively on art, jazz, immigration and politics. He witnessed the events of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath and wrote about them for the Daily News.
At the same time, Hamill wrote much fiction, including movie and TV scripts. He published nine novels and two collections of short stories. His 1997 novel, Snow in August, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. His memoir, A Drinking Life, was on the same New York Times list for 13 weeks. He has published two collections of his journalism (Irrational Ravings and Piecework), an extended essay on journalism called News Is a Verb, a book about the relationship of tools to art, a biographical essay called Why Sinatra Matters, dealing with the music of the late singer and the social forces that made his work unique. In 1999, Harry N. Abrams published his acclaimed book on the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. His novel, Forever, was published by Little, Brown in January 2003 and became a New York Times bestseller. His most recently published novel was North River (2007).
In 2004, he published Downtown: My Manhattan, a non-fiction account of his love affair with New York, and received much critical acclaim. Hamill was the father of two daughters, and has a grandson. He was married to the Japanese journalist, Fukiko Aoki, and they divided their time between New York City and Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
Author photo by David Shankbone (September 2007) - permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
At the same time, Hamill wrote much fiction, including movie and TV scripts. He published nine novels and two collections of short stories. His 1997 novel, Snow in August, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. His memoir, A Drinking Life, was on the same New York Times list for 13 weeks. He has published two collections of his journalism (Irrational Ravings and Piecework), an extended essay on journalism called News Is a Verb, a book about the relationship of tools to art, a biographical essay called Why Sinatra Matters, dealing with the music of the late singer and the social forces that made his work unique. In 1999, Harry N. Abrams published his acclaimed book on the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. His novel, Forever, was published by Little, Brown in January 2003 and became a New York Times bestseller. His most recently published novel was North River (2007).
In 2004, he published Downtown: My Manhattan, a non-fiction account of his love affair with New York, and received much critical acclaim. Hamill was the father of two daughters, and has a grandson. He was married to the Japanese journalist, Fukiko Aoki, and they divided their time between New York City and Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
Author photo by David Shankbone (September 2007) - permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 326 reviews
June 5, 2011
I thought this would be a mystery but even with several murders, I was wrong. It is an epitaph for newspapers, newsrooms and reporters as they used to be. I found it poignant, eloquent and, most of all, heartbreaking. I have no idea how other readers will see this book but if you've ever spent time in a newsroom -- back before computers and the internet -- this book is a fitting farewell. -30-
September 27, 2025
Hamill tells this tale of mere hours in the life of the city in snippets, by character and time-stamped. Because of this I'm not sure I could have listened to this book and been as satisfied as I was by having a hard copy in my hands that I could go back and forth amongst the character bits and picked up lost stitches. . .so to speak. I'm old. This is also a book I was reading over time, so catching up and re-reading is part of my process. Also, this was a bedside read. . . Pete is always a bedside read for me. Either way late at night or in the Wee Small Hours of the Morning. . . .
All that background given, this story of a night and day and night was exactly right - characters who all suffered from significant lacks . . . .of satisfaction, of resolution, of resources, of love, of closure, of warmth, of reassurance. . .all get answered - some more fully than others. Some wide open for interpretation. Some with bleak finality.
In all of it you hear New York. You hear the streets, feel the snow. The crunch of footsteps, tires, spray that just misses you - you just about feel the blow by. This author does such a fantastic job of setting you in New York. Smells in your nose, mouth and eyes watering, acrid smoke or seconds of fragrance with the power to transport - you get what you get, depending on the corner. Voices float down from windows far above you, or rise up from below you as you pass over, a kind of witnessing angel. Laughter: You smile at titters that twinkle, you frown at mean lechy hoots, your eyebrows knit over wide eyes at sniggering growl-threats. Saucy, sexy tones entice. Silence, too long present, is hair-raising. He gets it all. I may not always love its direction, or how it starts or ends, but I will "listen" to any story Pete Hamill tells. There is a heartbeat of longing and presence of place in the words he seems to indifferently offer. Only to discover it is anything but.
4 stars, because I wanted more about Josh Thompson (a girl can vote, can't she?).
All that background given, this story of a night and day and night was exactly right - characters who all suffered from significant lacks . . . .of satisfaction, of resolution, of resources, of love, of closure, of warmth, of reassurance. . .all get answered - some more fully than others. Some wide open for interpretation. Some with bleak finality.
In all of it you hear New York. You hear the streets, feel the snow. The crunch of footsteps, tires, spray that just misses you - you just about feel the blow by. This author does such a fantastic job of setting you in New York. Smells in your nose, mouth and eyes watering, acrid smoke or seconds of fragrance with the power to transport - you get what you get, depending on the corner. Voices float down from windows far above you, or rise up from below you as you pass over, a kind of witnessing angel. Laughter: You smile at titters that twinkle, you frown at mean lechy hoots, your eyebrows knit over wide eyes at sniggering growl-threats. Saucy, sexy tones entice. Silence, too long present, is hair-raising. He gets it all. I may not always love its direction, or how it starts or ends, but I will "listen" to any story Pete Hamill tells. There is a heartbeat of longing and presence of place in the words he seems to indifferently offer. Only to discover it is anything but.
4 stars, because I wanted more about Josh Thompson (a girl can vote, can't she?).
July 20, 2021
Pete Hamill's "Tabloid City," is a breathtaking and suspenseful eulogy to New York City and to a time when if you wanted to read a book you went to a bookstore to buy it, when you browsed a news stand for magazines and printed newspapers like the New York Times, The Post, The Daily News, and in this this novel "The World." When libraries were free of computers, and you went there to read and check out books.
The book takes place about ten years after the 'The World Trade Centers,' were destroyed and people were suspicious of radical Muslims. Iraqi war veterans, crippled and disabled, look for shelter against the cold weather in the corner of buildings or in churches.
The heart and soul of the novel is Cynthia Harding, a middle age, philanthropist whose main love in life is books and libraries, and it is through her and her connections that we witness the demise of a printed newspaper that has become a website, the tearing down of beautiful old buildings and replaced by glass towers, the lost comradship of the news room and reporters, and the ability to use a computer as a major requirement if one wants a good job.
Like I have said in other reviews of Mr. Hamill's works, no novelist I have read knows NYC like Mr. Hamill... not just the people that live in Manhattan but the people and cultures of the four other Boroughs that make up the city.
"Tabloid City," is a real marvel and I highly, highly recommend it.
The book takes place about ten years after the 'The World Trade Centers,' were destroyed and people were suspicious of radical Muslims. Iraqi war veterans, crippled and disabled, look for shelter against the cold weather in the corner of buildings or in churches.
The heart and soul of the novel is Cynthia Harding, a middle age, philanthropist whose main love in life is books and libraries, and it is through her and her connections that we witness the demise of a printed newspaper that has become a website, the tearing down of beautiful old buildings and replaced by glass towers, the lost comradship of the news room and reporters, and the ability to use a computer as a major requirement if one wants a good job.
Like I have said in other reviews of Mr. Hamill's works, no novelist I have read knows NYC like Mr. Hamill... not just the people that live in Manhattan but the people and cultures of the four other Boroughs that make up the city.
"Tabloid City," is a real marvel and I highly, highly recommend it.
June 5, 2011
I love Pete Hamill and I felt so comfortable immediately as I got into 'his' New York'...but, it was just too much; too jagged. What I ADORED about 'Forever' was that you were pulled into the voice of the story and were thrilled and heart-broken as it unraveled - and in the midst of all this! NEW YORK reveled. Great. In this book, neither happens - yes New York is happening but it seems so contrived w/ the modern-day take: newspapers vs web, in depth vs ... I was bored w/ that and, in fact, 'read' this book in one day because I would speed-read to get BACK to the story. I'm glad I read it but I hope its just a blip away from the really REALLY good Pete Hamill.
