Quinn's Book

The Albany Cycle #4

by William Kennedy

"Kennedy writes with verve and nerve. His wit, always sharp, has rarely been sharper. He paints a full and lively canvas...  Quinn’s Book casts a lovely light, indeed." -- Stephen King
 
From the moment he rescues the beautiful, passionate Maud Fallon from the icy waters of the Hudson one wintry day in 1849, Daniel Quinn, a twelve-year-old orphan, is thrust into a bewildering, adventure-filled journey through the tumult of nineteenth-century America. As he quests after the beguiling and elusive Maud (she’s fourteen), Daniel will witness the rise and fall of great dynasties in upstate New York, epochal prize fights, exotic life in the theater, visitations from spirits beyond the grave, horrific battles between Irish immigrants and the "Know-Nothings," the vicious New York draft riots, heroic passages through the Underground Railroad, and the bloody despair of the Civil War.
 
Filled with Dickensian characters, a vivid sense of history, and marvelously inventive humor, Quinn’s Book is an engaging delight by a modern master.
 
"Engrossing and eerily profound." -- Time
 
"Our history comes to us, grandiloquent and ennobled, translated by Kennedy back into a language of the heart." -- San Francisco Chronicle

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Classics, Ireland, Literature, American Fiction

289 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

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

[William2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book One set in 1849-50. The narrator, Daniel Quinn, orphaned by cholera, is 15 when we first meet him, though it’s clear he’s recounting his escapades from the vantage of maturity. The traveling courtesan-cum-entertainer La Ultima must cross the Hudson River from Albany to Troy New York for her next engagement. It’s a bad day for river ice. No one wants to cross. But La Ultima tempts one mercenary boatman with $100. They proceed, they founder, they are rescued by Quinn and his boss, John the Brawn. La Ultima is dead. Quinn though has saved 13 year old Maud from a spectacular death. Naturally, she is grateful.

Maud suggests they retreat with La Ultima’s body to a great Gothic house where they were guests of Hillegond Staats. Shortly thereafter the dead are raised; I won’t divulge the means, except to say it has a lurid García-Márquezian flair. There are moments when the ebullient first-person narration recalls Jane Austen. Daniel is separated from Maud by nefarious means and it’s some time before he can resume his promise to her to “steal her” away from her reprobate aunt. Thus begins his picaresque adventures. The second part of book one drops the gripping first-person narrator for third person. This is too bad since we lose the sense of the individuality of Daniel Quinn. Suddenly the measure of narrative pleasure plummets.

Ugh. I stopped at p. 200. Had no wish to go on. Sex is nothing more than text in a novel, a simulacrum at best. I was turned off by this book, but for others it might be a great read. There’s a lot of good writing in it. I just don’t like the pseudo-dated language, the obeisance to Victorian and Gothic literature, or the sex.

[Ned · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read like a fable, told in the voice and mind of an American before and during the civil war. Somehow it reminded me of Ondaatje’s Skin of A Lion. This tells the story of a young man, an orphan, in Albany New York, our author’s home an literary world, who saves the life of a madame of questionable repute and her young daughter Maud. The young girl, estranged from her parents, becomes enamored of her savior and throughout life they share unrequited love till the very end. Quinn’s older hero, the much feared John the Brawn, is rough but over time becomes a well known power boxer (think Gentleman Jim Corbett) and gains great wealth through his boldness and cunning. Quinn becomes a newspaper man, very much self made and rising up. It also told of the Irish immigrant plight and the riots in Albany, later the four points in NYC when young men resisted the draft (abolitionists they were not, scratching & clawing their own self interest as fresh immigrants from Ireland’s potato plight. Bill the butcher was in this section of NYC, if you recall that history. It was also meaningful in the story of the underground railroad and the plight of free blacks in the north dealing with the slave hunters and “copperheads”. This part of history was intriguing and a fine way to learn it in fiction.

