Cold Type

by Harvey Araton

In times of change, American novelists return to old themes. In Cold Type--as in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman--a son and his father struggle to hold onto what they think is right. It's mid-1990s; and "cold type" technology, a.k.a. computerized typesetting, wreaks havoc among workers in the newspaper industry. A fabulously wealthy Briton buys the New York City Trib and immediately refuses to negotiate with the truck drivers' union. In solidarity, all the other blue collar unions take to the streets. Jamie Kramer is a reporter for the Trib. His father is a hardcore shop steward (unusual for a Jew in Irish-dominated unions) from the old day of "hot type," but who has become a typographer in a world he doesn't understand. His father expects Jamie not to cross the picket line. It would be an act of supreme disrespect. But that's not so easy for Jamie. His marriage has fallen apart, he desperately needs his paycheck for child support, and he needs to make his own life outside the shadow of his father.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Harvey Araton joined the New York Times as a sports reporter and national basketball columnist in 1991 and became a "Sports of the Times" columnist in 1994. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently, When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the Old Knicks. His work has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine, GQ, ESPN The Magazine, Sport, Tennis, and Basketball Weekly. Born in New York City in 1952, he is a 1975 graduate of the City University of New York. Araton lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trip back to the days of New York City tabloid journalism via a fictional newspaper - The Trib. The banter, grit and loyalty will make you cry with nostalgia. The cronyism and narrow-mindedness -- not so much. Araton's hero, Jaime, embodies both these good and bad characteristics: the son of a union-activist pressman, Jaime is also a columnist and rising star at The Trib. When a newspaper strike breaks out, this dual identity gives Jaime unique perspective that makes decisions extremely tough. Bawdy comic relief peppers Jaime's angst ("You'll be able to read the newspaper on a computer" "What happens if you're in the cr@pper?"). An ode to fathers and sons; early-1990s New York - especially Brooklyn; and newspapers.
(Disclosure: Harvey and his wife are friends of mine. I witnessed many of the events in this reality-inspired novel along with them.)

[Richard · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book gives deeper meaning to dysfunctional family.

Written with all the drama of directions to assemble furniture (tab A, slot 1) by a newspaperman about a real but fictionalized union strike including a tamer version of Rupert Murdock, it should have been full of drama, angst, and anger. It was not.

This reads like a bi-monthly house organ of an industry on Mars...sort of third hand.

This story reinforces the idea New Yorkers seem to have that all important human life is confined to their little island. Told his son is moving out west, the father asks, "Jersey"?

[Jim Willse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey pulls a good story out of a troubled time. People like me read it with a special interest, but it works for anyone else who wasn't there, didn't do that. Nice work.