July 8, 2022
“Night is for solitaries. The day is for other people. That is why the night has music.” – Billie Holiday
“There are no songs about lunch. Or shopping, or meetings where everyone whips out laptops.” – Pete Hamill
These were representative of the atmosphere of this novel, or perhaps put more accurately, the musical score set in nighttime New York City. Pete Hamill wrote a music score with the rhythms of the evening in one of the world’s most storied cities. And just to add a bit more atmosphere, he chose for his subject the final days of its last surviving afternoon newspaper, focusing on the nerve center of the paper, the city room.
As I read the early chapters, I found myself hearing the music of the newspaper business, in every era it existed, from the staccatos of typewriters, through to the muted thrum of laptop keyboards. Hamill showed us a time when page one letters were actually cut from wood; when the sound of Linotype machines hammered away in the composing room. There, stories were trimmed on stone cutters, the editor’s hands using calipers to pluck lines of lead from the bottom of stories. Everyone was smoking then, crushing butts on the floor. Hot type, sandwiches from the Greeks. All this Hamill tells us of…and I must say I was mesmerized already.
And my intrigue only increased as I read of the characters, revealed as they were throughout the various eras of the newspaper’s life. This began with the early 80’s description of Helen Loomis, the “Best goddammed rewrite man ever,” who would sit with her back to the river, smoking, and typing, taking notes from street reporters, and interviewing cops on the phone. Her dark pageboy bobbed in a private rhythm as she worked. The city room of the night was a bustling place then.
This was my early glimpse into the early movements of Hamill’s gritty musical composition of how the paper we read in the morning was made in the night.
And for me, after envisioning what the early eras were like, I must say that the saddest music of the newspaper’s nighttime was in the opening pages, the time was 2010. The city room is much quieter by then, a long decrescendo that was gradually ebbing away, as was a time when the daily paper was brought to us on newsprint.
I could literally feel the vastness of the near-empty city room. Twenty-six desks, all of which were occupied thirty years before, now only four reporters are there, along with three copy editors who look as though they are about to go home for the night. The room is nearly empty because the photographers only come in when called, and most of the reporters email their stories in. The city room is cavernous and haunted by the ghosts of the newspaper legends who once labored there, writing the stories of the city.
But even though the paper is a mere shadow of what it once was, the city room still echoes with the faintly heard music of the night. And the few who are there still work in a solitary way. The work of the night continues, the crafting of the stories of wild-eyed would-be assassins, stick-ups played out by knuckleheads, and the other cast of bit players in the endless, demented version of “A Chorus Line,” all of which is reported by Helen Loomis and her “Vics and Dicks” page four telling of New York City’s grimy underbelly.
And even in the diminished, much reduced days of 2010, the page four stories are being written by solitaries, moving back and forth in time with the music of the night.
And I must say that I was falling into the rhythm of this long decrescendo, feeling the end of this paper coming, maybe even on the very next page, when suddenly something crashed through, breaking my reverie.
It was a page one tragedy that seemed to set the music of the paper in the opposite direction, a gaining of musical force, a crescendo…
It was what was referred to in the newspaper business as, “Murder at a Good Address.” There were two victims:
The first, Cynthia Harding, was a Chanel-clad patron of the New York Public Library, and the city’s greatest champion for books, reading, childhood literacy, and other such reading-related causes.
She was a lover of the poetry of E.E. Cummings, and the curious visitor to the private libraries of each and every one of the wealthy patrons she’d brought with her into her cause. This stylishly slender woman in her early sixties was a moving force in a city where people needed stories to survive the harsh reality many of them faced. Stories, she knew, were as important to people as food, water, and air.
The second was Mary Lou Watson, the woman who had sufficient talent and wisdom to pursue any career, but who chose to be Cynthia Harding’s personal secretary. Her service to the great woman was in deference to the socialite dreamer’s vision of saving the great library from extinction.
Both of these amazing women were murdered in Harding’s apartment suites, only a short time after the wrap-up of a fundraising dinner for the library.
All across the city, the shocking news of this loss spread, and in the night, one last burst of musical energy in the city room of the newspaper.
Pete Hamill took us through each stanza of his musical tragedy with the skill of a maestro.
It’s not one I'll soon forget.
“There are no songs about lunch. Or shopping, or meetings where everyone whips out laptops.” – Pete Hamill
These were representative of the atmosphere of this novel, or perhaps put more accurately, the musical score set in nighttime New York City. Pete Hamill wrote a music score with the rhythms of the evening in one of the world’s most storied cities. And just to add a bit more atmosphere, he chose for his subject the final days of its last surviving afternoon newspaper, focusing on the nerve center of the paper, the city room.
As I read the early chapters, I found myself hearing the music of the newspaper business, in every era it existed, from the staccatos of typewriters, through to the muted thrum of laptop keyboards. Hamill showed us a time when page one letters were actually cut from wood; when the sound of Linotype machines hammered away in the composing room. There, stories were trimmed on stone cutters, the editor’s hands using calipers to pluck lines of lead from the bottom of stories. Everyone was smoking then, crushing butts on the floor. Hot type, sandwiches from the Greeks. All this Hamill tells us of…and I must say I was mesmerized already.
And my intrigue only increased as I read of the characters, revealed as they were throughout the various eras of the newspaper’s life. This began with the early 80’s description of Helen Loomis, the “Best goddammed rewrite man ever,” who would sit with her back to the river, smoking, and typing, taking notes from street reporters, and interviewing cops on the phone. Her dark pageboy bobbed in a private rhythm as she worked. The city room of the night was a bustling place then.
This was my early glimpse into the early movements of Hamill’s gritty musical composition of how the paper we read in the morning was made in the night.
And for me, after envisioning what the early eras were like, I must say that the saddest music of the newspaper’s nighttime was in the opening pages, the time was 2010. The city room is much quieter by then, a long decrescendo that was gradually ebbing away, as was a time when the daily paper was brought to us on newsprint.
I could literally feel the vastness of the near-empty city room. Twenty-six desks, all of which were occupied thirty years before, now only four reporters are there, along with three copy editors who look as though they are about to go home for the night. The room is nearly empty because the photographers only come in when called, and most of the reporters email their stories in. The city room is cavernous and haunted by the ghosts of the newspaper legends who once labored there, writing the stories of the city.
But even though the paper is a mere shadow of what it once was, the city room still echoes with the faintly heard music of the night. And the few who are there still work in a solitary way. The work of the night continues, the crafting of the stories of wild-eyed would-be assassins, stick-ups played out by knuckleheads, and the other cast of bit players in the endless, demented version of “A Chorus Line,” all of which is reported by Helen Loomis and her “Vics and Dicks” page four telling of New York City’s grimy underbelly.
And even in the diminished, much reduced days of 2010, the page four stories are being written by solitaries, moving back and forth in time with the music of the night.
And I must say that I was falling into the rhythm of this long decrescendo, feeling the end of this paper coming, maybe even on the very next page, when suddenly something crashed through, breaking my reverie.
It was a page one tragedy that seemed to set the music of the paper in the opposite direction, a gaining of musical force, a crescendo…
It was what was referred to in the newspaper business as, “Murder at a Good Address.” There were two victims:
The first, Cynthia Harding, was a Chanel-clad patron of the New York Public Library, and the city’s greatest champion for books, reading, childhood literacy, and other such reading-related causes.
She was a lover of the poetry of E.E. Cummings, and the curious visitor to the private libraries of each and every one of the wealthy patrons she’d brought with her into her cause. This stylishly slender woman in her early sixties was a moving force in a city where people needed stories to survive the harsh reality many of them faced. Stories, she knew, were as important to people as food, water, and air.