I absolutely loved the Albany Trilogy from Kennedy, this didn’t quite measure up but I still enjoyed it. The story is in rough vignettes of time, the thematic flow was erratic and the parts didn’t work together so well. He captured the horrors of the war with devastating prose – this was excellent. This had tones of Gore Vidal’s Burr, in the character structure and storytelling style.

I’ll keep reading Kennedy, though this wasn’t his best, it was informative and had flashes of brilliance in the eccentric

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first William Kennedy novel I have read in my adult life. It's labeled as 4th in the Albany Cycle series, but from what I understand the connection to the series is in location, rather than characters and storyline. Please don't let it stop you from reading it as a stand-alone novel. I did and I enjoyed it very much. William Kennedy is an exceptional writer.

This book is exactly what it purports to be - It is Daniel Quinn's story. It's been a little while since I've read such a character-driven story. I've read so many binge-worthy, race-to-the-finish novels lately that it was nice to slow down the pace a bit and just get lost in another world. This is a book to be savored, not devoured. The plot is, in my opinion, secondary to the characters. It begins at what becomes a life-changing moment for 12-year old orphan, Daniel Quinn. He, working alongside his boss (and most vulgar character in the story) John the Brawn, rescues Maud Fallon from drowning in icy waters in 1849 and immediately falls in love with her. It's not only his affection for her that shapes his life, but the series of events and people that he meets in the immediate aftermath that shape his story. It is in 1849 when he begins to see his path, although often he's stumbled through life a bit first before realizing the path he's on.

At times I was in love with this story and couldn't wait to get back to it. Unfortunately I began to fall out of love. Book 1 begins in 1849, book 2 in 1864. Book 2 is when I became less enamored. It went on longer than I felt it needed to, and sometimes in painstaking situational details that seemed unnecessary to the advancement of the story. Despite that bit of fatigue towards the end, I thought it was a wonderful read. As other reviewers have mentioned, there is a bit of magical realism involved. It was unexpected, but expertly placed to make me sit up and say, 'wait, what?' and generally followed by humorous moments. I rather enjoyed that. One more note that folks may want to know: This is definitely not a book for young readers, or anyone sensitive to violence or vulgarity. There are moments of adult content, violence, and ethnic stereotypes, as one might expect from a Civil War Era setting. I'd say it's not a bookfor everyone, but if you're open to it, it's worth a read.

This title was originally released in 1988 and re-released as an ebook in January, 2017. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

[Tim Velegol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've now read all 6 of Kennedy's Albany novels and declare him one of America's top 5 novelists of all time. Quinn's Book, Legs, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, Ironweed, Very Old Bones, and The Flaming Corsage comprise a set of vivid, violent, and voluptuous stories that capture a time and place every bit as effectively - and stimulatingly - as Faulkner's legendary and slightly superior tales of Yoknapatawpha County. His experimenting with magical realism doesn't go too far astray and his painting of the Irish immigrant's - and human - condition, while often told with a detached irony, is full of sympathy. The first chapter of Quinn's Book alone is a marvel of storytelling and stands as a testament to Kennedy's imagination and virtuosity. Delightful.

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 5 out of 5]

GNab I received a free electronic copy of this novel, originally published by Penguin in 1989, from Netgalley, William Kennedy, and Open Road Integrated Media in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

This is the first I have read by William Kennedy. I will have to get his first four Albany books! Kennedy's style is similar to that of Richard Sullivan whom I adore.

This is an excellent historical set in New York State - Albany and Saratoga between 1849 and 1864. We follow the quirky lives of Magdalena and John, and Maud and Daniel through thick and thin, war and peace. We occasionally push the envelope on the mystical and sensuality is a prime factor, but the tale draws us through this stretch of history hitting the highlights -from the multiple tragedies hitting Albany in 1849 - the city decimated by flood and fire, the Irish population, the newspaper business and the draft riots, mass transit to the civil war. Lots of information, presented in an excellent voice.

pub date Jan 3, 2017
Open Road Integrated Media
Originally published May 6,1989 by Penguin Books

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

AN ENTERTAINING READ.

