Roscoe

The Albany Cycle #7

by William Kennedy

It's V-J Day, World War II is finally over, and Roscoe is quitting politics after twenty-six years as chief brainstruster of Albany's notorious Democratic machine. The suave, brilliant, unscrupulous Falstaffian wants to hang up his white double-breasted Palm Beach suit and drift into retirement. But how will he relax his hold on the lid without the political pot boiling over, scalding his beloved and her family?Armed with the politician's most powerful credo - 'Righteousness doesn't stand a chance against the imagination' - Roscoe fights his final political battles. Every step forward leads Roscoe into the past - to the early loss of his true love, to his own particular heroics in World War I, the takeover of City Hall and the methodical assassination of the gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond.



ROSCOE is a comic masterpiece from one of America's most revered novelists.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Novels, Politics, United States, American Fiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

William Joseph Kennedy is an American writer and journalist born and raised in Albany, New York. Many of his novels feature the interaction of members of the fictional Irish-American Phelan family, and make use of incidents of Albany's history and the supernatural.

Kennedy's works include The Ink Truck (1969), Legs (1975), Billy Phelan's Greatest Game (1978), Ironweed (1983, winner of 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; film, 1987), and Roscoe (2002).


See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_...

Reviews

[Ron Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can Albany's political machine run without its star mechanic?

William Kennedy's latest novel about Albany takes us back to the good old days when political corruption was fun. After a year without the Clintons in the White House, Roscoe is a bittersweet reminder of the comedy we've been missing in this new age of squeaky-clean earnestness.

The seventh of Kennedy's novels about the capitol of New York opens as World War II closes. Albany's dashing young mayor is returning from battle, a decorated soldier ready to defend his city. With the Nazis vanquished, the new enemy is a Republican governor determined to clear out the city's network of political cronies, gangsters, prostitutes, and bookies — a direct attack on the Democratic Party.

At the controls of that machine are three crafty crooks who've been friends since "their shared boyhood on the city streets they have come to own": Patsy McCall, the party's leader; Elisha Fitzgibbon, the party's moneyman and the mayor's dad; and finally Roscoe, the party's brains, a man who understands that real power is exercised by men who can't be seen.

Lately, though, even that shadowy role seems burdensome to Roscoe. "I'm 55 years old," he notes, "and going no place." With another world war won, it's a new age that calls for new corruption.

After decades of workaday graft, the thought of gearing up for another contest sounds exhausting. Besides, rumors on the street say the Feds are moving in on him. He's not really worried, but he's literally and figuratively heartsick, still aching from a bullet lodged in his chest since World War I and still pining for Elisha's voluptuous wife.

But no sooner does he reveal his plans to retire than Elisha beats him to the punch by committing suicide. Apparently, the heat was getting to him, too, though he leaves only the thinnest evidence to help Roscoe discover their enemy. The chief of police, who is conveniently Roscoe's brother, can cover up embarrassing details, but the party machinery throws a rod, and Roscoe is the only qualified mechanic on hand to fix Albany's splendid City Hall.

At the same time, Elisha's widow calls on him to defend her against a paternity suit brought by her licentious sister. The scandals surrounding Elisha's death and now his 12-year-old son conflate to produce a perfect storm, more than enough to blow away the mayor's reelection and 25 years of patriotic crime.

It's a crisis that appeals to Roscoe's "rage for duty" and his chivalric fantasy: a chance to clear his dead friend's name, embrace his now-available widow, and defend the party of good working men and women against the forces of cold-hearted Republicanism.

His greatest challenges, though, are internal. The heartache he's been feeling manifests itself in a life-threatening ailment. What's worse, strife within the gang threatens to dismantle the party. When Roscoe should be shuffling off to a quiet retirement graciously funded by years of protection money, he finds himself instead investigating a murder, sleuthing through Elisha's whorehouses, and trying to settle a blood feud between big-time cockfighters — a sport that's probably never been described in such plucky detail.