The second was Mary Lou Watson, the woman who had sufficient talent and wisdom to pursue any career, but who chose to be Cynthia Harding’s personal secretary. Her service to the great woman was in deference to the socialite dreamer’s vision of saving the great library from extinction.
Both of these amazing women were murdered in Harding’s apartment suites, only a short time after the wrap-up of a fundraising dinner for the library.
All across the city, the shocking news of this loss spread, and in the night, one last burst of musical energy in the city room of the newspaper.
Pete Hamill took us through each stanza of his musical tragedy with the skill of a maestro.
It’s not one I'll soon forget.
July 11, 2011
I really wanted to like this book because of the way it's set up; lots of different peoples' stories converging. I usually love stories like that, a la Traffic or Babel. But this one seemed a bit forced. There were some characters in it whose presence I didn't really understand, like Beverly. There were times when the characters' stream of conscious thinking got tedious and boring. And the sentence structure was the main thing that annoyed me - they were staccato and difficult to read. The fluidity, or lack thereof, was what made Tabloid City a really tough read. The other thing that made it tough to swallow was that this was my hometown; I didn't like the dark underbelly that was portrayed, but I suppose, to play Devil's Advocate, it's a whole other side of New York that I'd never considered before.
May 20, 2018
“The only way to fight nostalgia is to listen to somebody else's nostalgia”
Late one night, in lower Manhattan, a wealthy socialite and her assistant, are brutally murdered. Over the next twenty-four hours, we follow a cast of characters, as their lives have been touched, by this heinous crime. Leading the pack is, Sam Briscoe, an aging editor of a failing New York newspaper and former lover of the woman murdered. We get a snapshot of the newsroom in decline, as it deals with another “Tabloid” headline.
Hamill weaves the rest of the characters, into an urban tapestry, showing a city in the midst of change, with gritty, masterful flair.
This was my first book by this author and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Late one night, in lower Manhattan, a wealthy socialite and her assistant, are brutally murdered. Over the next twenty-four hours, we follow a cast of characters, as their lives have been touched, by this heinous crime. Leading the pack is, Sam Briscoe, an aging editor of a failing New York newspaper and former lover of the woman murdered. We get a snapshot of the newsroom in decline, as it deals with another “Tabloid” headline.
Hamill weaves the rest of the characters, into an urban tapestry, showing a city in the midst of change, with gritty, masterful flair.
This was my first book by this author and I look forward to reading more of his work.
March 25, 2015
If I've read Pete Hamill before it was years ago and don't recall. Tabloid City was a farewell to newspapers, editors, and reporters as well as the NYC that used to be. The story (IMHO) is a good-bye offered up by all the characters to the life they knew - some inevitable others with a sudden, surprising drama. While some reviewers of this book didn't like the many characters woven into the story, it worked for me as a large city dweller where, ultimately, many paths cross. No happy ending here - just life.
Yes, I really liked this book.
DD@Phila
Yes, I really liked this book.
DD@Phila
January 3, 2018
Absolutely New York
Being the veteran New York newspaper writer he is, the tone is perfect for a story taking place over two nights and one day in New York. Set during or just after the financial crisis in 2008, Mr. Hamill takes you inside the New York tabloid newsroom for a fast paced New York police, news and socialite story. Great characters and extremely true to New York
Being the veteran New York newspaper writer he is, the tone is perfect for a story taking place over two nights and one day in New York. Set during or just after the financial crisis in 2008, Mr. Hamill takes you inside the New York tabloid newsroom for a fast paced New York police, news and socialite story. Great characters and extremely true to New York
March 24, 2018
Hamill's scrappy newspaper writing about a double murder, folding of a NYC tabloid daily, and the lives of many diverse individuals who become intertwined with each other in a 24 hour period makes for a fast paced, engaging read.
July 10, 2011
A lot can happen in 24 hours anywhere. Certainly it can in the city of New York where strangers and friends can intersect in many different ways. Life can begin and end, both metaphorically and literally, in this complex interlocking tale created by Pete Hamill.
There are several major players in this 278 page novel. One is Sam Briscoe, age 71, editor in chief of the tabloid newspaper New York World. It is midnight as the book opens and Briscoe’s focus is on the still to be finished edition. Newspapers are a dying industry as he knows well, but he adheres to the old standards and delivers a quality product. Other folks can worry about what to put on the paper’s website as he simply does not care. He worries about the newspaper itself while surrounded primarily by youngsters who have no idea of the past and what they are missing from the literary world.
Wealthy socialite and old friend Cynthia Harding knows full well what the world is missing these days. She also knows libraries are an integral part of the future. She has always loved books and reading and has done her part at a personal level as well as by raising funds to support the New York Public Library System. Much like Sam’s newspaper, the library system as well as the concept of libraries in general, might be a dying institution thanks to the rise of the internet and home computers. Her latest effort in support of the local libraries was a dinner party fundraiser held this night and it did well all things considered. Sam Briscoe was supposed to be there but he didn’t make it because of work.
The rise of the internet has not only murdered libraries and newspapers; it has given rise to terrorism on a global scale. Malik Shadid, an American born child with no ties to the Middle East, heard the call of Islamic Jihad in his teen years and responded. He abandoned his police officer father and his mother who works for that slave owner (as he sees her) Cynthia Harding, and hit the streets hanging out with other teens who also heard the call. While some have fallen away as the years have passed, he remains true to what he believes is the real Muslim faith. A faith that promises to purge the world of the non-believers. One of those unbelievers is his girlfriend, Glorious Burress, hiding in some abandoned building and very pregnant with their child. She is too young to know better but he will teach her the faith and the truth of the world.
The clock marches on and these people and many others will play a major role in the events to come during the next 24 hours. At its heart, Tabloid City contains a double murder and an attempt to solve it while also preventing another terrorist attack on the city of New York. The shock waves of those events will touch people directly and indirectly involved in many unexpected ways.
At the same time Tabloid City is about change, the price of progress, and supreme loneliness. In a time where technology is changing every aspect of our lives in so many ways and often with unintended consequences, many of these characters feel supremely alone and abandoned. Each one feels isolated in his or her narrow world regardless of how much social contact they have with others around them. Beyond occasionally sharing the same gender as another, these characters come from all walks in life with vastly different ages and life experiences resulting in vastly different ways of seeing the surrounding world. Links of commonality are tenuous at best. Some are alone because of deaths. Others, though surrounded by other people at work and socializing, feel totally and unescapably alone.
The river of loneness is wide and deep in Tabloid City and runs through every character no matter his or her circumstances. Many characters see their time ending, physically and metaphorically, and lament the passing of their youth. In so doing, Pete Hamill salutes those great literary newspaper writers and novelists of the past while also creating a story that tells the tale of loneliness and terrorism in the here and now.
He leaves it up to readers to wonder who will take the place of past literary greats. His compelling novel never answers that question in this time of bloggers, citizen journalists, twenty-four hour news cycles, etc. Instead, he poses the question for readers in many different ways over this 278 page novel while engaging in an intense character study set in the city he has written about many times before. For a short period of a night, following day and into that night, you know these people in every detail and can only watch as they blindly careen into and occasionally miss each other in this homage to a great literary time and a warning of a far more uncertain future.