“But I did begin to see that violence was the norm of this bellicose world.” (Kindle Locations 711-712).

Liked it. Didn’t love it. Time, place and characters all engaging; none compelling. My favorite passage (Kindle Locations 3375-3460) was Quinn’s speech sharing the war’s reality of the Civil War—when it wasn’t the popular or patriotic thing to do.

Recommendation: Of some historical significance. Worth reading.

“…where lay a generation of blasted sons: seven thousand dead in a single battle, dead in a great wedge of slaughter, their brains and bowels blown out of them, and they then left to rot on a field consecrated by national treachery and endemic madness. And the killing moved on to greener pastures.” (Kindle Locations 2807-2809).

Open Road Media. Kindle Edition. 4465 Kindle Locations, 213 pages.

[Sallie Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this author’s writing style. It’s a coming of age novel about an Irish orphan named Quinn. Kennedy uses a lot of words that required use of the dictionary function on my iPad but nevertheless I loved his lyrical style with a touch of magical realism. The time frame is the 1840’s to the 1860’s and the story is loosely based on historical incidents around Albany New York and in the south during the Civil War. If Kennedy’s descriptions of Quinn’s introduction to the fairer sex doesn’t make you laugh out loud then you must be totally lacking any sense of humor!

[Bookish]

A long time ago I read William Kennedy’s Ironweed, and loved it. Like that novel, and a number of Kennedy’s other books, Quinn’s Book is set in the author’s hometown of Albany, New York, though here the century is the 19th, roughly a half dozen decades prior to the time-frame of Ironweed and its sequels. Right from the get-go the period-pastiche language is rich, elaborate, convincing, and slyly fun. A sprawling Dickensian tale set against potent historical backdrops, including the Underground Railroad and Civil War, it follows the life of Daniel Quinn, orphaned as a teen, destined for a journalistic career. Like Pip in Great Expectations, who falls in love with Estella, Quinn falls for Maud Fallon early on, and I’ll need to read more to see how things turn out between them! —Phil (https://www.bookish.com/articles/book...)

[Lobstergirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Combining elements of picaresque, bildungsroman, and magical realism, this novel tells the story of the orphaned Daniel Quinn, from 1849 Albany to 1864 Saratoga, as he falls in love with the elusive Maud and has a series of odd, often violent adventures. Quirkiness abounds. Early on, the corpse of a drowned courtesan (Maud's aunt and chaperone), lying atop a catafalque in an Albany parlor, is mounted by a determined necrophile (Daniel's boss). His passionate thrusting creates enough friction to warm the body back to life. As this is happening, the lady of the house watches, and masturbates. Later, the virginal Maud shows her breasts to a cake.

[Krizia Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Quinn's Book" reminds me of Isabelle Allende's "House of the Spirits". Kennedy uses magic realism in his novel but it was more historical, more realism than magic. Just the right amount of magic for me. It was full of unforgettable characters that you would definitely love and I bet not relate too. The summary at the back was not wrong in saying that this book has full of Darwinian characters. I love love Daniel Quinn and I love how his love for Maud evolves. This is definitely a great love story, fit for the big screen. My P10.00 was well worth it!

[Whiskey Tango]

Daniel Quinn, a Civil War correspondent, recalls his adolescence in Albany and his 15-year-old pursuit of Maud Fallon, an actress famous for her nude interrelations of characters from Keats and Shelley.

Hillegond Roseboom is the daughter of a tavern-keeper "of bibulous repute"; she marries the wealthy Petrus Staats whose ancestors first settled in Fort Orange—later renamed Albany—in 1638 and who, through hard work and business acumen, become one of Albany's socially prominent, old-money families. Although Hillegond marries primarily for money, she is not haughty, but rather affable, industrious, and one of Kennedy's hearth goddesses.

