Brownsville

by Neil Kleid, Jake Allen (Illustrator)

In the 1930’s, life in Brooklyn was murder. Follow the intertwined lives of Jewish gangsters Allie Tanennbaum, Abe Reles and scores of hoods organized by Louis Lepke Buchalter into the deadliest hit operation in Mafia history, “Murder, Inc.”, as they escape the mean streets and lonely tenements of East New York., make themselves into the most dangerous men in America, only to eventually send their best friends and closest allies up the river. Written by Xeric Award winner Neil Kleid, an exciting new author to watch closely.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Historical Fiction, Jewish, Crime, New York, Fiction

205 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... Spoiler of sorts: "Murder Inc." That is, in reality, not a spoiler because the description of this graphic novel says that the reader will come away with an illustrated 'fictional' account of the Jewish mob in NYC during the 1930's. This is a chapter, or a part of the Jewish timeline that frequently and most probably, gets ignored by Jewish historians. These men were ruthless, violent, and yet, they considered themselves good jews. They kept the sabbath, or at the very least, they honored their traditions and their parents (mothers) by faithfully attending Shabbat dinner. This was an interesting read, I wonder how it would have come across if the author/inksman had made the choice to convey the story in color.

[Lai-san · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting subject matter, but handled in a dull way.

[Sarah]

I really struggled with this one. It starts out pretty boring. The gang and mob stuff in the middle and towards the end didn't really grab me, but I can see how it would be appealing to some. Overall, it was an uneven and merely ok story. Good for fans of mob stories and historical fiction GNs but nothing to write home about.

[Chavi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Topic is interesting but the execution isn't. I had a hard time following the storyline. Or I could be terrible at reading graphic novels.

[Stelepami · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I had trouble keeping the different characters straight in my head.

[Berslon Pank · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the characters really hard to keep track of. This made the book less fun to read since I was always wondering exactly who was double crossing or killing whom.

[Lucy Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline was hard to follow, but the artists did a few interesting things with style and panel relationships.

[The Bibliopossum · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This is the first time I read about the Jewish mafia, a nice breakaway from the typical Italian/Russian fare we're often exposed to.

But, the dialog was arranged choppily. Lines of dialog were broken up in a way where half a sentence ends and another begins in the same line. I needed to re-read quite a few speech bubbles to figure out the cadence of dialog.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

1930's mob story - lots of quiet moments, done well, good, detail, period-specific artwork - the characters were often hard to tell apart, but still very enjoyable.

[Qt · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book is really unique and not something you’d think would even be a thing. The idea of this story was creative and something that would catch your eye. This book had everything it needed to be a good book, but It just wasn’t executed well. One of the only things that I liked was the dialogue format. The main character Allie grows up in New York, in the big city especially it being New York there’s a lot of career choices you could head in. Allie starts off working under someone who’s associated with a gang, but he doesn’t know that yet, and he doesn’t know how this one decision would change his life. Allie's father knows what's up with these people and tries to lead him in a different direction for his own good, but Allie doesn’t listen and goes his own way.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once upon a time, the neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn, had a lot of gangsters. Jewish gangsters.

Nowadays when we think of gangsters, we don't think Jews. Italians, definitely. Maybe Russians. If you change the spelling to "gangsta", maybe black guys, but you're probably thinking of rappers who're trying their hardest to seem dangerous and cool.

These were real gangsters. They ran numbers, handled gambling, and killed a lot of people. A lot. And, yes, they were Jewish. "Louie Lepke" was Louis Buchalter. "Dutch Schultz" was Arthur Flegenheimer. Now do you believe me?

This graphic novel concentrates on Albert "Tick Tock" Tannenbaum, who, like everybody else in the story, was a real person. People like Abe "Kid Twist" Reles, Gurrah Shapiro, and Charlie "Bug" Workman (aka "Handsome Charlie"). "Tick Tock" got his nickname because was always talking, like a tick-tock clock.