Tabloid City: A Novel
Pete Hamill
http://www.petehamill.com
Little, Brown and Company
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com
May 2011
ISBN# 978-0-316-02075-6
Hardback
278 Pages
$26.99
Material supplied by the folks at the WOMEN OF MYSTERY blog http://www.womenofmystery.net/ Back in early May they offered five copies to anyone who entered by making a comment on the blog. I was one of five whose entry was selected. No expectation of a review or any inducement of any type was offered, given, or accepted regarding this objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2011
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
There are several major players in this 278 page novel. One is Sam Briscoe, age 71, editor in chief of the tabloid newspaper New York World. It is midnight as the book opens and Briscoe’s focus is on the still to be finished edition. Newspapers are a dying industry as he knows well, but he adheres to the old standards and delivers a quality product. Other folks can worry about what to put on the paper’s website as he simply does not care. He worries about the newspaper itself while surrounded primarily by youngsters who have no idea of the past and what they are missing from the literary world.
Wealthy socialite and old friend Cynthia Harding knows full well what the world is missing these days. She also knows libraries are an integral part of the future. She has always loved books and reading and has done her part at a personal level as well as by raising funds to support the New York Public Library System. Much like Sam’s newspaper, the library system as well as the concept of libraries in general, might be a dying institution thanks to the rise of the internet and home computers. Her latest effort in support of the local libraries was a dinner party fundraiser held this night and it did well all things considered. Sam Briscoe was supposed to be there but he didn’t make it because of work.
The rise of the internet has not only murdered libraries and newspapers; it has given rise to terrorism on a global scale. Malik Shadid, an American born child with no ties to the Middle East, heard the call of Islamic Jihad in his teen years and responded. He abandoned his police officer father and his mother who works for that slave owner (as he sees her) Cynthia Harding, and hit the streets hanging out with other teens who also heard the call. While some have fallen away as the years have passed, he remains true to what he believes is the real Muslim faith. A faith that promises to purge the world of the non-believers. One of those unbelievers is his girlfriend, Glorious Burress, hiding in some abandoned building and very pregnant with their child. She is too young to know better but he will teach her the faith and the truth of the world.
The clock marches on and these people and many others will play a major role in the events to come during the next 24 hours. At its heart, Tabloid City contains a double murder and an attempt to solve it while also preventing another terrorist attack on the city of New York. The shock waves of those events will touch people directly and indirectly involved in many unexpected ways.
At the same time Tabloid City is about change, the price of progress, and supreme loneliness. In a time where technology is changing every aspect of our lives in so many ways and often with unintended consequences, many of these characters feel supremely alone and abandoned. Each one feels isolated in his or her narrow world regardless of how much social contact they have with others around them. Beyond occasionally sharing the same gender as another, these characters come from all walks in life with vastly different ages and life experiences resulting in vastly different ways of seeing the surrounding world. Links of commonality are tenuous at best. Some are alone because of deaths. Others, though surrounded by other people at work and socializing, feel totally and unescapably alone.
The river of loneness is wide and deep in Tabloid City and runs through every character no matter his or her circumstances. Many characters see their time ending, physically and metaphorically, and lament the passing of their youth. In so doing, Pete Hamill salutes those great literary newspaper writers and novelists of the past while also creating a story that tells the tale of loneliness and terrorism in the here and now.
He leaves it up to readers to wonder who will take the place of past literary greats. His compelling novel never answers that question in this time of bloggers, citizen journalists, twenty-four hour news cycles, etc. Instead, he poses the question for readers in many different ways over this 278 page novel while engaging in an intense character study set in the city he has written about many times before. For a short period of a night, following day and into that night, you know these people in every detail and can only watch as they blindly careen into and occasionally miss each other in this homage to a great literary time and a warning of a far more uncertain future.
Tabloid City: A Novel
Pete Hamill
http://www.petehamill.com
Little, Brown and Company
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com
May 2011
ISBN# 978-0-316-02075-6
Hardback
278 Pages
$26.99
Material supplied by the folks at the WOMEN OF MYSTERY blog http://www.womenofmystery.net/ Back in early May they offered five copies to anyone who entered by making a comment on the blog. I was one of five whose entry was selected. No expectation of a review or any inducement of any type was offered, given, or accepted regarding this objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2011
http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/
March 13, 2018
I felt a real need to read "Tabloid City."
The newspaper I had once worked for had just let go three more people. It was its sixth layoff since '07. Or it could've been the eighth. Whatever, I've lost count. But one thing I knew was this: The place I called my professional home for nearly a quarter century felt a little more empty. It had become a shell of its award-winning, ink-stained self. So, as I prepared to talk to a class of college journalists once again about the intricacies of interviewing, I updated my talk and ran across in my research Pete Hamill's "Tabloid City." Do love me some Hamill, and I knew I could use a quote -- or two -- from him about the essence and importance of newspapering. But then, I checked out his book -- came out in 2011, a look at the shuttering of a NYC tabloid. For me, that hit too close to home.
Being a big fan of Hamill, a journalist with a poet's heart, I picked it up. I felt I needed a jolt, like a shot of Jaegermeister, to help me cope with the slow decline of an industry that made my heart move. Always will.
"Tabloid City" is good. Hamill has a baseball roster of characters, and he writes about each of them in these short scenes throughout the book. He uses time-stamps as a way to push the narrative. Really specific time stamps. Like 1:15 a.m. Or 12:40 p.m. That sort of thing. And really, the narrative is really only two days, no more than three. So, it moves quick. But it can be a dizzying. Like who is this Wheeler guy again? And what's up with this Iraqi vet in a wheelchair? How does he move the plot forward?
Now, for anyone who hasn't read Hamill, I'd recommend "A Drinking Life" or "Downtown: My Manhattan," or better yet, his short-story collection, "The Invisible City." I've dog-eared that sucker. But like his other books, what saves "Tabloid City" is Hamill's intimate take on his hometown. He embraces it, brings it alive. And for any journalist -- or any recovering journalist -- you'll feel that pinch on your heart when his narrative digs into the push-pull of reporting, the frenzy of a newsroom and the characters within.
It's the chase of the story, the cynicism of a cigarette-smoking news veteran, the need for rewrite and teamwork as a noun-and-verb crew connect the dots to a double homicide that needs to be ready for tomorrow's edition.
But Hamill turns that on its proverbial ear and writes about the inevitability of one newspaper's future. It's really every newspaper's future. The World, the newspaper, becomes The World, the website. And the newsman, Sam Briscoe, the fictional character that feels a lot like Hamill himself, walks away.
I've seen a lot of Sam Briscoes. I feel like Sam Briscoe. And for me, that's OK.
The newspaper I had once worked for had just let go three more people. It was its sixth layoff since '07. Or it could've been the eighth. Whatever, I've lost count. But one thing I knew was this: The place I called my professional home for nearly a quarter century felt a little more empty. It had become a shell of its award-winning, ink-stained self. So, as I prepared to talk to a class of college journalists once again about the intricacies of interviewing, I updated my talk and ran across in my research Pete Hamill's "Tabloid City." Do love me some Hamill, and I knew I could use a quote -- or two -- from him about the essence and importance of newspapering. But then, I checked out his book -- came out in 2011, a look at the shuttering of a NYC tabloid. For me, that hit too close to home.
Being a big fan of Hamill, a journalist with a poet's heart, I picked it up. I felt I needed a jolt, like a shot of Jaegermeister, to help me cope with the slow decline of an industry that made my heart move. Always will.
"Tabloid City" is good. Hamill has a baseball roster of characters, and he writes about each of them in these short scenes throughout the book. He uses time-stamps as a way to push the narrative. Really specific time stamps. Like 1:15 a.m. Or 12:40 p.m. That sort of thing. And really, the narrative is really only two days, no more than three. So, it moves quick. But it can be a dizzying. Like who is this Wheeler guy again? And what's up with this Iraqi vet in a wheelchair? How does he move the plot forward?