She warmly welcomes Quinn and Maud into her mansion on the wintery night of the opening cataclysms; she opens her mansion to the Ryan family the night Toddy Ryan is killed and to fugitive slaves whom she helps to freedom on the Underground Railroad. While her murder is part of the novel's suspense and a tragedy that Quinn must transcend, her manor house symbolizes new beginnings, a fact evident in the novel's denouement when Quinn and Maud renew their love for each other in Hillegond's stately house.

Born in London and educated at Oxford as a "merchant-scientist," Lyman Fitzgibbon arrives in America and marries Emily Taylor, whose family amassed a fortune in shipping. Lyman also becomes Petrus Staats's partner in the nail workscum-ironworks-cum-stove-making foundry. By investing in insurance, banks, railroads, and land, Lyman Fitzgibbon becomes one of Albany's richest and most respected citizens, and thus becomes a model of the landed gentry and the self-made American.

John the Brawn McGee typifies the struggle of the Irish immigrant to succeed in America. After losing his canal boat, he becomes a "river rat" transporting legal goods and contraband on the Hudson River. McGee becomes young Daniel Quinn's employer and master. As one who seizes any opportunity, McGee, accompanied by Quinn, rows out onto the ice-clogged Hudson, not to rescue Magdalena Colon and Maud Fallon, but to save Magdalena's trunk and its contents. He seizes other opportunities, as well: In a humorously bawdy scene, he makes love to Magdalena's corpse and thereby resurrects her; he appoints himself as her bodyguard; and to cut down expenses, he puts the sleeping Daniel Quinn off the boat. When he knocks down Michael Hennessey, a world champion boxer, McGee launches a boxing career that eventually makes him a world champion. He becomes the owner of the Blue Heaven bar in Albany's lumber district; with his fists and brickbats he polices voting precincts and ballot boxes for the Democrats; he owns sixteen gambling houses, all sanctioned by grateful Democrats; and he also becomes a principal stockholder in Saratoga Springs' new race track.

Similar to McGee, Magdalena Colon (her stage name is La Ultima) is motivated by a desire to get on in life, and she does anything to secure fame and fortune: using Hispanicized English, crossing the ice-clogged Hudson River as a publicity stunt, and even returning to the stage after her "resurrection" to perform her famous and lascivious Spider Dance.

Magdalena eventually marries the lecherous but wealthy Obadiah Griswold, a carriage and sleigh manufacturer and equal partner with McGee in Saratoga's new race track. Attesting to her fame and social position are the "great droves" of socially mixed people attending her "proximate death" celebration. According to Quinn, however, Magdalena's greatest accomplishments are her abilities to survive "as a solitary woman in a hostile world" and to nurture the "incredible Maud."

Although Joshua's characterization typifies the slavery issue, it also becomes part of the novel's "inch-pace" progress.

When he escapes to New York's Five Points neighborhood, he aligns himself with an underworld gang, a precursor to the black gangsters in Harlem in the 1920s. Joshua becomes friends with John the Brawn McGee, first as a sparring partner and then as a dealer in McGee's gambling emporiums where, as part of his legacy of revenge, Joshua becomes a "nimble-fingered fleecer" of white men.

Joshua's death at the hands of the white mob during the draft riots underscores the novel's theme of violence, and his and his father's fates become poignant reminders of the cost of progress, which paves the way for a black woman "with a fistful of money" to bet at Saratoga Springs' racecourse.

The Plum family comprise a lower social level. Generally, the Plums are a bad lot—Kennedy often puns on their family name—and Ezra, the first known American Plum, appears in 1759, becomes the city's official "whipper," then the official hangman, and is eventually murdered by his own grandson, Jeremiah.