The story is well told, and I think owes a lot to the book Tough Jews : Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams, which is great further reading if you want to know more about Jewish gangsters. The art is really fun, too. I enjoyed the period clothing, the tommy guns, and the classic cars. It had a nice, old feel to it.

If I can kibbitz for a moment, I wish two things had been different:

1. Tick-Tock doesn't talk that much. We're supposed to believe he's a real chatterbox (everybody keeps saying so), but he really doesn't say that much. I realize the character would be less easy to empathize with if he was that gabby, but it's part of the history.

2. The drawings of clothing, guns, and other inanimate objects was wonderful, but I found it a bit difficult to distinguish between people, and remember who was who. Faces were a bit vague, and even after two readings, I think I missed out on who some important people were.

But overall, this was a good read and very entertaining.

[Josephus FromPlacitas]

Kind of mixed feeling about this book --- it feels like a relatively young work by a pretty talented artist and a fairly skilled writer, but both early in their development. The faces got a little hard to keep track of -- a bunch of manly Semitic gangsters all dressed the same in black and white. Difficult to distinguish characters without a second read-through. The narrative also got cluttered around page 30 when, out of the interest of historical accuracy I suppose, a lot of names were dropped in almost unceremoniously, with the added difficulty of some of the names being very similar. I don't know if more narrative economy would have helped here or a more languorous, expanded roll-out of distinctive and relevant characters.

Some very nice panels and set pieces, decent character development (although the father giving up on his son's choice to join the gangsters without any moral struggle at all rang hollow, like the writer couldn't write for a parent the way some male writers can't write for women). I'd like to see what these guys come up with as time goes on.

[Brad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brownsville follows the criminal career of Allie Tannenbaum and the Jewish mafia in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Writer Neil Kleid does a good job stressing the differences between Tannenbaum’s real family and criminal family. It was a breeze to read through the story of Tannenbaum and his complex relationship with “Kid Twist” Reyes. Jake Allen’s black and white art is serviceable, with lots of nice shading and several good panoramic shots of old New York.
I wish Tannenbaum’s personality jumped off the page a bit more. He was drawn into crime at a young age, and I would’ve liked to see more how he became a trusted member of his gang. Also, his real family disappears through the second act of the book—I wish his wife was seen as more than a nag.

[Anca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've never had less fun reading a comic book. Admittedly, it has more to do with the theme of the GN ('30s-'40' mafia) than the actual failings of the book. There were so many names and nicknames that you forgot who was on what side, the action was too spread out, trying to depict too many representative moments that took place over too many years. I think that could have been achieved more elegantly, like in A History of Violence. But I suppose the comparison is not entirely fair.

Although I did not enjoy the book I did find it interesting enough to buy it when I browsed it in the store, so I guess it has some appeal at first glance.

[JBP · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this graphic novel about Jewish gangsters in New York c. 1920s/1930s on my lunch breaks--it provides great lunch reading and can be finished in a couple of lunches. The era of the book and the subject matter [gangsters] are a nice fit for black and white panels. Gangsters in the 1930s just goes with this format--I just wish the story wasn't so predictable and ho-hum.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a graphic novel about the jewish mafia. Which I had no idea existed...

The story is pretty disconnected. Events jump around and you're not always sure what's happening or why. Still, an intriguing enough nouveau peek into the mafia world.

[Ernest · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's unusual to read about a mob story featuring Jewish gangsters. But other than the unique story, the graphic novel has nothing much else going for it. The story gets confusing, characters get introduced without background and you get lots of names which makes the tale hard to follow.

[Neil Kleid]

I learned that I think I can and therefore, I can. I also learned about a great sub-section of organized crime - a section rarely noticed or read/written about.

[Abraham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A (Jewish) mobster story that's more than a little convoluted...

[Johnny Mayall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. Does a good job of making you interested in the characters as well as presenting their pain, conflicts, and joys in a realistic light.