Diversey

by MacKinlay Kantor

A story about love and death in Chicago during the age of prohibition, this novel was originally published in 1928 and out of print for nearly 50 years. Set in a boarding house on the north side of Chicago, the novel follows Marry Javlyn, a newspaperman who has just arrived from Iowa; Jo Ruska, a switchboard operator; and Abe Wise, a gangster on the lam. Marry and Jo fall in love, but when Marry is lured away by a glamorous newspaper culture critic, he descends into a Gomorrah of speakeasies, patronage jobs, and dingy art studios. Despite family secrets revealed, betrayed loyalties, and a violent climax, Marry still has a chance in the end for redemption. With an original, rollicking plot and memorable characters, the story stands as an authentic and invaluable artifact of an era long distorted beyond recognition by sensationalism and stereotype.

321 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Benjamin McKinlay Kantor, was an American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 novels, several set during the American Civil War, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1956 for his 1955 novel Andersonville

Kantor was born in Webster City, Iowa, in 1904. His mother, a journalist, encouraged Kantor to develop his writing style. Kantor started writing seriously as a teen-ager when he worked as a reporter with his mother at the local newspaper in Webster City.

Kantor's first novel was published when he was 24.

During World War II, Kantor reported from London as a war correspondent for a Los Angeles newspaper. After flying on several bombing missions, he asked for and received training to operate the bomber's turret machine guns (this was illegal, as he was not in service).
Nevertheless he was decorated with the Medal of Freedom by Gen. Carl Spaatz, then the U.S. Army Air Corp commander. He also saw combat during the Korean War as a correspondent.

In addition to journalism and novels, Kantor wrote the screenplay for Gun Crazy (aka Deadly Is the Female) (1950), a noted film noir. It was based on his short story by the same name, published February 3, 1940 in a "slick" magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. In 1992, it was revealed that he had allowed his name to be used on a screenplay written by Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten, who had been blacklisted as a result of his refusal to testify before the House Un-American Committee (HUAC) hearings. Kantor passed his payment on to Trumbo to help him survive.

Several of his novels were adapted for films. He established his own publishing house, and published several of his works in the 1930s and 1940s.

Kantor died of a heart attack in 1977, at the age of 73, at his home in Sarasota, Florida.

Reviews

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad little soap opera centered on the loves and adventures of Marry Javlyn, a newspaperman who has just blown into the Windy City from Iowa in the spring of 1927. The setting is mostly a boarding house on a side street off Diversey near Clark. The place was not far from where the St. Valentine's Day Massacre would occur two years later.

Part of the story follows Marry's romance and break-up with Jo Ruska, a switchboard operator and a big hearted girl from the South Side whom he sweeps off her feet his first night in town. He's happy enough to play with her until he settles in and meets more sophisticated and interesting gals from Chicago's intelligentsia.

Part of the story concerns his fascination and ultimate involvement with organized crime via his acquaintance with Abe Wise, a gangster on the lam. Abe is hiding out at the boarding house under an assumed name until the heat is off. But Marry figures out Abe's real story, real quick.

The tale was good, but what I really enjoyed was Kantor's description of the speech, manners, and morals of the time which he did automatically because he was living in the midst of the era. He didn't need to research; he lived it. I particularly enjoyed reading the same slang in the novel that my grandparents spoke when I was a toddler back in the late '50s. The dialogue brought them back to life for a time.

And of course I loved the graphic picture of Chicago in the 1920's.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining slice-of-life of 1920s gangland Chicago. Although there are crimes and deaths, this is very much a literary novel (Kantor’s first) rather than a genre novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to aficionados of urban fiction, Chicago, and the 1920s. That is why I picked it up in the first place, it cross-fit into several of my many projects, and besides that, I liked the other Kantor I had read, the verse novel Glory for Me, the basis of the famous film The Best Years of Our Lives.

[Rob Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a forgotten classic by any means, this novel is still a fascinating journey through Jazz Age Chicago. Reading about the geography and culture of the city at that time makes up for the overripeness of the prose.

[Steve Rooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting period piece. Story drags at points but the "small town boy in the big city" predominates. Being a Northside Chicagoan I really enjoyed the geographical details.