Now, for anyone who hasn't read Hamill, I'd recommend "A Drinking Life" or "Downtown: My Manhattan," or better yet, his short-story collection, "The Invisible City." I've dog-eared that sucker. But like his other books, what saves "Tabloid City" is Hamill's intimate take on his hometown. He embraces it, brings it alive. And for any journalist -- or any recovering journalist -- you'll feel that pinch on your heart when his narrative digs into the push-pull of reporting, the frenzy of a newsroom and the characters within.
It's the chase of the story, the cynicism of a cigarette-smoking news veteran, the need for rewrite and teamwork as a noun-and-verb crew connect the dots to a double homicide that needs to be ready for tomorrow's edition.
But Hamill turns that on its proverbial ear and writes about the inevitability of one newspaper's future. It's really every newspaper's future. The World, the newspaper, becomes The World, the website. And the newsman, Sam Briscoe, the fictional character that feels a lot like Hamill himself, walks away.
I've seen a lot of Sam Briscoes. I feel like Sam Briscoe. And for me, that's OK.
July 16, 2012
I love Pete Hamill's writing and if I were a New Yorker I may have given this one 4 stars. As a mid-westerner who has only been to NYC a few times I'm sure I missed a lot of the references to landmarks and restaurants and people. This story takes place in a 24 hour period in winter in NYC. The main character is Sam Briscoe, a 71 year old veteran newspaper man. The story is part murder mystery/thriller and part elegy for the death of print journalism. It is a story of loss and loneliness and "moving on." Hamill worked in a print newsroom for 40 years and his knowledge and expertise shines through. ( I was a journalism major in college and could relate to some of the quirky characters and the inside jokes...LOVED the young reporter who wore his press badge to bed 'like dog tags.") Hamill's characters are well-drawn and realistically flawed but I felt the quickly changing point of view a bit jarring. I'd get caught up in a character's story only to be interrupted by a new voice. I'd have to wait dozens of pages before coming back to the original story.
Hamill is a great writer and he knows his city. I loved some of his earlier books (Forever and North River) and this one I liked... but didn't fall in love.
Hamill is a great writer and he knows his city. I loved some of his earlier books (Forever and North River) and this one I liked... but didn't fall in love.
September 25, 2012
As a tabloid survivor, I probably come at "Tabloid City" with a more critical eye than most. If the newsroom atmosphere felt artificial, I wouldn't be able to stomach the book. But I felt Hamill really conveyed what it feels like when the city is gripped by a huge story -- a double murder at a good address, in this case. He also gets what it feels like to be new to the game, how new reporters feel when they get their NYPD press pass or score the Wood. (Though I don't know many folks who have screwed on top of a newspaper, but still). Was it a little over-the-top and nostalgic and romantic? Sure. But I fell for the characters and was sad when this ended.
July 9, 2019
After his recent death, there was. A wonderful documentary on Pete Hamilton who is recognized as one of the great reporters/ writers associated with NYC. This book is almost like a walk down memory lane with his references to past celebrities, joints, singers, events and a newspaper era fast fading.it is written from a newspaper’s point of few...tales of the city that often intertwine.
February 26, 2015
Very exciting story told in several voices, sort of like Crash or Babble. The main voices work at a NYC tabloid. A crime occurs and the story begins . . .
March 13, 2021
If you're still missing Sloppy Louie's and the Cedar Tavern (either incarnation) and the New York City that used to have a multitude of daily papers that reveled in covering the city from gutter to penthouse, you're going to love this. My only quibble is I find it hard to believe that our narrator, Sam Briscoe, so in love with the cultured, sexy Cynthia Harding, could go about the business of life after her brutal murder with such calm. Losing his job at the New York World seemed to distress him as much as her sudden death. Or maybe I just don't get men.... This is reminiscent of Colm McCann's LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN in its huge, diverse cast of characters and its onslaught of a multitude of story lines. McCann did that better, but he couldn't evoke the grit and beauty and energy and threat of NYC the way Pete Hamill has here.
December 16, 2025
It’s 430 in the morning. And it’s freezing. I’ve been up for an hour after tossing and turning under too hot blankets. There was weird presence in my room, keeping me from sleep. And I realize it was this book, one I didn’t even want to read (put it down, twice actually), haunting me from the bedside table to finish it. Now, as I attend the wake of The World, kid you not, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata is playing quietly on the radio. An old lady, under a blanket, reading about a newspaper with a radio on. Ay, me.
Ok it’s now almost 9 and I’ve decided it’s important to add my thoughts on the white author writing a perspective of an angry Muslim. Ok ok the novel was written in the wake of 9/11, fine, you tried. But that bit was a bit…much.
Ok it’s now almost 9 and I’ve decided it’s important to add my thoughts on the white author writing a perspective of an angry Muslim. Ok ok the novel was written in the wake of 9/11, fine, you tried. But that bit was a bit…much.
September 24, 2018
I cannot account for the fact that it took me so long to discover Pete Hamill. I grew up in the shadow of New York, the city that to me was -- still is -- the dictionary definition of everything a city should be, while at the same time asserting a defiant singularity: there is no other city like New York. And Pete Hamill is a writer of New York, of the city as a place that is loved for what makes it great and not despite but because of all those other things that make many outsiders turn away from it. Whatever else Pete Hamill writes about, it is this city at the core.
So it's a particular mystery to me that it took me so long to discover Pete Hamill. But it's not only for that reason that I regret not having read his books sooner. He's just an excellent, excellent writer. He writes in uncommonly evocative prose that is neither flowery nor sparse, but somehow manages to sound very much like your own thoughts. His language is so natural that you'd be forgiven for assuming it was effortless, but this kind of writing takes work. Some very good writers write in a way that shows you just how much work they've but into their pieces. The best writers don't.
Tabloid City chronicles a day in the life of the city, with two main poles of action around which the story reveals itself: on the one hand, a stunning murder at the house of a well known literary figure/socialite, and the ensuing search for the killer who may strike again, and, on the other hand, the last print day of a tabloid newspaper, the (fictional) New York World, which is not being killed off but rather taken fully online -- which amounts to much the same thing for its long-time editor. While Sam Briscoe, the World's editor, is the protagonist of the novel, the full story is told through vignettes featuring at least a dozen characters, each bringing his or her own perspective into it. The narrative never goes too deep into any one character's perspective, yet the reader learns a surprising amount about each of them. In this city, everything is connected, sometimes just in a butterfly-flaps-its-wings or Caesar's last breath sort of way, but connected. The effect is not one of inevitability, though; there is no ponderous weight of fate or predetermination hanging over everything. Rather, insignificant connections, sometimes mere coincidence, wind up being the proverbial horseshoe nail whose lack becomes a "but for" cause in some later consequence.
The city, in particular, its rhythm, is a constant figure in the story, though in this case it is as much the nostalgia for a city gone by as the living presence of the city of today. This is perhaps inevitable in a story centered on an aging representative of a dying off business in a constantly changing city, but Hamill manages to do it in a way that is less mournful than matter of fact. The biggest nostalgic weight falls on the sections that have to do directly with the workings of the World, and print journalism and newsrooms in general. For journalists, especially those that have been around for a while, these will surely provoke poignant pangs and remembrances of times past, and for those who are not, it is an illuminating and affecting look behind the curtain at what local print journalism and good old shoe leather reporting bring, even to a city the size of New York. Most important, and least obvious, is what is lost with their passing. There is a current of isolation running through the whole story, and demonstrations of how disconnectedness can lead to tragedy. Seen in that light, these recollections of what is being lost suggest far darker implications for society of the death of local news.
I read Tabloid City right after finishing a widely-praised novel much regaled for its beautiful writing and stunning descriptiveness. But nothing in that novel made me feel anything in the way that Tabloid City did. Because, through it all, there is Hamill's prose, which works with a deceptively light touch, but also often moves at a reporter's pace, eschewing adjective pile-ups, and occasionally full sentences:
There are so many more examples I could have shared. It's prose that is comfortable to read, without being simple, expressive of so many things, without getting lost in itself. I will always love Pete Hamill for how he loves and writes New York, but at the end of the day, it's Hamill's art that I keep coming back to.