Roscoe carries out these duties with a maestro's finesse. In one of his best moments, he punches out a critical journalist, sets his own bail, pays it with city funds, and then schedules his own arraignment. Democracy in action.

Fans still reeling from the emotional assault of Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ironweed (1984) will find this new novel a different, but no less brilliant book. Roscoe barrels along with the wild vitality America hasn't seen since E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime. It's a winking, confident novel, full of snappy irony but capable of dropping into dark horror or sweet sympathy.

Kennedy has perfected a hybrid voice that's as likely to mock these gangsters as celebrate them. As Roscoe's emergency repairs move forward, the story dips back into the party's history, adding so many characters to this outrageous collection that you'll want to maintain a genealogy on the back cover to keep everybody straight.

Clearly, they've won the author over, as they do us. He can't help but address them directly, slapping their shoulders and laughing at their exploits. How gleefully they condemn their enemies' buildings, fine them out of business, harass them into submission, all the while looking out for the little guy. At times, Kennedy's delight with their hubris overwhelms him, and the narrative rises into fits of surrealism that are pure delight.

Roscoe "tries to succeed by making it a practice to be honest whenever it seems feasible." His heart is not well, but it's good, and through these tall tales he emerges as a man of both principle and principal, dedicated to a system of corruption in defense of the weak and his own pocket. When asked by a judge, "How do you plead?" he responds: "Less guilty than yourself, with all due respect, Your Honor." It's an artistic triumph and a moral scandal that Kennedy can make us root for this shameless hustler.

Originally published in The Christian Science Monitor.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

So well written. Clever way of blending magic realism in Roscoe’s memories, distinguished from the narrative of the now. Such venal low-lifes, however well educated, those Albany pols were/are. Ultimately their lives revolved around sex, prostitution, gambling, cock fighting: greed, corruption, power.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Politics and family: one and the same. The democratic machine in Albany in 1945 with flashbacks to earlier in the century. A valedictory to a world that was about to disappear. I liked the politics more than the family drama which gets a little baroque. Also, I don’t believe Roscoe, a power in the machine, would have had a beard. 3.5 stars.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Within the last six months, I've read the three books in the Albany trilogy by William Kennedy ... and liked them less and less. I guess I don't see the humor in a bunch of crooks who are cheating people, beating up people, running bookmaking and other rackets, and hitting on every woman they see. And I find it hard to believe that there were in the 1920s and1930s so many woman eager and willing to go to bed with men who weren't there husbands. (I found the same thing hard to believe in "Billy Phelan," though it came across as more believable in "Ironweed" because it was more muted, and the women seemed to have reasonable libidos.)

I didn't live in Albany during that time, and yes, I know it was a "wide open town," but still. The things that the characters do are way beyond believable, in total. Not individually, but in total.

So while the book is supposed to be a black comedy, I think, it hits me more like, "Who is this guy kidding? Is this like every weak-chinned authors' wet dream of how tough he could be? Is it like Hemingway, but set in Albany instead of Spain? And with the sex more explicit?"

For people who are interested in politics, this book will probably be rather entertaining. It takes a look at the underbelly of how things got done, and in that sense, I think has more than a little accuracy. Elections were (and probably still are) stolen, and people were paid to vote or intimidated not to vote. And there is a symbiotic relationship between cops, whores and politicians, and they probably do operate closer to each other than is commonly assumed. I mean, if a honest politician and police chief really wanted to stop prostitution in a city, it could be done. But, as this book shows, there are a lot of forces that support keeping prostitution alive, and so cops have to look the other way to some extent.

The plot of this book has too many pieces and too many characters to summarize easily. The focal point is a non-practicing lawyer and political fixer named Roscoe, and he's at the pinnacle of his success as WWII is ending. He's got power and wealth, and his Democrats remain in control of Albany. His best friend Patsy is the ruthless, violent political boss of town, and his other best friend, Elisha, is the untainted and extraordinarily wealthy former state lieutenant governor. All should be well. But Roscoe is tired of fighting, tired of whoring, tired of bribing, and so on. The book chronicles about a week in his life when people kill themselves and are murdered; reveal hidden paternity; get beat up (or do the beating); preen for the press; return from the war to a hero's welcome; settle old scores; and rekindle old romances. Roscoe stumbles through this week with what turns out to be a near-fatal heart condition. He's hospitalized twice, in between drinks, Hershey bars and sandwiches that would kill a horse.