The Plum family history includes horse stealing, incest, and murder. Eli "Peaches" Plum's characterization underscores the Civil War's injustices when, as a bounty jumper, Peaches joins the Union Army eighteen different times at $50 an enlistment. The last time Peaches returns home to give his father the enlistment bonus, his father tells him to rejoin and not come home because Peaches is going to war in place of his lawyer brother, "a son the father couldn't do without, the way he could do without Peaches." During his first battle, Peaches is so scared that he bolts, is caught, tried, and executed as a warning to others. Along with the Forty-Fourth Regiment, Quinn witnesses Peaches's execution in another rite of passage.

To complement the novel's inch-pace progress and to develop the love story at the heart of the novel, Kennedy uses the bildungsroman motif in relating the lives, times, and experiences of the central protagonists, Daniel Quinn and Maud Lucin da Fallon. After the death of his parents and sister during the 1849 cholera epidemic, fifteen-year-old Quinn sallies forth into life, first working for the tyrannical Masterson on his canal boat, and then running away to work for John the Brawn McGee. Quinn undergoes his next rite of passage when he rescues Maud from the ice-clogged Hudson and pledges to kidnap her one day, the beginning of the love story. Quinn also wants to succeed in life, and under Will Canaday's tutelage, Quinn reads voraciously, especially the Albany Chronicle, the newspaper Canaday founded. Quinn's experiences continue when he becomes a newspaper reporter and reports those events that symbolize the nation's destiny: the treatment of the slaves and the Irish, the 1863 New York Draft Riots, and the Civil War.

Maud Fallon is precocious: At two years of age she recites the Ave Maria in Latin, and at four she begins a diary and fills four notebooks with poetic language.

When Maud's father is forced off his land in Ireland, he joins the farmers' rebellion, is arrested, but escapes to Canada. Maud's mother then sends her to live with Magdalena Colon, her aunt. Although Maud's initiation begins when she travels to the United States with Magdalena, her other significant experiences occur when she becomes a "sojourning spiritualist," when she becomes a "daring danseuse," and especially when, to quote Quinn, she performs her Mazeppa act during which Maud "barebacked, perhaps also bare buttocked and bare busted . . . climbed those Albany platforms to scandalously glamorous international heights." Moreover, as Maud's foster-mother, Magdalena also teaches Maud how to survive as a woman in a hostile world.

Quinn's and Maud's love story weaves its way through the narrative and is resolved in the closing pages. In the traditional hero-meets-heroine formula, various forces always separate the lovers.

John the Brawn McGee willfully puts the sleeping Quinn ashore, and when Quinn finds Maud again in Saratoga, Maud stages her own mysterious disappearance so she can help Magdalena. In 1858, when Maud says she is interested in making money, Quinn petulantly spurns her.

Then the Civil War intervenes, and Maud dreams that Quinn, who is a war correspondent, has been killed by a cannonball. Quinn has, in fact, been struck by a spent cannonball that broke his leg. Six years later, the two are reunited, and Quinn kidnaps Maud as he so long ago promised.

While the plot summary suggests high melodrama, the love story is grounded in reality. In the initial stages of their love, Quinn is youthfully romantic and often fantasizes about kidnapping Maud. Being more practical than he, Maud knows they are too young. When they are reunited in Saratoga Springs—itself a symbol of new beginnings and new lives—they are mature and ready "at last for love."

Just as Magdalena is Maud's foster mother, two characters become Quinn's foster fathers. Will Canaday fosters Quinn's career as a newspaper and war correspondent. Emmett Daugherty lives down the road from Quinn's family, and when Quinn's family perishes during the cholera plague, he takes the young Quinn into his house and eventually secures him a job on Masterson's canal boat. Emmett is another Irishman who, through hard work, becomes successful. As Lyman Fitzgibbon's driver on the trip to purchase land for the new railroad, Emmett saves Lyman and his lawyer when local mountain men threaten to tar and feather both of them. In addition, Emmett rises quickly in Lyman's ironworks from apprentice to chief grievance spokesman.

