The Gift

by Pete Hamill

A powerful short novel that's vintage Hamill-an evocative, emotionally involving tale of fathers and sons, loss and yearning, forgiveness and approbation-is restored to print. Brooklyn, 1952. It is Christmastime and a young sailor named Pete is home on leave, temporarily liberated from the specter of war in Korea. He's back in the old neighborhood, discovering firsthand that the girl he left behind evidently meant what she said in the Dear John letter she sent him. He's back in the dreary Seventh Avenue apartment that his mother can ill afford to decorate for the holidays. And he's back facing off with Billy, the gruff Irish factory worker who is his father, yet seems forever a stranger-until, on Christmas Eve, Pete pays his first visit to Rattigan's, the local bar where his father hangs out, the place where Billy seems most fully alive.

Genres: Fiction, Christmas, New York, Holiday, Book Club

153 pages, Hardcover

Published November 7, 2005

About the author

Pete Hamill was a novelist, essayist and journalist whose career has endured for more than forty years. He was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. in 1935, the oldest of seven children of immigrants from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He attended Catholic schools as a child. He left school at 16 to work in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a sheetmetal worker, and then went on to the United States Navy. While serving in the Navy, he completed his high school education. Then, using the educational benefits of the G.I. Bill of Rights, he attended Mexico City College in 1956-1957, studying painting and writing, and later went to Pratt Institute. For several years, he worked as a graphic designer. Then in 1960, he went to work as a reporter for the New York Post. A long career in journalism followed. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and New York Newsday, the Village Voice, New York magazine and Esquire. He has served as editor-in-chief of both the Post and the Daily News. As a journalist, he covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland, and has lived for extended periods in Mexico City, Dublin, Barcelona, San Juan and Rome. From his base in New York he also covered murders, fires, World Series, championship fights and the great domestic disturbances of the 1960s, and wrote extensively on art, jazz, immigration and politics. He witnessed the events of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath and wrote about them for the Daily News.

At the same time, Hamill wrote much fiction, including movie and TV scripts. He published nine novels and two collections of short stories. His 1997 novel, Snow in August, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. His memoir, A Drinking Life, was on the same New York Times list for 13 weeks. He has published two collections of his journalism (Irrational Ravings and Piecework), an extended essay on journalism called News Is a Verb, a book about the relationship of tools to art, a biographical essay called Why Sinatra Matters, dealing with the music of the late singer and the social forces that made his work unique. In 1999, Harry N. Abrams published his acclaimed book on the Mexican painter Diego Rivera. His novel, Forever, was published by Little, Brown in January 2003 and became a New York Times bestseller. His most recently published novel was North River (2007).

In 2004, he published Downtown: My Manhattan, a non-fiction account of his love affair with New York, and received much critical acclaim. Hamill was the father of two daughters, and has a grandson. He was married to the Japanese journalist, Fukiko Aoki, and they divided their time between New York City and Cuernavaca, Mexico. He was a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.

Author photo by David Shankbone (September 2007) - permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's Christmas time in 1952 and Pete Hamill is 17 (the character)is home on short leave from the Navy. His family is poor. His mother is trying to cope with Pete's father's limited earning capacity and all the kids needs. Pete received a 'dear John' letter from his girl while away and there are lots of loose ends to be tied up before he has to report back. This book is about the issue of when a boy becomes a man ('50s style) and who gets to make that judgment: mom, dad, friends, girl etc.
It really is a novella and you can speculate on home much is autobiographical, but it works for me.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gee whiz this guy is good. I'm blowing through his books. This was a tiny one - more of a short story really. Charming and heartfelt without being maudlin. Now reading his Snow in August.

DD@Phila

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is not in my usual style, but I gave it four stars for the phenomenal writing. Not for the faint of heart, this story may be set at Christmas, but it is not the least happy and sentimental. Since the main character has the author's name, I assume it to be autobiographical. Pete comes home for Christmas after some basic training in the Navy. It is 1952 and the war in Korea is still going strong. He may end up there soon. But his main objective is finding Kathleen, the girl he loves who sent him a Dear John letter. Pete's family are Irish immigrants with an increasing number of children. Life is not easy, but they try. How will his leave time end? I was swept up immediately by the strong, almost poetic prose. Mr. Hamill's words are sharp, to the point, the descriptions very detailed. Welcome to Brooklyn in the 1950s.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unique story about a young man home on
leave from the Navy.
The setting takes place in a old, run down neighborhood
in Brooklyn. The author description makes you feel as if
you are there with him.
The time period is 1952 at Christmas time. It was a fast
paced short story. The Navy son is looking for a deeper
relationship and recognition from his father while
helping his mother finance buying Christmas needs for
the family.
Enjoyed the story.

[Curt Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hamill is an excellent writer. This is my second of his books after A Drinking Life. It was even better though because it was a gift from a long lost friend. If you have one that you haven’t heard from in years, see if you can find them. You won’t regret it.

[Pat Molloy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story meandered a bit, but the descriptions of the times and the city are incredible. He's a very visual writer.

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Hamill's autobiographical novella is a nice slice-of-life view of Brooklyn at Christmastime, 1952, through the eyes of a 17-year-old navy officer on holiday leave from the Korean war and facing his old neighborhood, girlfriend who sent him the 'dear John' letter and the inevitable reconciliation/understanding with his hard-drinking father. Not a Christmas classic, but a well-written and heart-felt read.

[booklady · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I really enjoyed Snow in August, Hamill's semi-fantasy about a young Catholic boy's friendship with an aging Jewish rabbi and the transformative power of their unusual bonding, so I expected more. Perhaps I expected too much. This is a coming-of-age story set during Christmastime, 1952, with Hamill's return home to NYC and the loss of his first love and innocence.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of the author's odes to 1950's New York City. This is a decent story about a Korean War veteran who returns to a changed world: his father older, his high school girl friend moved on. Perhaps indicative of the author's life, the protagonist has an epiphany at a neighborhood bar. A short read, especially good for people who liked the author's other works.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

I, she, the reader, DNF

[Regina Spiker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hadn't received much for Christmas in any ordinary way; but my father loved me back, and there was no other gift I wanted.

[Juliana Kulak · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 4 out of 5]

An emotional story without being sentimental about 1950s Brooklyn where Pete, a young sailor, is home from boot camp for Christmas before he is sent to the Korean War. He has been sent a Dear John letter from his young girlfriend, his dad has always been a distant man that seems most alive in the pub he spends time in and his mom struggles to decorate and provide gifts for the rest of the children in the family. It is about relationships, love, hopes, forgiveness, growing up and reaching some sort of understanding.

[Linda Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love reading anything by Pete Hamill. He is just about the same age as my Dad & although he grew up in Brooklyn, the time period & experiences of his stories are close to my Dad’s This one was short & sweet.

[Debbie Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did a good job in writing this story. Just a little over 150 pages. A lot was covered in a short time.

[Linda Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, sweet, autobiographical(??) Christmas story.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a nice look into Pete Hamill’s youth.

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sort of melancholy Irish-American Christmas story that would have made a great song. Though overly sentimental in places, Pete Hamill’s ability to capture a time and a place with realistic dialogue and neighborhood descriptions (detailed, but not so much that you don’t have the opportunity to use your imagination a bit) is what really makes this short novel impressive. It’s the kind of book that happened along when I was killing some time at a library, just as the Christmas season was getting into full swing, and was just enough to fill a few hours. It’s not one of those overly cheerful Christmas stories that I cherish and enjoy in the week leading up to Christmas. It was one of those heartbreaking, sad, yet hopeful stories of people trying their best to make Christmas special for those they love. It is also the story of a complex father/son relationship that pops up so much in Irish and Irish-American stories. The father, distant with a tragic past and lost dreams. The son, wishing there was a way he could connect with a man he admires but barely knows. Saddest of all, this connection comes on Christmas Eve only after much drinking and a bar fight. But the narrator will take what he can get.

Though the story was mostly sad, there was something cozy about it. Maybe it was Hamill’s loving descriptions of his city home or his ability to capture the feeling of being seventeen and thinking you know exactly who you are and where you’re going, when really you have no idea. There is something heartening about a family who can take what little they have and want to make it work.

[Shannon McGee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 17-year-old Pete returns from the Navy for a holiday family visit. In hopes to see the girl, he has affection for he visits local bars with friends. While she is not so much interested in him he then finds that family is the most important love to have.

I have read one book by Pete Hamill called Forever which I really enjoyed. I was eager to see what this short Christmas story was like. Hamill is a really good writer. As each short chapter went on I was intrigued to see what this “gift” was going to be. I also wondered if this was based on the author’s life as he named the main character after himself.

Even though I liked what I was reading I knew from the beginning that whatever “The Gift” was I knew it was going to be not what I hoped for and to be honest it was a sweet ending but kinda lackluster. I wanted more about his family connections and just wanted more story in general

There is something in the way Hamill writes he really does mesmerize the reader. The reader gets comfortable with the atmosphere and characters. So while this was not my favorite by Hamill it will not be my last.

[Larraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute joy to read. Pete Hamill was such a gifted writer who lived an interesting life. I discovered him late in life. I wish I had paid attention earlier. He truly was one of a kind. This autobiographical tale is Pete Hamill at the age of 17 after dropping out of high school and joining the Navy. He gets a Dear John letter from his girlfriend and his crushed. However he also talks about the books he had been reading and his dreams of being an artist and living in Paris. Coming from a rough neighborhood such as it was when he was a boy with low expectations, it's obvious he was very gifted and thought differently. He takes pains to hide his wild thoughts from his friends. However this book is also about a boy who finally gets what he needs from his father. I loved it.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hamill tells this Christmas tale of a special gift no money can buy, the connection between a father and his son who's grown into the beginnings of a man. Set against the scene of a hardscrabble Brooklyn at Christmas 1952, a time in which going off to the Korean War presents a good opportunity for many poor young men (in some ways, not unlike today. Sadly,we still have wars offering the young an opportunity to serve, and also grow by their respective experiences) to experience life, expand their horizons; to get out of the neighborhood and try to emerge from poverty.

Recommend; set aside time and read this novella in one sitting. It's bittersweet and stays with you.

[Teresa Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to 3.5


I liked this story. The beginning was a bit slow and it annoyed me with use of "I:him:" I didn't see the need for it. But I did keep reading and really enjoyed it. The message is one that many of us can relate to. Especially if we have family.

It was a short story and quick read. I did recognized many of the people, movies and songs mentioned in this story. It was interesting to see how families like his actually interact with each other. Sometimes the things you want most doesn't cost anything but when received it priceless.

Heartwarming story with a true message of the season.

[Marian Stauffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I insisted we read this book for book club for our December meeting. The reviews said it was a heartwarming story that should be read during the holidays. So of course my expectations were high and thus, I was a little disappointed. The book was too short to give me enough time to identify with Pete, the soldier home from boot camp in the '50's Brooklyn. The atmosphere is very sad during most of the book and the ending has a very simple pleasure to it. But I am not sure it is enough to recommend.

[Robin Beard · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this book got 30 pages in and put I'd back on the shelf it is poorly written, boring and drawnout.
Being an avid reader I like to read every book in my house so I picked it back up, and it has taken me eight weeks to read a book that only has 152 pages. I kept reading thinking it might get better hoping for an amazing ending it never came. It is something I would not recommend anybody and I feel as if I have wasted eight weeks of my time. I will never purchase another book by this author or recommend him to anyone.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating would actually be 4 and-a-half stars -- I loved this book. It isn't new (copyright 1973), but there is an authentic timelessness about the story and the human need for love. The narrative voice is simple -- but not simplistic -- there is deep attention to detail, both the historical detail of Brooklyn seen from a Korean War sailor's eye, and the emotional detail that motivates him. Clearly autobiographical (to what extent I don't know), Hamill treats his protagonist with sincere empathy, and treats his readers to captivating language, making this "old" story brand new.

[Bob Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but rewarding story of a son's relationship with his father. A returning sailor during the Korean War comes home to Brooklyn for Christmas. His Irish Catholic family suffers from the usual struggles of poverty and dreams lost. Hamill writes in the urban reporter's style evident in Jimmy Breslin and many others during the heyday of big-city newspapers, not just the Times, but the Daily News, the Journal-American, the Herald Tribune, and Brooklyn Eagle. Not a precursor to the Hallmark Channel in the least but enjoyable nonetheless.

[Marilyn]

Was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book. Borrowed it from the library because I needed a quick read for the weekend & the author, Pete Hamill, was a recognizable name. I liked Hamill's vivid descriptions of Park Slope & downtown Brooklyn during the early 1950s. Also the father in the story reminded me of the father in Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes" - same Irish songs. Held my interest throughout.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pete Hamill shares a personal memory of coming home for Christmas after joining the Navy. His girl has written him one of those letters, his family is struggling, his youngest brother doesn't recognize him. He is finding his way into the world of Men, and like a lot of young men, he is wondering about his relationship with his father. It's a good story.

I hadn't received much for Christmas in any ordinary way; but my father loved me back, and there was no other gift I wanted.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brief memoir, the young Hamill returning from Navy boot camp to his Brooklyn home for Christmas before shipping out for the Korean War. The language is sheer poetry in parts, and, despite a thin plot, it is a lovely Christmas story of youth searching for meaning and connection in a time of upheaval in his life. I finished it on Christmas Eve, the perfect time for this story. Hamill's language makes it a gift in itself.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly evocative...I used youtube to listen to all the songs he mentioned that gave it that feel. I'm just old enough to understand a sliver of this world - the sound of an apartment heated by steam, the corner candy store with the lady working there who acted like you were about to rob the place, the amazement at an apartment with TWO bathrooms. We surely lost a gifted writer this year, the witness to Brooklyn's greatness and smallness.