The Ink Truck

by William Kennedy

This reissue of the award-winning novelist's first novel recounts the doomed efforts of Bailey, a former newspaper columnist who leads four other workers in a strike against their employer, a newspaper in a medium-sized American city

Genres: Fiction, American

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

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

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the absurdity and buffoonery in this. I think it wanders off into inexplicable strangeness at times rather than fully developing the absurdity and buffoonery, though I can go for inexplicable strangeness as much as anyone I would like Kennedy to have picked one of the two for the book, but it's still more interesting than Kennedy's other books. I have great respect for his writing skills, but it's still true and I wished he'd developed this kind of thing more and hadn't focused to heavily on basic realism. Easily my most favored of his books just for the interest factor, even as mismatched as some of it kind of felt to me.

[🐴 🍖]

some excellent set pieces (the assault on the eponymous truck; the cholera dream; bailey's TV appearance), just sorta... slippery? at its best the narrative bobs along on top of the nonsense like a cork but at points it gets engulfed. closest reference pt that comes to mind would be paul west's stuff ca. col mint/alley jaggers. if that's your cup of tea this may be too

[Murray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whether you've read any of William Kennedy's other novels or not, this is a book that will leave you asking "what the heck did I just read"? At times brilliant, at other times completely confusing, "The Ink Truck" is filled with outstanding prose, unusual characters, and hallucinogenic sequences straight out of a Coen Brothers movie.

I've been reading Kennedy for about 30 years and finally got around to this, his first novel. Had it been the first novel I ever read by Kennedy, I don't know if I would have continued with his vast library. (I had the same experience earlier this year with John Irving's most recent offering "Avenue of Mysteries"). Fortunately, I was able to polish it off in a couple of days. I would have probably lost interest if it had taken me much longer. I was leaning toward 4 stars, but the ending was not as fulfilling as I would have liked. That said, the character of Bailey is very intriguing for both his commitment to his cause, his fearless behavior, and his wild sense of humor and adventure.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another dark and depressing tale from William Kennedy about life in Albany a decade or so after WWII. This time the protagonist is Bailey, a former journalist who is attempting to keep a strike against a newspaper alive. Most of the Union guys have gone on to other jobs, break the strike and be rehired by the paper. Bailey is a holdout...he hates the paper and wants to continue the work action. Only a few friends hang on with him. His big dream is to try to sabotage the ink truck that comes to the newspaper office on a weekly basis. Bailey wants to drain the ink onto the snowy Albany streets as a last act of defiance against the authority he hates so much.
I liked this book (not as much as Ironweed) but it held my interest, especially toward the end when very strange things begin to happen....so spoilers here, but stereotypical gypsies are involved.
If you like Albany noir, this is your book.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

I became really irritated with this novel during the last third or so pages. Mostly hallucinations, dreams, and showoff writing. This literary style feels really dated, straight out of Brautigan and Robbins.
I have read and enjoyed other Kennedy novels and "O Albany" but not this one.
This tale of a Guild strike against the local newspaper was not very involving despite the oddball characters and occasional violence.The prose strains to be hilarious and oh so spontaneous, to little effect.

[Tom Buske · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can tell that this book was written in the 1960s because it's so intentionally bizarre. It's written by the author of Ironweed which is a fine book. I can't sell it at the used book store because the cover is cut and "not for resale" is stamped on it. It's not good enough to put on my scarce shelf space. So if anyone wants to read it, send me your address in a private message and I'll ship it to you.. Otherwise, I'll recycle it.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

William Kennedy is a great writer, and this was his first book. Think "In Dubious Battle" by Steinbeck, but with a touch of Hunter Thompson or Joseph Heller. Story really drags at a few points though, and it's tough to get into. Not as good as his books Ironweed and Billy Phelan's Greatest Game. Kennedy is great at writing funny dialogue, but the rest of this book is just OK.

[Blair]

I read through a dozen or so pages of this before I gave up. Not for me, as I found it to be a horrible reading experience. With its 'be-boppity' prose, I just could not get get myself settled into a groove with it.

Probably a big mistake to pick this up a day or so after finishing a Hemmingway novel, but I've got too many books in my queue to slog through something as unenjoyable as this.

[Tom Keogh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains one of the funniest curses I have ever read! I think it goes on for about two pages, and contains ill-wishes for every bodily system including, "May your teeth turn to ashes. May your urine turn to flaming acid..."

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried twice to read this book and neither time could finish. The hipper novels of yesteryear are too often unreadable today. Not interested in the characters, the plot, the twee prose, the setting, anything.

[Glen J · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the check??????

If a book can't make much sense by a quarter of the way; it isn't going to cut it. Life is just too short to spend any more time on this clap-trap.

[Erik Tanouye]

Forget where I got this. Probably at Book Alcove many years ago.

(This is not like his other books.)

Edit: looking through old Instagram, I see I got this at the Woodstock library book sale in September 2018.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit absurd and has gypsies, and an orgy. I don't think regret will come with reading this book.

[Chris Wharton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Except for glimpses into Kennedy’s future work, I didn’t much care for this novel (his first) of a larger-than-life writer character (Bailey) fighting a losing battle in a newspaper strike. In checking to see this was his first novel, it was interesting to learn that Kennedy became friends with Hunter Thompson in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s in Puerto Rico, the time and place of the latter’s The Rum Diary. Bailey is a bit Thompsonesque, as perhaps are some of the meandering tangents the narrative here takes. It’s also interesting to see craft in development—six years later, his next work Legs, the first of his really good Albany novels, appeared.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Main character is not likeable, is horrid to his wife.

It sort of parodies a worker strike, having the striking reporters negotiate with the paper about who pays for renting cummerbunds when reporters cover fancy functions.

Writing is reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut in its disjointedness; narrator admires James Joyce.

[Trent]

I couldn't get into this at all. It's incredibly arch, perhaps because it's Kennedy's first book, written when he was an angry young man. A major disappointment, since I'd never read him before; obviously, I should have picked another of his novels to start with.

[Stefanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I described this book to my husband as "crack for the eyes." Kennedy is incredibly surreal, and often very coarse. I think I would've enjoyed the book more if I'd been expecting that, but as it stands, I'm not overly thrilled.

[Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I told my wife (who has so far only read this, of Kennedy's books), don't let this soil your opinion of William Kennedy. I agree with the other reviewers who said they just couldn't connect with it.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must have misremembered. I read through a few of Kennedys books in college and remembered the Ink Truck as, perhaps, my favorite book of all time. Well, 30 years later, I just did a re-read. It was disappointing, but not a total waste of time.

[Trisha Owens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books that leaves you still thinking about the characters after you've long finished the book. Written by the author of IRONWEED and set in the Albany, New York area, this one hits home. Loved it!

[Bobbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed review actually. I read and really enjoyed Kennedy's Albany books so I was expecting more. This book was written first and I think it is pulling people in. As a first offering it's not awful but reading it after the others doesn't help it.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was almost as good as Ironweed. Full of Kennedy's rich dense language.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always, Kennedy's language carries the book.

[Emeis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Guy stuff.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

see prvious reviews of Kennedy

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark.