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79 Park Avenue
From the author of The New York Times #1 best-selling novel The Carpetbaggers comes a story of a tragic love triangle between Marja Fluudjincki (aka Maryann Flood), an ambitious and sensual young woman from the slums who is forced into prostitution, but reinvents herself as an elegant Park Avenue madam; Mike Keyes, a hardworking, honest man who works his way up to Assistant District Attorney and is the only man Marja ever loved; and Ross Drego, who introduces her to money and the gambler’s world of Joker Martin, and is willing to pay any price for her. And does.
79 Park Avenue starts on the seedy streets of inner NYC and ends on luxurious Park Avenue. Over time, Marja claws her way from street urchin to stripper—ultimately becoming the madam of a Mob-owned pleasure empire. Marja—now known as Maryann—provides access to the city’s most exciting and sensual “escorts.” But when Maryann runs afoul of the law, endangering her empire and angering the Mob, she must face an ambitious prosecutor who stands to benefit by bringing down the call girl ring. However, unbeknownst to the indefatigable ADA Mike Keyes, fate has dealt him a devastating blow. The madam he’s been chasing, Maryann Flood, is none other than the love of his life who has repeatedly broken his heart, Marja Fluudjincki.
Does he set aside his personal feelings for the sake of justice, or fall under Maryann’s seductive spell, betraying his life’s work? Knowing that Maryann is unafraid to use seduction to get what she wants, will Mike fall prey to her charm and violate his solid sense of justice?
Harold Robbins presents a vision of post-WWII New York that is as common now in shows like Revenge as it was then—a stark reminder that corruption, greed, and vengeance are timeless. Spending 12 weeks on The New York Times best sellers list, this novel tells a sizzling story of sexuality, power, and lust that inspired the 1977 Golden Globe®-winning miniseries of the same name.
About the Author
Harold Robbins (1916–1997) is one of the best-selling American fiction writers of all time, ranking 5th on the World’s Best-Selling Fiction Author List just behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. He wrote over 25 best-selling novels, sold more than 750 million copies in 42 languages and spent over 300 weeks combined on The New York Times best sellers list. His books were adapted into 13 commercially successful films and also television series that garnered numerous Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® nominations starring Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and more.
The self-proclaimed “world’s best writer in plain English,” Robbins wrote novels that resonated with audiences due to their graphic depictions of sex, violence, power and drugs, and the multilayered complexities of his characters, as evidenced by his best-selling novels Never Love a Stranger, The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, and The Adventurers. He once said in an interview: “People make their own choices every day about what they are willing to do. We don’t have the right to judge them or label them. At least walk in their shoes before you do.”
Robbins’ personal life was as fascinating to the public as his novels. An enthusiastic participant in the social and sexual revolution of the 1960s, Robbins cultivated a “playboy” image and maintained friendships with stars including Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis,
79 Park Avenue starts on the seedy streets of inner NYC and ends on luxurious Park Avenue. Over time, Marja claws her way from street urchin to stripper—ultimately becoming the madam of a Mob-owned pleasure empire. Marja—now known as Maryann—provides access to the city’s most exciting and sensual “escorts.” But when Maryann runs afoul of the law, endangering her empire and angering the Mob, she must face an ambitious prosecutor who stands to benefit by bringing down the call girl ring. However, unbeknownst to the indefatigable ADA Mike Keyes, fate has dealt him a devastating blow. The madam he’s been chasing, Maryann Flood, is none other than the love of his life who has repeatedly broken his heart, Marja Fluudjincki.
Does he set aside his personal feelings for the sake of justice, or fall under Maryann’s seductive spell, betraying his life’s work? Knowing that Maryann is unafraid to use seduction to get what she wants, will Mike fall prey to her charm and violate his solid sense of justice?
Harold Robbins presents a vision of post-WWII New York that is as common now in shows like Revenge as it was then—a stark reminder that corruption, greed, and vengeance are timeless. Spending 12 weeks on The New York Times best sellers list, this novel tells a sizzling story of sexuality, power, and lust that inspired the 1977 Golden Globe®-winning miniseries of the same name.
About the Author
Harold Robbins (1916–1997) is one of the best-selling American fiction writers of all time, ranking 5th on the World’s Best-Selling Fiction Author List just behind William Shakespeare and Agatha Christie. He wrote over 25 best-selling novels, sold more than 750 million copies in 42 languages and spent over 300 weeks combined on The New York Times best sellers list. His books were adapted into 13 commercially successful films and also television series that garnered numerous Oscar®, Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® nominations starring Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Laurence Olivier, Bette Davis, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones and more.
The self-proclaimed “world’s best writer in plain English,” Robbins wrote novels that resonated with audiences due to their graphic depictions of sex, violence, power and drugs, and the multilayered complexities of his characters, as evidenced by his best-selling novels Never Love a Stranger, The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, and The Adventurers. He once said in an interview: “People make their own choices every day about what they are willing to do. We don’t have the right to judge them or label them. At least walk in their shoes before you do.”
Robbins’ personal life was as fascinating to the public as his novels. An enthusiastic participant in the social and sexual revolution of the 1960s, Robbins cultivated a “playboy” image and maintained friendships with stars including Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis,
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1955
450 people are currently reading
1276 people want to read
About the author
Harold Robbins
320 books439 followersBorn as Harold Rubin in New York City, he later claimed to be a Jewish orphan who had been raised in a Catholic boys home. In reality he was the son of well-educated Russian and Polish immigrants. He was reared by his pharmacist father and stepmother in Brooklyn.
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamour of Hollywood.
His first book, Never Love a Stranger (1948), caused controversy with its graphic sexuality. Publisher Pat Knopf reportedly bought Never Love a Stranger because "it was the first time he had ever read a book where on one page you'd have tears and on the next page you'd have a hard-on".
His 1952 novel, A Stone for Danny Fisher, was adapted into a 1958 motion picture King Creole, which starred Elvis Presley.
He would become arguably the world's bestselling author, publishing over 20 books which were translated into 32 languages and sold over 750 million copies. Among his best-known books is The Carpetbaggers, loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes, taking the reader from New York to California, from the prosperity of the aeronautical industry to the glamour of Hollywood.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 140 reviews
March 17, 2009
One of my favorite Harold Robbins books - I've probably read it three times, the first time around 1971 (as a teenager), again somewhere around 1980 or so, and most recently Summer of 2006.
It's an engrossing read, the type of novel Robbins did better than anyone else: the roman a clef, peopled with characters you feel sure you've read about in the newspapers (and back when this book first appeared in 1955, readers almost certainly had). The inspiration for this one was probably the well-known New York Madam, Polly Adler, whose autobiography was titled A House is Not a Home. Another character, Ross Drego, is a gangster who meets a very Bugsy Siegel-like end (Adler herself had some connections to gangster Dutch Schultz).
Considering that the book deals with prostitution, it's considerably less lurid than it could have been, and certainly much less so than it would have been had Robbins written it a decade later, after he pushed the envelope with The Carpetbaggers. Something else Robbins could do back then was evoke a strong emotional response in his readers; I can pretty much guarantee you that the last page of 79 PARK AVENUE will get your tear-ducts going.
It's an engrossing read, the type of novel Robbins did better than anyone else: the roman a clef, peopled with characters you feel sure you've read about in the newspapers (and back when this book first appeared in 1955, readers almost certainly had). The inspiration for this one was probably the well-known New York Madam, Polly Adler, whose autobiography was titled A House is Not a Home. Another character, Ross Drego, is a gangster who meets a very Bugsy Siegel-like end (Adler herself had some connections to gangster Dutch Schultz).
Considering that the book deals with prostitution, it's considerably less lurid than it could have been, and certainly much less so than it would have been had Robbins written it a decade later, after he pushed the envelope with The Carpetbaggers. Something else Robbins could do back then was evoke a strong emotional response in his readers; I can pretty much guarantee you that the last page of 79 PARK AVENUE will get your tear-ducts going.
October 18, 2020
I cannot believe this ('79 Park Avenue') is my very first book by author Harold Robbins. He is fantabulous!!! - And I have A LOT of of catching up to do!
April 26, 2017
Ενδιαφέρον, αλλά οι απόψεις που εκφράζει για τις γυναίκες και τη σεξουαλικότητα τους είναι τόσο παρωχημένες που αφαιρούν πολύ από τον αντίκτυπο που θέλει να προκαλέσει.
January 10, 2016
Tuve el placer de leer este grandioso libro gracias al papá de una de mis amigas que me lo prestó; bueno, lo primero que tengo que decir es que no creí que me llegara a gustar tanto pero conforme lo iba leyendo no podía parar.
La vida de la protagonista es sumamente triste. Nunca obtuvo las cosas que quiso, aunque tampoco quiso demasiado. Se conformó. Se rindió y vivió solo de lo que se le presentó en bandeja.
Tenía una forma de actuar y una mentalidad difícil de entender. Estoy casi segura de que fuera de la ficción, no encontrarías a alguien como ella. Tuvo un final triste y no era lo que se merecía. Mike tampoco obtuvo nunca lo que se merecía pero al menos, al final logró conseguir un poco de dignidad y de orgullo.
A pesar de todo lo que vivieron y de como acabaron ambos personajes; este libro ha dejado una huella en mi, porque no todas las vidas son perfectas y aunque cada quien elige el camino que quiere (o que cree que es el mejor) a pesar de todo, tenemos el final que nos corresponde.
La vida de la protagonista es sumamente triste. Nunca obtuvo las cosas que quiso, aunque tampoco quiso demasiado. Se conformó. Se rindió y vivió solo de lo que se le presentó en bandeja.
Tenía una forma de actuar y una mentalidad difícil de entender. Estoy casi segura de que fuera de la ficción, no encontrarías a alguien como ella. Tuvo un final triste y no era lo que se merecía. Mike tampoco obtuvo nunca lo que se merecía pero al menos, al final logró conseguir un poco de dignidad y de orgullo.
A pesar de todo lo que vivieron y de como acabaron ambos personajes; este libro ha dejado una huella en mi, porque no todas las vidas son perfectas y aunque cada quien elige el camino que quiere (o que cree que es el mejor) a pesar de todo, tenemos el final que nos corresponde.
September 13, 2015
I can't remember where I heard of this book-possibly a Goodreads recommendation-but perhaps I should have seen the warning signs when I saw the racy cover of the novel when it arrived.
I am into NYC fiction, so when I read the blurb on Amazon and saw excellent reviews mentioning the city, I thought why not? I hadn't heard of Robbins, though apparently he was a bestselling author in the 1970s. Says more about the decade than anything.
The misogyny on display in this novel is frightening-while not 'dirty' by any stretch of the imagination, it reads like a dirty old man's fantasy throughout-the female character who uses her irresistible charm and 'assets' to control the men around her, none of whom can resist her allure, yet a woman who has morals and sacrifices herself for her childhood love. Corby wouldn't be in it.
Lesson learned-stay away from Robbins if you have any self respect. I stuck with it because it was a short read, and I wanted to justify writing this review. Never again...
I am into NYC fiction, so when I read the blurb on Amazon and saw excellent reviews mentioning the city, I thought why not? I hadn't heard of Robbins, though apparently he was a bestselling author in the 1970s. Says more about the decade than anything.
The misogyny on display in this novel is frightening-while not 'dirty' by any stretch of the imagination, it reads like a dirty old man's fantasy throughout-the female character who uses her irresistible charm and 'assets' to control the men around her, none of whom can resist her allure, yet a woman who has morals and sacrifices herself for her childhood love. Corby wouldn't be in it.
Lesson learned-stay away from Robbins if you have any self respect. I stuck with it because it was a short read, and I wanted to justify writing this review. Never again...
September 18, 2009
Best book by Harold Robbins.
November 26, 2015
Okay, I kind of liked it. It really moved quickly. The main character, Marja, was a likable protagonist for two thirds of the novel. But then it was as though Robbins got bored with writing the novel and collapsed the last 3rd into a pat ending. We get plenty of Marja's teen years, but then just a condensed history of her "professional madame" years. The sex and sleaze in the novel are toned down to meet the standards of the time it was published which was 1955. There are a lot of tears, and everyone gets slapped at least once! It was made into a mini-series in the 70's which I did not catch at the time. I was more into shows like The Night Stalker back then. As for this novel, I would recommend it to fans of trashy, soapy bestsellers, but if you want to get Harold Robbins at his best I would say check out The Carpetbaggers or The Lonely Lady before this one.
July 13, 2012
La lectura romántica no es de mis preferidas, sin embargo este libro me cautivó porque trata sobre una historia de amor nada típica, ambientada en esta época actual en donde la prostitución es por así decirlo ya una condición de las grandes urbes y en donde se demuestra el lado sentimental de las mujeres que se dedican a esos menesteres.
Lo mejor:
Que trata sobre una historia de amor atípica
El amor condicional que le profana el protagonista a Marian a pesar del tiempo y las circunstancias en que se vuelven a encontrar.
Lo peor:
No le encontré defectos mientras leía
Lo mejor:
Que trata sobre una historia de amor atípica
El amor condicional que le profana el protagonista a Marian a pesar del tiempo y las circunstancias en que se vuelven a encontrar.
Lo peor:
No le encontré defectos mientras leía
June 26, 2008
I can't help but like Harold Robbins... sometimes he's ridiculously raunchy, but mostly, he writes about sex in a way that doesn't offend me. He doesn't talk about swords and sheaths, which really, I appreciate. Also? His characters don't get happily ever afters, again, I appreciate that.
Yeah. I like him.
This story though, there wasn't an ounce of sex, raunchy or otherwise... one of the main characters was a prostitute, and considering, it was all very chaste.
Yeah. I like him.
This story though, there wasn't an ounce of sex, raunchy or otherwise... one of the main characters was a prostitute, and considering, it was all very chaste.
April 8, 2009
I snuck this book out of one of my parent's book collections when I was about 15 or so....I've loved it since.
July 6, 2020
My first foray into Robbins' territory left me a bit underwhelmed. I had recently just read Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angels and was enraptured. That book had me from start to finish and my dad had put these two authors in the same category of morally-corrupt, dramatic, soap-opera fiction. I wasn't too keen on Robbins' writing style at first but ignored that for the story which, at first, captured my attention. However, as I kept reading I was waiting for this climax that I thought would come and never did. The story promised organised crime, illegal prostitution and larceny but all of this was thrown to the sidelines for a backstory of the main character. This backstory was actually my favourite part of the novel but that was because there was NO exploration/detailing of her criminal life, Robbins just skipped straight to the trial (not a spoiler, trial was introduced in first chapter).
I don't know... I give it 3 stars because I was enjoying the protagonist's backstory but that's almost useless when there is no payoff.
Oh well.
I don't know... I give it 3 stars because I was enjoying the protagonist's backstory but that's almost useless when there is no payoff.
Oh well.
September 30, 2013
SPOILER
La vida de la protagonista es sumamente triste. Nunca obtuvo las cosas que quiso, aunque tampoco quiso demasiado. Se conformó. Se rindió y vivió solo de lo que se le presentó en bandeja, que jamás fue lo mejor pero tampoco lo rechazó para buscar algo mas, aunque, en una ocasión, las circunstancias la obligaron pero (si te lo piensas bien) como consecuencia de lo que ya venía haciendo.
No le importó seguir en trato con la persona que asesinó a Ross, con quien había aceptado casarse.
Tenía una forma de actuar y una mentalidad difícil de entender. Estoy casi segura de que fuera de la ficción, no encontrarías a alguien como ella. Tuvo un final triste y no era lo que se merecía. Mike tampoco obtuvo nunca lo que se merecía pero al menos, al final logró conseguir un poco de dignidad y de orgullo.
La vida de la protagonista es sumamente triste. Nunca obtuvo las cosas que quiso, aunque tampoco quiso demasiado. Se conformó. Se rindió y vivió solo de lo que se le presentó en bandeja, que jamás fue lo mejor pero tampoco lo rechazó para buscar algo mas, aunque, en una ocasión, las circunstancias la obligaron pero (si te lo piensas bien) como consecuencia de lo que ya venía haciendo.
No le importó seguir en trato con la persona que asesinó a Ross, con quien había aceptado casarse.
Tenía una forma de actuar y una mentalidad difícil de entender. Estoy casi segura de que fuera de la ficción, no encontrarías a alguien como ella. Tuvo un final triste y no era lo que se merecía. Mike tampoco obtuvo nunca lo que se merecía pero al menos, al final logró conseguir un poco de dignidad y de orgullo.
May 31, 2016
I'm a fan of Harold Robbins, though his books are pretty retro. Some are better than others. 79 Park Avenue was not one of his best. I really didn't like the Mike Keyes character. I found the switching back and forth from first person to third person sort of jarring, as well as the jumping around in time. It was hard to keep track of where I was in the story.
However, the character Marja/Maryann was sympathetic, but her refusal to tell why she cut her step father's face, I didn't find that justified. Why wouldn't she tell someone? But she never did. And especially Mike, who she loved. The ending was somewhat disappointing as well.
I'm still a fan of Robbins, but this wasn't one of his best.
However, the character Marja/Maryann was sympathetic, but her refusal to tell why she cut her step father's face, I didn't find that justified. Why wouldn't she tell someone? But she never did. And especially Mike, who she loved. The ending was somewhat disappointing as well.
I'm still a fan of Robbins, but this wasn't one of his best.
February 3, 2013
My longtime curiosity about old school mega-seller Robbins and the .25 price of vintage paperback in used shop put this one in my hands. Robbins simple prose is never impressive and the characters and action are packed with cliches. Despite the overwhelming list of reasons to not like this book, it felt like it took all of 5 minutes to power through and I enjoyed it the way I might a made-for-tv movie I'd never admit to watching. Not recommended but a plus for Robbins; his lack of wordcraft (and other writing essentials) is made up for by his excellent sense of pace and soap opera scene sizing.
April 27, 2007
One of my first Harold Robbin's books. I had just finished about 40+ Perry Mason's series during summer and another 30+ James Hadley Chase collection.
Moving to HR was a little fun (for an Indian teenager). These were thick books, several hundred pages, but gave me good company during long bus rides to engineering college (about 3+ hours each day).
Moving to HR was a little fun (for an Indian teenager). These were thick books, several hundred pages, but gave me good company during long bus rides to engineering college (about 3+ hours each day).
September 12, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It takes you back to a lost era. There were a few things that I had trouble with, sometimes it would switch POV and I'd be confused. That is the only reason it doesn't have a five star. We read this book for Book Club. Excellent choice if I do say so myself, since I was the one to pick the book this time.
September 29, 2010
Awful, contrived story of a Hell’s Kitchen Heidi Fleiss who runs a “modeling agency”. Yeah, right, tell it to the judge. The most amusing part of the book is when Mr. Robbins dedicates this lurid Call Girl classic to his wife. Is he trying to tell us something?
July 4, 2014
Free Kindle vintage Trish-trash for those interested in what great-granny did in her naughty salad days. Been there - didn't do that, and in this day and age Robbins' brand of salacious titillation is way lacking in perkiness. Chucked it.
February 2, 2007
The story of a beautiful girl, who becomes a "Madame", owner of a prestigious modeling agency which is a cover for a prostitution center.
October 19, 2009
a smart girl who later gives her "happy ending" to the man he love... interesting!
Read
August 18, 2012Abandoned this one I'm afraid - style (or lack of it) started to annoy. Shame -- had better memory of Harold Robbins. Guess our tastes change...
April 3, 2024
this was a solid 3 star read. the book wasn't boring but it also wasn't THAT interesting to me 🤷♀️
March 17, 2025
I haven’t been living under a stone - I’ve heard of Harold Robbins. However I’m honest enough to say my retro reading was either too much into classics or focused on wrong genre at the time as this is the first novel of his I’ve read. The novel is great storytelling and character building. I’ll be looking for more in the used paperbacks hoping all Robbins’ reads are this fantastic.
June 27, 2025
Robbins follows the gems of Hammett and Chandler of the '30s, but in the vein of the soft-boiled detective in late '50s New York, as McBain did after him, more specifically. His continuity in this genre is all that really connects the pieces, 79 Park Avenue being framed in the court procedural around an assistant D.A. and former detective, but it's really about the history between the DA's attorney and the madame of the modelling agency - played by Lesley Ann Warren in the 1977 film, one of the world's underrated beauties, starlet of the '60s and '70s, suitably apt for the role of femme fatale, there a brunette with brown eyes, a slip off the tropic track which Robbins adheres to.
So we get the picture, and it is all about salaciousness, seduction and sex. And it's as sexist as the period: '... her face, her body, the way she walked—everything told you this was a woman. The kind that was made for man.' (New English Library, 1985, p.143). But those original gems were also, if not blatantly sexist, works which used their pioneering tropes almost as caricatures of sexist demarcation - but they worked, within their emergent genres and rules. Does Robbin's' casual sexism in this '50s New York yarn counterbalance these crisp sexist demarcations with elements of the strong woman, like a Miss Sternwood or a Bridget O'Shaughnessy? Well, yes, partly, for in a significant sense, this is centrally what this narrative is about.
The first person is the effective means of revealing our principal's inner thoughts, the floating person perspective, a kind of observational stream of consciousness that gives insight into likes and dislikes, intolerance and sufferance, emotional motivation and turmoil, besides present action. All the behavioural cues that persist in everyday human transactions are a veneer akin to clothing. But we get the one-sided view of the 'hero' immediately laid out like a deal of solitaire, and gain insight into the 'heroine' via his past and present interactions, even while the longer interstitial slices of backstory are in the third person - and much weaker for it. A fuller, deeper novel comes through the floating person perspective, and this is what Robbins really needed to keep us fully engaged. It is partially employed through the omniscient narrator, of course. The slick quick delivery via only the eyes of Keyes (rhymes with 'eyes', for some reason) is true to generic type but insufficient to keep us really involved.
Yet we are immediately intrigued by that femme fatale - for the very notion of the femme fatale means intrigue, in a cartoon kind of way. And this feel is what comes off the pages. The quick intro in clipped wise ripostes, the cagey superficiality of loyalties and grating work buddies, the established antipathy-attraction between the principals, as though sparring partners in a play about cartoon characters they act out within some street-smart farce they themselves are above and observing and smirking upon, sharing the real secret: what lies between them. Faces, places and spaces are well set up, and fast. This is a style, not lack of it.
Robbins uses time slicing to tell Maryann's backstory, the bulk of the narrative, alternating between the court case and her past at different stages, starting at 15, where she is using her body to her advantage in a poor neighbourhood with a cleaner mum and a dirty step-father (see what I did there). She buys cigarettes at five a nickel and connives with her friends to get little favours where she can. She doesn't see a way out of her shabby life without using that body, her pretty face, her blonde hair, and her womanly wiles. Then Ross Drego turns up in his car, and his quiet friend, Mike Keyes.
But by now the clipped style reminiscent of Hammett and Chandler has disappeared, the narrative is sluggish and not even undistinguished, the backstory simplistic, slow, superficial, trite. This wasn't the story I was expecting, even in secondary exposition. Where was the gritty crime novel it flagged it might be? The stock characters just became cartoon. And it wasn't even well written. Mildly salacious fiction for the semi-literate.
I thought 79 Park Avenue was going to bridge the golden era of the hard-boiled detective classics of '30s L.A. and San Francisco and the New York police procedurals of the '70s, two memorable periods in a saturated genre, even if their tropes became over time almost caricature, almost cartoon. Yet it feels like it belongs to a former century, before we were most of us born, which hinted at part of the development that led us all the way to police-procedural horror, to Hannibal Lecter and Nordic Noir, but then skewed off.
It is neither noir nor hard-boiled; in framework it's more a slice of life belonging to Columbo (1968-2003), peering into the lives of the rich and quietly infamous, the invisible privileged with classic human failings. Maryann Flood (Marja Fluudjincki) feels like she's riding the skimmed cream of a fat and fatuous social elite, playing within their own rules, corruption as accepted a vice as sex and cigarettes. The stakes are therefore much much lower than murder or serial killing, despite its shallow immersion in organised crime.
The backstory becomes as prosaic as small talk, the poor beginnings, the glimpses of prosperity and love, the corners turned to get away, fleeing the poverty and want, the typical helplessness of directionless youth, pushed about by others' fancies. It becomes mired in a split romance, one turned bad, one turning good, friends becoming enemies, the set-up for a life of walking the line between fake morality and legality.
If we accept that prostitution should never have been nor be illegal (as crazy a notion as ducking witches), the only real case against our 'heroine' is extortion and blackmail. While she and the officials she bribes skirt the grey areas between law and morality, there is a clear-cut case of black and white between the first and the last charges, so it seems her fate is sealed if proved: 10 years.
But she has already had her share of injustice in the patriarchal system, been raped, becoming pregnant before her time, forced from her little brother into a correctional facility. The backstory is sordid, flat, predictable, uninteresting. Not the book I hoped it might be, it ploughed on in its facile way, and my opinion of Robbins slunk into the dross of the life he flatly determined to expose us to. It suggested that those girls who used their bodies to get on in the world were inevitably subject to its patriarchal hypocrisy and oppressions. Not a life of the mind anywhere in sight, except for Mike's ambitions. And now here he was facing his former girl in a courtroom, prosecuting her for making her way in the world with the assets Robbins champions and he himself had fallen for as a lad.
But do we care about its dénouement? Well, it ends in a glimmer of light amidst all its murk. That, at least.
So we get the picture, and it is all about salaciousness, seduction and sex. And it's as sexist as the period: '... her face, her body, the way she walked—everything told you this was a woman. The kind that was made for man.' (New English Library, 1985, p.143). But those original gems were also, if not blatantly sexist, works which used their pioneering tropes almost as caricatures of sexist demarcation - but they worked, within their emergent genres and rules. Does Robbin's' casual sexism in this '50s New York yarn counterbalance these crisp sexist demarcations with elements of the strong woman, like a Miss Sternwood or a Bridget O'Shaughnessy? Well, yes, partly, for in a significant sense, this is centrally what this narrative is about.
The first person is the effective means of revealing our principal's inner thoughts, the floating person perspective, a kind of observational stream of consciousness that gives insight into likes and dislikes, intolerance and sufferance, emotional motivation and turmoil, besides present action. All the behavioural cues that persist in everyday human transactions are a veneer akin to clothing. But we get the one-sided view of the 'hero' immediately laid out like a deal of solitaire, and gain insight into the 'heroine' via his past and present interactions, even while the longer interstitial slices of backstory are in the third person - and much weaker for it. A fuller, deeper novel comes through the floating person perspective, and this is what Robbins really needed to keep us fully engaged. It is partially employed through the omniscient narrator, of course. The slick quick delivery via only the eyes of Keyes (rhymes with 'eyes', for some reason) is true to generic type but insufficient to keep us really involved.
Yet we are immediately intrigued by that femme fatale - for the very notion of the femme fatale means intrigue, in a cartoon kind of way. And this feel is what comes off the pages. The quick intro in clipped wise ripostes, the cagey superficiality of loyalties and grating work buddies, the established antipathy-attraction between the principals, as though sparring partners in a play about cartoon characters they act out within some street-smart farce they themselves are above and observing and smirking upon, sharing the real secret: what lies between them. Faces, places and spaces are well set up, and fast. This is a style, not lack of it.
Robbins uses time slicing to tell Maryann's backstory, the bulk of the narrative, alternating between the court case and her past at different stages, starting at 15, where she is using her body to her advantage in a poor neighbourhood with a cleaner mum and a dirty step-father (see what I did there). She buys cigarettes at five a nickel and connives with her friends to get little favours where she can. She doesn't see a way out of her shabby life without using that body, her pretty face, her blonde hair, and her womanly wiles. Then Ross Drego turns up in his car, and his quiet friend, Mike Keyes.
But by now the clipped style reminiscent of Hammett and Chandler has disappeared, the narrative is sluggish and not even undistinguished, the backstory simplistic, slow, superficial, trite. This wasn't the story I was expecting, even in secondary exposition. Where was the gritty crime novel it flagged it might be? The stock characters just became cartoon. And it wasn't even well written. Mildly salacious fiction for the semi-literate.
I thought 79 Park Avenue was going to bridge the golden era of the hard-boiled detective classics of '30s L.A. and San Francisco and the New York police procedurals of the '70s, two memorable periods in a saturated genre, even if their tropes became over time almost caricature, almost cartoon. Yet it feels like it belongs to a former century, before we were most of us born, which hinted at part of the development that led us all the way to police-procedural horror, to Hannibal Lecter and Nordic Noir, but then skewed off.
It is neither noir nor hard-boiled; in framework it's more a slice of life belonging to Columbo (1968-2003), peering into the lives of the rich and quietly infamous, the invisible privileged with classic human failings. Maryann Flood (Marja Fluudjincki) feels like she's riding the skimmed cream of a fat and fatuous social elite, playing within their own rules, corruption as accepted a vice as sex and cigarettes. The stakes are therefore much much lower than murder or serial killing, despite its shallow immersion in organised crime.
The backstory becomes as prosaic as small talk, the poor beginnings, the glimpses of prosperity and love, the corners turned to get away, fleeing the poverty and want, the typical helplessness of directionless youth, pushed about by others' fancies. It becomes mired in a split romance, one turned bad, one turning good, friends becoming enemies, the set-up for a life of walking the line between fake morality and legality.
If we accept that prostitution should never have been nor be illegal (as crazy a notion as ducking witches), the only real case against our 'heroine' is extortion and blackmail. While she and the officials she bribes skirt the grey areas between law and morality, there is a clear-cut case of black and white between the first and the last charges, so it seems her fate is sealed if proved: 10 years.
But she has already had her share of injustice in the patriarchal system, been raped, becoming pregnant before her time, forced from her little brother into a correctional facility. The backstory is sordid, flat, predictable, uninteresting. Not the book I hoped it might be, it ploughed on in its facile way, and my opinion of Robbins slunk into the dross of the life he flatly determined to expose us to. It suggested that those girls who used their bodies to get on in the world were inevitably subject to its patriarchal hypocrisy and oppressions. Not a life of the mind anywhere in sight, except for Mike's ambitions. And now here he was facing his former girl in a courtroom, prosecuting her for making her way in the world with the assets Robbins champions and he himself had fallen for as a lad.
But do we care about its dénouement? Well, it ends in a glimmer of light amidst all its murk. That, at least.
January 31, 2022
Para ser honesta le daría un 2.5/5 estrellas.
Esta es mi opinión sobre el libro, que por supuesto es completamente subjetiva. No voy a añadir ningún espoiler <3.
En general es una lectura amena, no es un libro de pensar ni mucho menos, el ritmo de lectura es facilón y rápido, por ese lado no tengo quejas.
Ahora bien, (y no quiero ser quisquillosa teniendo en cuenta la fecha en la que se publicó el libro), pero absolutamente toda la trama y los personajes son clichés en estado puro.
- Tenemos a la protagonista, drama asegurado, pobrecita ella y por supuesto muy sufrida de una vida muy dura en la que le pasa absolutamente de todo (como no puede ser de otra forma).
- El hombretón cerebro de mosquito y bruto.
- El buenazo que es el amor imposible de la prota (y es el amor imposible porque ellos quieren, porque los giros argumentales del porqué es un amor imposible no tienen sentido, es solo para anañadir más drama a lo ya dramático).
En mi caso no conecté con ningún personaje. Ninguno me pareció tener motivaciones o carisma suficiente para que la historia cobrara sentido, sobre todo en los casos en los que se añadía dramatismo simplemente para darle más impulso a la lectura.
Y lo que ya sí que no me gustó nada (pero quizás esto se deba a la fecha de publicación del libro), es el afán que tiene el autor de poner a los hombres como perros detrás de una presa, que sería en este caso una mujer, "nacida para provocar".
No te vas a encontrar ninguna sorpresa, desde que empiezas el libro sabes de sobra cómo va a cabar pues la trama, es en sí, también un cliché.
No quiero dar más detalles puesto que no quiero meter spoilers, pero en resumen concluiría que es un libro para pasar un fin de semana de lluvia, el cual es entretenido de leer, una historia que sabes de sobra donde va a llegar pero que aun así continuas.
Esta es mi opinión sobre el libro, que por supuesto es completamente subjetiva. No voy a añadir ningún espoiler <3.
En general es una lectura amena, no es un libro de pensar ni mucho menos, el ritmo de lectura es facilón y rápido, por ese lado no tengo quejas.
Ahora bien, (y no quiero ser quisquillosa teniendo en cuenta la fecha en la que se publicó el libro), pero absolutamente toda la trama y los personajes son clichés en estado puro.
- Tenemos a la protagonista, drama asegurado, pobrecita ella y por supuesto muy sufrida de una vida muy dura en la que le pasa absolutamente de todo (como no puede ser de otra forma).
- El hombretón cerebro de mosquito y bruto.
- El buenazo que es el amor imposible de la prota (y es el amor imposible porque ellos quieren, porque los giros argumentales del porqué es un amor imposible no tienen sentido, es solo para anañadir más drama a lo ya dramático).
En mi caso no conecté con ningún personaje. Ninguno me pareció tener motivaciones o carisma suficiente para que la historia cobrara sentido, sobre todo en los casos en los que se añadía dramatismo simplemente para darle más impulso a la lectura.
Y lo que ya sí que no me gustó nada (pero quizás esto se deba a la fecha de publicación del libro), es el afán que tiene el autor de poner a los hombres como perros detrás de una presa, que sería en este caso una mujer, "nacida para provocar".
No te vas a encontrar ninguna sorpresa, desde que empiezas el libro sabes de sobra cómo va a cabar pues la trama, es en sí, también un cliché.
No quiero dar más detalles puesto que no quiero meter spoilers, pero en resumen concluiría que es un libro para pasar un fin de semana de lluvia, el cual es entretenido de leer, una historia que sabes de sobra donde va a llegar pero que aun así continuas.
November 2, 2007
Old Harold Robbins book set in New York, Miami, and Las Vegas during the forties. I was amused by the mispelling of several words. Curb was spelled "kurb" at least four times. Because the book was written in the forties (I assume), it was neat to see how prices have changed since that time. A shoe shine cost a nickel, and $110 lasted the main character awhile, since hotels cost about $4 or $5 a night. Elevators required human operators, and televisions required one to actually turn it on by switch on the set. Still, humans were the same then as they are now, and Robbins made the characters, the main one anyway, seem real as if living today.
A tale of a woman born of meager means who used her looks and maturity to best advantage to survive during trying times and in tough circumstances. Harold Robbins was one of the first popular writers of the genre which gave rise to such works as "Peyton Place", and is still popular today in refined form.
This book was a pleasure to read.
A tale of a woman born of meager means who used her looks and maturity to best advantage to survive during trying times and in tough circumstances. Harold Robbins was one of the first popular writers of the genre which gave rise to such works as "Peyton Place", and is still popular today in refined form.
This book was a pleasure to read.
July 29, 2015
This is essentially the story of Marja, the daughter of Polish immigrants, growing up in the New York of the 1930s, who, via poverty and sexual abuse, finds herself embroiled in the world of prostitution. It also follows Mike, her more ambitious would-be teen boyfriend, from the mean city streets to the heights of the District Attorney's office. Inevitably, their paths cross once more...
First published in 1955, this is an early Robbins, and not quite as lurid as some of his more sensational works. But the elements of sex, power, money and general unpleasantness are all in place.
While there are vague feminist underpinnings - Marja refuses to be a victim and is proudly independent (except when she isn't) - the tone is hard-boiled and salacious ("her breasts were full and thrusting"), revelling in the sordidness of the underworld Robbins is exposing.
With bite-sized chapters, and clearly drawn characters, "79 Park Avenue" is certainly an entertaining read, if a shallow and unedifying one.
First published in 1955, this is an early Robbins, and not quite as lurid as some of his more sensational works. But the elements of sex, power, money and general unpleasantness are all in place.
While there are vague feminist underpinnings - Marja refuses to be a victim and is proudly independent (except when she isn't) - the tone is hard-boiled and salacious ("her breasts were full and thrusting"), revelling in the sordidness of the underworld Robbins is exposing.
With bite-sized chapters, and clearly drawn characters, "79 Park Avenue" is certainly an entertaining read, if a shallow and unedifying one.
July 24, 2018
Iš tiesų morališkai sunki knyga... tikiu, kad gyvenime tokie dalykai vyksta ir yra merginų, kurios priverstos išgyventi visą tai, kas pasakojama šioje knygoje. Sakytum, visada yra pasirinkimas, bet gal iš tiesų, kai pats nesusiduri, nesupranti, galbūt visai jokio pasirinkimo nėra? Asmeniškai pati susimąsčiau, kaip aš elgčiausi tokioje situacijoje ir kaip pati norėčiau lipdyti savo gyvenimą. Tiesa prisipažinsiu, ne itin mano tipažo knygą, šiek tiek pasirodė per daug atvira ir vietomis gašli, bet manau autorius norėjo maksimaliai priversti skaitytoją pasijusti veikėjų kailyje ir išgyventi tai, ką jie išgyveno, ką Marija (pagrindinė veikėja) išgyveno. Tačiau tikrai nesigailiu, kad pasirinkau perskaityti šią knygą - mėgstu įvairiapusiškumą, nes tiesiog pabosta iš eilės skaitytį tą patį žanrą ir panašias tematikas.
August 14, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. It's a story about how a girl coming from nothing but wanting everything ends up getting involved with the wrong people/mob. She starts out with morals, but as life continues to give her unfortunate circumstances, she is forced to make decisions that lead her away from the one person who has created happiness for her. Years later, that man is the one to prosecute her on her criminal involvement in the mob. I think the book ended the exact way it should have - realistic and true to the characters. Only gave it 4 stars because it was a little slow in the beginning and had trouble getting past the first couple chapters. After that things picked up and I couldn't wait to see what happened. Definitely will recommend to others.
August 12, 2012
This is my most fave Harold Robins book I've ever read. I remember it looming in our dusty bookshelf. I was so bored that I read it. I remember the first time when I read it I didnt sleep the whole night! It's a page turner.
I saw how Marja struggled to fight back the looming destiny that was being forced to her. And she did try to make the most out of it by being the best on what she became.
Mike was also a character to look forward to. He loved Marja despite the trials they've been to. There's a lot of heart ache and pains that each character had to go through and its a heart wrenching story.
I totally loved it!. I wish I was able to keep my copy but apparently I lost it.
I saw how Marja struggled to fight back the looming destiny that was being forced to her. And she did try to make the most out of it by being the best on what she became.
Mike was also a character to look forward to. He loved Marja despite the trials they've been to. There's a lot of heart ache and pains that each character had to go through and its a heart wrenching story.
I totally loved it!. I wish I was able to keep my copy but apparently I lost it.
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