And when the week is up, he's saved the estate of the woman he has loved for 30 years, seen the death of a friend and a brother, watched the ascendance of a new political force in town, and has affirmed his desire to set out on his own for a new future. (And it should be noted that the primary action is about a week, but it takes a few months for things to ultimately settle down. And, lengthening the book's perspective, a lot of it is told as Roscoe's memories of how he and his friends seized power and held it for the last 25 years.)

I won't give away the twists. But one twist that I really like comes at the end, where Roscoe is scolded by someone he has helped and who he respects, and it's the one time that Roscoe gets a glimpse of how others see him. Throughout the book, he's been this knight in shining armor, who has averted one crisis after another -- the ultimate fixer, who never loses (in the courtroom, whorehouse, bar, newspaper office or anywhere else). And yet, other people might not actually see him that way. Maybe he's just a guy who hangs out with low-lifes and losers, and his time is up. And maybe Roscoe is smart enough to realize that, and rich enough to be able to leave that life behind.

[Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains one of the best descriptions of how an urban political machine operates.

[Steve Smits · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a fan of William Kennedy ever since I read his non-fiction work "Oh, Albany" while in college. His Albany novels like "Ironweed", "Billy Phelan's Greatest Game" and others are so evocative of the times and scenes of Albany in mid-century.

I spotted "Roscoe" on my TBR shelf and I'm so glad I finally read it. "Roscoe" is the story of the Albany Democratic machine in the 1940's, with flashbacks to earlier decades. Roscoe is a masterful political operative who despite his fraud, deceit, and manipulation somehow is likeable. He is second in command to the boss "Patsy McCall", a thinly disguised version of Dan O'Connell, the long-time head of the machine. Roscoe knows the seemy sides of Albany -- its characters, gambling dens, whorehouses, bars, and wards. There is an interesting section on chicken fighting which was a major gambling activity in the town.

Roscoe is close friends with Elisha Fitzgibbons, a rich industrialist who was closely tied to the party, eventually becoming Lieutenant Governor. Roscoe is love with Elisha's wife, Veronica, his first love before she married Elisha. Their complex entangled relationship is a principal storyline. Veronica and Elisha's son, Alex, the mayor of Albany, is clearly modeled after Erastus Corning who was reelected until the 1970's. Other characters from history appear in the novel: FDR, Al Smith, and the bosses of Tammany Hall.

The political maneuverings of the machine politicians are richly described. Roscoe is the "go to" guy who keeps the gears of the machine running over the opposition of reformers, the press, and Republicans. Machine was wildly corrupt using such tactics as blatant voting fraud, payoffs, tax assessments, misuse of the police, and rampant patronage to secure loyalty. (It is said that Albany City Hall had over 60 janitors.)

What made this book especially interesting to me was Kennedy's use of place names that I knew from my years living in Albany: neighborhoods, streets, districts, and more. (Joe's Delicatessen on the corner of Ontario and Western Avenue - what wonderful newly-wed memories - the "Londoner" with two plates.)

In my time there, I was fascinated by the political machine - one of the last of the era. I recall that before the 1969 municipal election a visit from two ward heelers to make sure we knew how to vote!

As with Kennedy's other works, the texture of the times, the people and events are so well told. The characters and plot are quite fascinating.

[Watchdogg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roscoe (The Albany Cycle #7) by William Kennedy
First pub. by Viking in 2002. I read the trade softcover also pub. in 2002
Literary awards: PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction Nominee (2003), National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee for Fiction (2002)

Thumbnail -
The author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Ironweed recreates the trials and tribulations of Albany life between world wars by following Roscoe, chief architect of Albany's notorious political machine, as his attempts to quit politics forever are thwarted by new political wars, a mysterious death, self-destructive party feuds, and shocking threats to his beloved and her family.

What the author writes in the "Author's Note" at the end -
"This is a novel, not history. There was a political machine in Albany comparable to the one in the book, and some events here correspond to the one in this book, and some of the events here correspond to historical reality, and some of the characters here mat seem to be real people. But I don't do that sort of thing. These are all invented characters....

My thoughts -
Sure, they are, but for anyone with the barest of knowledge about the urban political process during the Prohibition Era between the two World Wars, these events are surely representative of the real world. Any form of political corruption and unfair political influence you can imagine can be found here, and in such a way as to humanize their perpetrators. It's been decades since I've read anything by this vastly talented author, but I have to say that my capacity for this type of 'in your face' corruption is currently replete.

Highly recommended for historical fiction fans, especially those with any type of connection to the upper Hudson Valley area, or New York State in general.

[Susana González · Rating 2 out of 5]

Retrato de la sociedad política después de la Segunda guerra mundial. Luchas de poder entre políticos, empresarios, familias y cualquiera que intentara subir en la escala social, sin escrúpulos ni remordimientos.

Aunque el tema es muy sugerente y los hechos que se cuentan en la novela son interesantes, la forma de narrarlo es muy plana, los sucesos vienen y van sin demasiada conexión y sin llegar a captar la atención del lector.

Cada capítulo parece un nuevo relato que no empieza ni termina y que aburre mientras se espera algo de emoción que nunca llega.

Los pensamientos de Roscoe, concebidos como un prólogo antes de cada capítulo, tampoco tienen ningún interés ni nos descubren más sobre la personalidad de este personaje.

Todos los personajes están hilvanados, sabemos cosas de ellos pero no llegamos a conocerlos ni entender por qué actúan como lo hacen, muchas veces incomprensiblemente.

Recomendado para los que quieran deleitarse en el estilo virtuoso de Kennedy, de los que gozan con las palabras, aunque éstas no tengan contenido. Para los que quieran una novela que se adentre en los entresijos de la política americana de los años 40, de la alta sociedad y los bajos fondos y de los sentimientos de personajes cuya vida está decidida desde que nacen, que busquen en otro sitio.

[Sully Augustine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a library hardback over the past couple of weeks. Great characters and an interesting underlying story made difficult to stick with and follow at times by the author's penchant for writing near nonsense paragraphs in the style which is, I think, called magical realism. This is, I just learned, a later novel in a series about Albany's political machine, so perhaps it assumed on knowledge from the earlier books. Since the subject is of interest to me, I may someday try the first book in the series in hopes that the author was less annoyingly self-indulgent when he wrote that

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading about the Albany Democratic political machine of the 1940s as William Kennedy fictionalizes here. Kennedy’s prose is almost poetic at times. Can be a little hard to keep track of all the characters as the plot flashes back to scenes from the past. But overall this book made me want to walk around Albany with all the mentions of certain streets and businesses. It’s impressive that Kennedy can make us cheer for Roscoe, a crooked party machine leader.

[Mystery Theater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragicomic story about Albany politics, people, and sordid lives. Brilliantly executed proof of Kennedy's genius, it expresses deep, even insurmountable, cynicism. No heroes here, just anti-heroes vs fools vs outright villains: you choose which is which. I prefer Kennedy when he expresses some glimmer of hope. None found here.

[John D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The backroom guys...

Kennedy continues his Albany tale; the cronies that make the New York state capital run and continue with its Democratic Party domination. Roscoe, the novel's guiding light, lies, pontificates, conjoles, romances and skeems his way through Albany, all in the name if politics and keeping the faith.

[Rory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rubbish...plain and simple.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is writing and storytelling at its most powerful. Gritty, spare, evocative, it's everything a reader wants in a book. Run, don't walk.

[John Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a 3.5 but an enjoyable read. He’s better on politics than romance.

[Manny Allende · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Democratic playbook for stealing elections past, present, and future

[Christopher Potter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is closer to The Flintstones than The Last Hurrah.

[Dryan1066 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book. Really captured the Machine!

[John McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know about you, but from my point of view, it seems like these days are dominated politics. We’re being force-fed a steady diet of it, like geese being prepared for goose-liver pate’ in a gourmet restaurant, at least until the fall slaughter, er, ah, I meant to say election, when it will all be over after a lot of squawking, feathers and hatchet jobs. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to do something different in this weeks MBR, and review a non-mystery. And yep, you guessed it . . . it’s about politics. You didn’t think I gave you that lead-in for nothing, did you?

The novel is titled Roscoe, (Viking, 2002, $24.95, 291 pages, ISBN 0-670-03029-5) by William Kennedy, who lives and writes inAlbany,New York.

Roscoe is the seventh novel in what is called the Albany Cycle by Kennedy, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Ironweed, the third work in the group. It was made into an award-winning movie starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and responsible for making homelessness into a front-burner issue with the American public.

Roscoe Conway is a kingmaker, the so called, “man-behind-the-throne,” who makes and implements policy, as well as strategizing for the king. Roscoe is the brain-trust for the political machine that controls the Democrat party in Albany during the 1920’s and 30’s . . . thus controlling the office of the Governor, and all the political appointments for New York State.

As the book begins, it’s VJ day, WWII has ended and Roscoe has decided to quit politics forever, because he recognizes that the game is changing, and he no longer has the heart, or the stomach for it. When word leaks out about his decision however, threats of retaliation against him and his family begin. And Roscoe, a man without scruples finds himself ensnared; he’s a victim of his own deviousness and the man who points out that “The truth is in the details, even if you invent the details,” is faced with the realization that his problems in the present, all tie-in with his deeds of the past, as he recounts them one-by-one. Roscoe is on my list of the year’s Best Books for 2008, and I find it no less compelling when revisiting it today. Truth be told, I highly recommend these four books of the Albany Cycle: Leg’s, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, Ironweed, and Roscoe to everyone with an interest in history,New York State and great writing. You’ll love the details, whether made up or real.

[Rick Harrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inevitably, this classically American novel ends up on a gambling riverboat. The Hudson, the Mississippi, the best metaphor for America is always the floating opera, inhabited by earnest tricksters. And by ironically honest folks, who wish the world would operate the way it should so they wouldn't have to game it.

Among scant others, William Kennedy brings the Rustbelt back to our literary realities, which seem always to be out West or down South. No matter how many authors might have been born and raised here upstate of Manhattan in New York. Ginsberb, Carol-Oates, there've been a few who render forward our gritty past. Even Tim Russert might qualify as a real-life denizen in one of Kennedy's novels, although he would seem too improbably good.

But it's Mark Twain and his riverboats that I'm reminded of mostly. He was also from these parts, claimed by Elmira New York with as much validity as by anywhere else.

Roscoe describes the world leading up to and around the lost innocence of the Bomb. Machine politics, rum running, cock fighting, boozing and womanizing among people who seem to wish it didn't have to be that way. But it did and so they tried to forgive themselves. Twain without the twinkle.

They managed to carry on despite failed loves, lost lives and buried reputations. Nothing comes out clean in the end, where the Bomb is never so present as by its omission.

We might pay attention once again to who we were back then and so very close to home. We might wonder how easily still our votes get bought or sold, and our consciences tricked. And we might question how sure we are that we are the first ones to lead conscious lives in the shadow of imminent destruction.