So it's a particular mystery to me that it took me so long to discover Pete Hamill. But it's not only for that reason that I regret not having read his books sooner. He's just an excellent, excellent writer. He writes in uncommonly evocative prose that is neither flowery nor sparse, but somehow manages to sound very much like your own thoughts. His language is so natural that you'd be forgiven for assuming it was effortless, but this kind of writing takes work. Some very good writers write in a way that shows you just how much work they've but into their pieces. The best writers don't.
Tabloid City chronicles a day in the life of the city, with two main poles of action around which the story reveals itself: on the one hand, a stunning murder at the house of a well known literary figure/socialite, and the ensuing search for the killer who may strike again, and, on the other hand, the last print day of a tabloid newspaper, the (fictional) New York World, which is not being killed off but rather taken fully online -- which amounts to much the same thing for its long-time editor. While Sam Briscoe, the World's editor, is the protagonist of the novel, the full story is told through vignettes featuring at least a dozen characters, each bringing his or her own perspective into it. The narrative never goes too deep into any one character's perspective, yet the reader learns a surprising amount about each of them. In this city, everything is connected, sometimes just in a butterfly-flaps-its-wings or Caesar's last breath sort of way, but connected. The effect is not one of inevitability, though; there is no ponderous weight of fate or predetermination hanging over everything. Rather, insignificant connections, sometimes mere coincidence, wind up being the proverbial horseshoe nail whose lack becomes a "but for" cause in some later consequence.
The city, in particular, its rhythm, is a constant figure in the story, though in this case it is as much the nostalgia for a city gone by as the living presence of the city of today. This is perhaps inevitable in a story centered on an aging representative of a dying off business in a constantly changing city, but Hamill manages to do it in a way that is less mournful than matter of fact. The biggest nostalgic weight falls on the sections that have to do directly with the workings of the World, and print journalism and newsrooms in general. For journalists, especially those that have been around for a while, these will surely provoke poignant pangs and remembrances of times past, and for those who are not, it is an illuminating and affecting look behind the curtain at what local print journalism and good old shoe leather reporting bring, even to a city the size of New York. Most important, and least obvious, is what is lost with their passing. There is a current of isolation running through the whole story, and demonstrations of how disconnectedness can lead to tragedy. Seen in that light, these recollections of what is being lost suggest far darker implications for society of the death of local news.
I read Tabloid City right after finishing a widely-praised novel much regaled for its beautiful writing and stunning descriptiveness. But nothing in that novel made me feel anything in the way that Tabloid City did. Because, through it all, there is Hamill's prose, which works with a deceptively light touch, but also often moves at a reporter's pace, eschewing adjective pile-ups, and occasionally full sentences:
Romantic love isn't part of the deal much anymore. Now the clips are full of assholes coming home loaded, going for the gun, killing the wife, the three kids, themselves. Iraq War vets. Or gas station attendants. Or men who can't pay the subprime mortgage. Guys whose wives weighed 108 when they got married and are now 308. Or God guys, listening to the Lord's whispered commands in the men's rooms of saloons or the front rooms of churches. They don't often strike in New York. Usually it's in what is laughingly called the heartland. Where there is always a handy gun. When these great Americans are finished with their bloody farewells, some cop stands before the house of the freshly dead and says: "They had issues." Like what? Global warming? Nuclear proliferation? The stimulus package?
Fuck. Stop. His mind is always wandering now, he thinks, like water in a stream that pauses in tiny coves and eddies.
There are so many more examples I could have shared. It's prose that is comfortable to read, without being simple, expressive of so many things, without getting lost in itself. I will always love Pete Hamill for how he loves and writes New York, but at the end of the day, it's Hamill's art that I keep coming back to.
July 19, 2021
I enjoyed this book while I read it, but after I finished it I realized that I didn’t like it very much and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Some of the character’s stories seemed irrelevant, and the climax was somewhat unsatisfying.
May 26, 2022
The last days of The New York World, in all its glory
May 6, 2011
Set in New York City, Tabloid City by Pete Hamill follows a myriad of characters, at least 16, for one 24 hour period. Each new section in the novel lists the time, character, and location. Sam Briscoe, the 71-year-old editor in chief of the New York World is the central voice of the novel. The voices of each character are followed as the action all culminates in one location.
Characters include: Sam Briscoe, editor of the New York World; Josh Thompson, a disgruntled, disabled war veteran; Helen Loomis, a long time "rewrite man"; Cynthia Harding, a socialite and longtime lover of Sam; Lew Forrest, an elderly successful artist; Myles Compton, a hedgefund manager on the run; Freddie Wheeler, a vindictive gossip blogger; Sandra Gordon, Cynthia's adopted daughter, Myles lover, and vice president of an ad agency; Ali Watson, a police detective on the anti-terrorist task force; Bobby Fonseca, a young journalist; Malik Shahid, fanatic, Muslim fundamentalist, son of Ali Watson; Beverly Starr, a comic book artist; and Consuelo Mendoza, an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Tabloid City is ostensibly a murder mystery, but despite what the synopsis says, the murders don't actually occur until around page 100, in a novel of only 278 pages. Before this the large cast of characters are introduced. In the end all the action culminating at one location with the murderous threat of the want-to-be jihadist, felt contrived. Making this the main focus of the plot didn't work for me.
Several of the characters have no real purpose in the plot other than to tell their story. They may have connections to other characters or to each other, but their presence in the novel makes no difference. The character of Beverly Starr could have easily been left out. Lew Forrest knew other characters, including Consuelo Mendoza, but both of them made no difference in the final plot. It's almost as if Hamill wanted to write a book with some short story character sketches. Perhaps the over abundance of characters was also meant to mimic the crowded streets, reflect a "there are eight million stories in the Naked City" attitude, but in this case it didn't work.
What does work in Tabloid City is Hamill's descriptions of a newsroom. It stands out and shines above the rest of the novel. It's a tribute to what is becoming a dying occupation. You know that Hamill is intimately acquainted with a newsroom, the hustle and flow, the action and excitement. The Sam Briscoe character was the highlight of the novel. Tabloid City would have been a better novel had Hamill left out the contrived plot focusing on the murderous young extremist and tightened the focus to make the novel about the last day before the printed paper closed in favor of an online version. Perhaps something reminiscent of O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster.
Additionally, there is no doubt that Hamill is a very good writer. He knows New York City and his familiarity with the city shines through his prose. He expertly captures not only the location, but the energy of the city. His fans know and expect this. His use of dashes to set off dialogue rather than using quotation marks helps establish a frantic, staccato pace that mimics the bustle of the city.
Hamill also displays his wide range of knowledge of artists, writers, and musicians. While I was able to follow his very noticeable naming of artists and writers, having taken quite a few art history classes and being generally well read, and his knowledge is impressive, I'm unsure that most readers are going to be acquainted with all the names he drops. Perhaps that won't matter, but then it begs the question: If it doesn't matter, why mention so many names?
Tabloid City does a great job mourning the death of print journalism, the loss of a lover, how time changes everything, and it even has a glimmer of hope, but the lackluster murder/mystery is no mystery. If possible I'd give Tabloid City a 3.5, so we'll round up and call it highly recommended, especially for fans of Hamill. http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
Disclosure: I received this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program.
Characters include: Sam Briscoe, editor of the New York World; Josh Thompson, a disgruntled, disabled war veteran; Helen Loomis, a long time "rewrite man"; Cynthia Harding, a socialite and longtime lover of Sam; Lew Forrest, an elderly successful artist; Myles Compton, a hedgefund manager on the run; Freddie Wheeler, a vindictive gossip blogger; Sandra Gordon, Cynthia's adopted daughter, Myles lover, and vice president of an ad agency; Ali Watson, a police detective on the anti-terrorist task force; Bobby Fonseca, a young journalist; Malik Shahid, fanatic, Muslim fundamentalist, son of Ali Watson; Beverly Starr, a comic book artist; and Consuelo Mendoza, an illegal immigrant from Mexico.
Tabloid City is ostensibly a murder mystery, but despite what the synopsis says, the murders don't actually occur until around page 100, in a novel of only 278 pages. Before this the large cast of characters are introduced. In the end all the action culminating at one location with the murderous threat of the want-to-be jihadist, felt contrived. Making this the main focus of the plot didn't work for me.
Several of the characters have no real purpose in the plot other than to tell their story. They may have connections to other characters or to each other, but their presence in the novel makes no difference. The character of Beverly Starr could have easily been left out. Lew Forrest knew other characters, including Consuelo Mendoza, but both of them made no difference in the final plot. It's almost as if Hamill wanted to write a book with some short story character sketches. Perhaps the over abundance of characters was also meant to mimic the crowded streets, reflect a "there are eight million stories in the Naked City" attitude, but in this case it didn't work.
What does work in Tabloid City is Hamill's descriptions of a newsroom. It stands out and shines above the rest of the novel. It's a tribute to what is becoming a dying occupation. You know that Hamill is intimately acquainted with a newsroom, the hustle and flow, the action and excitement. The Sam Briscoe character was the highlight of the novel. Tabloid City would have been a better novel had Hamill left out the contrived plot focusing on the murderous young extremist and tightened the focus to make the novel about the last day before the printed paper closed in favor of an online version. Perhaps something reminiscent of O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster.
Additionally, there is no doubt that Hamill is a very good writer. He knows New York City and his familiarity with the city shines through his prose. He expertly captures not only the location, but the energy of the city. His fans know and expect this. His use of dashes to set off dialogue rather than using quotation marks helps establish a frantic, staccato pace that mimics the bustle of the city.
Hamill also displays his wide range of knowledge of artists, writers, and musicians. While I was able to follow his very noticeable naming of artists and writers, having taken quite a few art history classes and being generally well read, and his knowledge is impressive, I'm unsure that most readers are going to be acquainted with all the names he drops. Perhaps that won't matter, but then it begs the question: If it doesn't matter, why mention so many names?
Tabloid City does a great job mourning the death of print journalism, the loss of a lover, how time changes everything, and it even has a glimmer of hope, but the lackluster murder/mystery is no mystery. If possible I'd give Tabloid City a 3.5, so we'll round up and call it highly recommended, especially for fans of Hamill. http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/
Disclosure: I received this novel through the Goodreads First Reads program.
May 23, 2011
The American Heritage Dictionary defines “tabloid” as
(tăb’loid’)
n.
A newspaper of small format giving the news in condensed form, usually with illustrated, often sensational material.
adj.
1. In summary form; condensed.
2. Lurid or sensational.
TABLOID CITY has an unusual and addictive format. The reader is lured into going just one more entry, just one more entry………. until, too soon, the book is finished. That the story isn’t finished explains why the book should not be.
TABLOID CITY is divided into three section, Night, Day, Night, covering less than twenty-four hours in the lives of a large cast of characters in New York City. Sam Briscoe, Helen Loomis, Bobby Fonseca, and Matt Logan are employed by the New York World, a tabloid, and the only paper which publishes in the afternoon. Their lives unfold during the night, the secret time when the unexpected, the unimportant, and the unforgettable combine to create the mystique that is the city that never sleeps.
The story is filled with vignettes that connect to the people at the newspaper and, in some cases, to each other in patterns that are as intricate as a spider’s web. All of the characters are sympathetic, some are people the reader would like to get to know better.
There is death in the story. People die, some innocent, some not. And it is also the story of the death of the newspaper, not just the New York World, but the death of the newspapers of the world. Paper and ink have given way to websites and to truncated articles on sites like Yahoo, making them the tabloids of the twenty-first century. There are pictures to be found on-line that no newspaper would dare to have re-produced on its pages. The recession can be blamed for some of the advertising lost to newspapers but much more was lost when the world embraced on-line retail. Hamill uses the words of The Parting Glass, a song by the Clancy Brothers to sum up the end :
But since it falls unto my lot That I should go and you should not I’ll gently rise and softly call Good night and joy be with you all…
As with all Irish love songs, it is a song filled with melancholy and pathos because, in the words of dramatist Richard Sheridan, Ireland is the land of happy wars and sad love songs, a comment that can be applied to newspapers as well.
Sharing a single part from the book could give away the whole because the book is one seamless story. Don’t wait until summer for the perfect read.
July 9, 2012
Tabloid City is a day-in-the-life kind of novel that only Pete Hamill could write. Set in New York City, it follows a handful of characters in alternating "datelines" over the course of roughly 24 hours.
The main character, Sam Briscoe, an aging editor of a struggling afternoon tabloid, appears to be modeled on Hamill himself. Briscoe obviously loves the newspaper business, but has serious concerns for its future. He is also an advocate of libraries and reading. Through his childhood memories and reminiscences of the city long ago, Briscoe echoes familiar themes from Hamill's speaking engagements and nonfiction.
But don't get the wrong idea - this novel is not all newspapers and nostalgia. It is firmly set in the present. The characters, immigrants to social elite, artists to terrorists, represent a true cross-section of life and provide an exciting multi-layered plot. The way their lives converge in unexpected ways reminded me of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, but since it took place over one day, Tabloid City seemed more like a snapshot.
A passage I liked:
"At first Briscoe thought she saw him as a book she took down from the shelf, savored, and then returned to a higher shelf. But it lasted too long, like a serial by Dickens that had great gaps and greater and greater richness as it went on. He loved her more last week than he ever had, the richness of her, the plentitude of her that was part of his own consciousness, eve when he slept alone. Now some son of a bitch has torn away the last phase of that long narrative. We'll never live those final chapters." p.209
A Note on the Audio Production:
The audio production, narrated Peter Ganim and Ellen Archer, was well done. The short chapters focusing on a single character seemed perfectly suited to dual narrators, and Ganim and Archer skillfully changed their voices making it easy to differentiate between characters. After listening to the first eight hours in the car, I borrowed a print copy from the library because I had to finish the book.
The main character, Sam Briscoe, an aging editor of a struggling afternoon tabloid, appears to be modeled on Hamill himself. Briscoe obviously loves the newspaper business, but has serious concerns for its future. He is also an advocate of libraries and reading. Through his childhood memories and reminiscences of the city long ago, Briscoe echoes familiar themes from Hamill's speaking engagements and nonfiction.
But don't get the wrong idea - this novel is not all newspapers and nostalgia. It is firmly set in the present. The characters, immigrants to social elite, artists to terrorists, represent a true cross-section of life and provide an exciting multi-layered plot. The way their lives converge in unexpected ways reminded me of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, but since it took place over one day, Tabloid City seemed more like a snapshot.
A passage I liked:
"At first Briscoe thought she saw him as a book she took down from the shelf, savored, and then returned to a higher shelf. But it lasted too long, like a serial by Dickens that had great gaps and greater and greater richness as it went on. He loved her more last week than he ever had, the richness of her, the plentitude of her that was part of his own consciousness, eve when he slept alone. Now some son of a bitch has torn away the last phase of that long narrative. We'll never live those final chapters." p.209
A Note on the Audio Production:
The audio production, narrated Peter Ganim and Ellen Archer, was well done. The short chapters focusing on a single character seemed perfectly suited to dual narrators, and Ganim and Archer skillfully changed their voices making it easy to differentiate between characters. After listening to the first eight hours in the car, I borrowed a print copy from the library because I had to finish the book.