[David Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the rave reviews of William Kennedy's latest novel I realized I hadn't read all of the Albany cycle, so I thought I'd go back and catch up before I read the new one. Roscoe is a political novel about Roscoe Conway and his cohorts, a group of incredibly corrupt politicians in Albany (or maybe I'm just naive; maybe it's that way everywhere). I was interested in the corruption, but more interested in the human beings behind it. Roscoe is a very vital human being, in love with the wife of his best friend. So I became much more interested in the human story, and the love story, and the portrait of a place, and of some very vivid people. Kennedy is a wonderful writer, and you wonder where he got his information. Beautiful writing and a fascinating book.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I stumbled on this book at the library sale table having never heard of it or the author. At first I really liked it and I did like the writing throughout. The story just got a little too long with too many backstories on characters for my taste. However, it is a political eyeopener. Set in Albany NY in the late 1800's and just after WWII it is a portrait of the inner workings of the Democratic party which controlled the city. While the corruption, pay outs, money making schemes are more subtle today one wonders how much of this legacy is left. I really liked Roscoe as the main character. Quite a unique man and I liked the way that Kennedy occasionally puts in little pieces which I took to be dream sequences. Worth the $2.00 I paid for it for sure!

[Lucynell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the opening sentence: "That year an ill wind blew over the city and threatened to destroy flowerpots, family fortunes, reputations, true love, and several types of virtue." Promising, don't you thing?
And it delivers, big time. If you, like me, are not all that big on political thrillers think of this one as if it was written by Raymond Chandler. Sharp and literary and full of dangerous passions. Its depiction of political machinations may seem a world away because they are so vastly different from European but the principle is the same - power hungry individuals doing whatever they can to rule over everyone and everything. Roscoe wants out, but it's not easy. It's a complex procedure, tense and funny. Interesting read, almost perfectly executed. Highly recommended.

[Mark Speed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Borderline three-star, going on two. Not my kind of novel - and I'm not the target market - hence a three, rather than a two. I can see the author's done a reasonably good job of creating seedy characters in a tawdry plot. The challenge with this kind of thing is that you have to make the reader care about the unlikable characters. I'm not convinced the author tried to do it - maybe he wanted them all to be disliked, to show his disgust. If you're into political semi-thrillers* then this is your thing.

*It's really not that thrilling - hence only three stars.

[Linda W · Rating 3 out of 5]

"To Roscoe, Veronica had been a savvy childhood goddess, creature of heavenly body to which he had modest privilege....Pamela was Veronica manquée, savvy and single-minded, the vulvaceous creature of devilish body and venturesome son."

"But now he knows this love was independent of Pamela, a consequence of his own unruly capacity for love."


"[He] walked down the corridor with [them]...the three in arm, so cooing, so happy they couldn't, didn't have to, wouldn't talk about this thing, it was such a fat, happy, obvious fact of life."

[Cusmarg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old time, or maybe not, politics set in Albany after WWII. Unique characters and very funny. Patronage, manipulating the vote, Prohibition, payoffs and the lies. It's all there. Things don't really change. Wasn't Rahm Emmanual recently brought to court for not being a resident of Chicago? Nice distraction by the opposition.

[Michael]

I always love a story about 1st half of the 1900's machine-level political corruption, bootlegging, gambling, cock-fighting, prostitution, and election fraud in the Northeast. Albany, NY in this case. This one got a little too sentimental sometimes. Boring in other words. But I will be picking up some more books by WK.

[Alan]

More in Kennedy's series on Albany, NY. Fictional account of the number 2 man in Albany politics from 1919 to 1945. Party politics, patronage, and corruption on a grand scale. Fixers and ballot box stuffing, speakeasys, whores, Legs Diamond, FDR. Very good but with a somewhat cryptic and confusing final 3 pages.

[Noah Gittell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I mean, I'm sort of finished. I stopped about 50 pages from the end, which I never ever do.I had a real hard time with this one. There were some beautiful passages of pure poetry, but there were long stretches where I had trouble following the plot. Many flashbacks, too many characters to keep track of, and a protagonist who always keeps himself at arm's length.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roscoe Conway, in ficitional 1940s Albany, New York, keeps his buddies in political power and the wheels of the democratic machine working. All sorts of neat characters like politicans, prostitutes, detectives. Almost a bit of a noir feeling to this book.