April 13, 2020
When I reviewed the previous book, I said it was the best book I've read in the genre this year. This book is, by far, the best book I've read in the literary fiction genre. Pete Hamill is a master of prose. A couple of years ago I read Snow In August and absolutely loved it. I also recently read North Shore and loved it. This one, though, is amazing. It's part literary fiction, part suspense and is an all around wonderful book. The book takes place in one very long day. Sam Briscoe wakes up to terrible news.
The woman he has loved for most of his life-even when he was married to another woman - has been murdered. Her assistant has also been married. She was a philanthropist and lover of books and libraries. Books and libraries are twin passions. She holds fundraisers in her apartment for local libraries. She is also an art lover and collector and had given Sam a painting by one of her favorite artists, Lew Forrest. Although Lew does not cross paths with Sam, he is a major player in the book.
We follow several characters - a black Muslim who, beset by grief, plans to wage jihad on NYC, a veteran who has lost everything: his wife, his daughter, his legs and his manhood. All he has left is bitterness and a desire for revenge. Sam is the editor of the World, a tabloid. He is a newspaper man - an old fashioned newspaper man who still subscribes to actual papers. When he learns that his lover has died he is ashamed of his first instinct: to get the story. There are also supporting characters: Fonseca, a young reporter who is hungry to stay in the business, his lover, Victoria, who just wants a byline, Helen who has put her entire life in her job as a the writer of a column about crime called Vics And Dicks.
This book is absolutely wonderful. There is suspense and a meeting of the main characters all at the same place. As one of the characters says to Sam: you've had a long day.
The woman he has loved for most of his life-even when he was married to another woman - has been murdered. Her assistant has also been married. She was a philanthropist and lover of books and libraries. Books and libraries are twin passions. She holds fundraisers in her apartment for local libraries. She is also an art lover and collector and had given Sam a painting by one of her favorite artists, Lew Forrest. Although Lew does not cross paths with Sam, he is a major player in the book.
We follow several characters - a black Muslim who, beset by grief, plans to wage jihad on NYC, a veteran who has lost everything: his wife, his daughter, his legs and his manhood. All he has left is bitterness and a desire for revenge. Sam is the editor of the World, a tabloid. He is a newspaper man - an old fashioned newspaper man who still subscribes to actual papers. When he learns that his lover has died he is ashamed of his first instinct: to get the story. There are also supporting characters: Fonseca, a young reporter who is hungry to stay in the business, his lover, Victoria, who just wants a byline, Helen who has put her entire life in her job as a the writer of a column about crime called Vics And Dicks.
This book is absolutely wonderful. There is suspense and a meeting of the main characters all at the same place. As one of the characters says to Sam: you've had a long day.
November 3, 2014
Pete Hamill's Tabloid City is like book turned into a poetic mural about New York City. I loved the way that he weaved together so many different stories into such a great treasure.
He starts off with the city room of the New York World and the Editor in Chief, 71 year old Editor in chief, Sam Briscoe looking for the "wood" (the big story of the issue). I loved the references to the newsrooms of the past and the feeling of nostalgia. There was sort of a gritty romance with the city. With the Internet news, you don't get to know the people writing the stories.
Helen Loomis like Sam, is another reluctant bridge to the past, aching for a smoke and using her column, nicknamed "Vics and Dicks" to give people a few laughs for the day about dumb criminals.
There are many more characters, a victim of serving in Iraq, now in a wheelchair, a black converted to a terrorist group and his father heartsick and working against it. A sad but real love story between Sam Briscoe and very intelligent and generous woman and so many unforgetable stories make up this complex painting.
I really loved this book, everything fit together the gritty and the beautiful, the sad and regretful, and it was all pure poetry to me.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a feeling for the complex city of New York and also enjoy great and I mean great writing.
Come on, read it, if you don’t like it, you can blame me!
He starts off with the city room of the New York World and the Editor in Chief, 71 year old Editor in chief, Sam Briscoe looking for the "wood" (the big story of the issue). I loved the references to the newsrooms of the past and the feeling of nostalgia. There was sort of a gritty romance with the city. With the Internet news, you don't get to know the people writing the stories.
Helen Loomis like Sam, is another reluctant bridge to the past, aching for a smoke and using her column, nicknamed "Vics and Dicks" to give people a few laughs for the day about dumb criminals.
There are many more characters, a victim of serving in Iraq, now in a wheelchair, a black converted to a terrorist group and his father heartsick and working against it. A sad but real love story between Sam Briscoe and very intelligent and generous woman and so many unforgetable stories make up this complex painting.
I really loved this book, everything fit together the gritty and the beautiful, the sad and regretful, and it was all pure poetry to me.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a feeling for the complex city of New York and also enjoy great and I mean great writing.
Come on, read it, if you don’t like it, you can blame me!
Read
July 26, 2011This book made me think of a quote that I think is from Hemingway: "Life has a way of breaking everyone. And afterwards some are strong at the broken places." This is certainly a book about loss. Almost every character in the book loses something significant in the 24 hours covered by the story. And the only exception had already experienced a profound loss. Not all of them will be strong at the broken places. Many of the characters are in late mid-life and nostalgic for the world of their past and for the valuable signs of civilization - libraries, printed newspapers - that seem to be fading from history. You get the sense that most of them will give up, will not find a new reason to love life. But there are little signs of hope sprinkled throughout the book. I don't want to get too overblown, since I'm giving the book a 4 and not a 5, but it's almost Shakespearian in its cynical-yet-tender-yet-admiring view of humanity: "What fools these mortals be": tragic, pitiful, and at the same time noble in our stubborn, unreasonable ability to hope and keep trying.
October 7, 2012
I wanted to read this because I so enjoyed his North River. His characterizations are quite good, including his characterizaton of New York City. I had to change planes once at La Guardia, but, other than that, I'll likely never visit New York City, so he is one of the ways to get to know it.
This was a good story, good characterizations. The format was difficult however. The story takes place on a single winter day. We are given a time, person, place, followed by a few paragraphs. Then a new time - a few minutes later - and another person and place. Not being familiar with the city didn't help here, but mostly it was the quick focus change from one character to another before I was familiar with the characters. I know I'm getting older, but, for the first 75 pages or so, I had a hard time remembering who was who and why I cared.
I didn't expect a thriller. That was a bonus. This is toward the top of my 3 stars, and I'll be happy to read another by this author.
This was a good story, good characterizations. The format was difficult however. The story takes place on a single winter day. We are given a time, person, place, followed by a few paragraphs. Then a new time - a few minutes later - and another person and place. Not being familiar with the city didn't help here, but mostly it was the quick focus change from one character to another before I was familiar with the characters. I know I'm getting older, but, for the first 75 pages or so, I had a hard time remembering who was who and why I cared.
I didn't expect a thriller. That was a bonus. This is toward the top of my 3 stars, and I'll be happy to read another by this author.
August 10, 2022
Another good read from Pete Hamill!
June 29, 2012
Pete Hamill is one of my favorite authors and he has yet to disappoint me. The author used a very clever format. The story follows a motley cast of New York inhabitants over a twenty-four period. The central character, Sam Briscoe, is the editor of The New York World. During the course of the day, his beloved newspaper turns into a website and the love of his life has met a horrible tragedy. Add an imminent terrorist attack and a vindictive blogger to the mix and you have 278 sensational pages! The lives of each character, all from diverse backgrounds,are forever changed during this one day. Highly recommend!
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