[Eden Elwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rescued this little gem from the discard shelf at the Library, recognizing the author and appreciating the aesthetic of the cover.

Little did I know what I was in for.

Some books can straddle the line between two or more genres, but this one is strictly historical fiction. I’m blessed that it took me so long to get around to reading it, because at my time of acquiring the book I didn’t have my current appreciation of the genre.

After Centennial, I am happy to say that I am now someone who can sit down and enjoy the journey of history when combined with well written fiction.

This book was definitely a journey, and a lifetime’s worth of one.

The novel followed Daniel Quinn, and his life long journey (starting at just the age of 15!) to gain the love and passion of Maude Falon, the niece and apprentice of La Ultima, a famous courtesan. Exotic dancer. Harlot. Whatever you want to call it, she was the most glamorous and rich someone of this profession could be in mid 19th century America.

Knowing that this is kind of company the protagonist keeps - along with rich publishers, richer widows, rebels, and the crudest, most brutal of ferrymen and river rats - one could infer that the content rating on this book would be just as… extreme.

But this book goes beyond just that. WARNING. NOT A BOOK FOR SOFT EYES.

Within the first 50 pages, Quinn’s book introduces it’s readers to mass death, plague, natural disaster, cannibalism, profanities, necrophilia, the darkest depths of poverty, slavery, and I’m just going to stop here because the list doesn’t. You get the picture. It’s a tough book.

I do always evaluate book like this with a deep thoughtfulness because they demand it. Not only do I try to come to the content with a desire to learn, but also with a critical eye. Is this just a flashy display of tragedy and humanities filth in order to create a shocking hook, or is it an accurate depiction?

In this case, I believe it to be both. Which makes it all the more tumultuous.

Everything about this book is flashy- it’s a romantic historical fiction! That could very easily be boring.

But it wasn’t.

If you know me and my desires to stay as far away as possible from romantic novels, than this claim’s significance in my overall rating is understood. (Right after finishing the novel I watched Moulin Rouge. I can very easily say that this might be the non-musical American equivalent.)

The characters were all so delightfully different and vividly visualized. Not only did they bring Spider Dances and Creative Methods of Torture, but there were séances and cults and rebellions! Like I said, this book was a journey. Never a dull moment, and the pacing work was done wonderfully.

The point that I am trying to make amidst all of this bewilderment (still recovering) is that the tragic dominoes of the opening, despite being a frivolous hook, were consistent with the sustained tone of the book so it wasn’t out of place.

The entire book was a sort of testament to the radical, every evolving period of American history in which so much for the future of the country was decided.

Back to my earlier question (Frivolous hook or accurate depiction? Both.) , I think that the other reason this book was so effective was due to it’s basis in reality. The time period of the setting really was as crazy as this book made it out to be, and all of the best historical fiction is based in historical fact.

Just like with Centennial, which I will always use as the golden standard of historical fiction, I could almost feel the research leaching out of the book and into my brain. It is so saturated with real events and documents that it’s sometimes hard to remember that the main characters are fictional.

This book presented entire familial genealogies! Talk about development. And it is this kind of imagination, and dedication to the text, that really allowed the characters to jump out of the novel and into reality.

I am now of the stark opinion that William Kennedy is a great writer.

However, as you will notice my the “minus one” in my rating, the book wasn’t perfect.

I known I have a bias against romance novels and passionate content, but I did feel a lack created in this book due to the presence of romance.

The novel focuses on Quinn’s life and his quest for love, as I said before. But with historical fiction I am always pining for some greater purpose, whether it be to educate or pose a philosophical question. This book had a little bit of that; there were some anecdotes from the Civil War and famous rebellions which I really learned a lot from. And Quinn is quite the poetic thinker, so there was plenty of existential provocation. (Another great thing about the book- the poetic prose of Kennedy. Beautiful meter and figurative language.)

But beyond those tid-bits of greater meaning, it was just a love story. The beginning and end were both laid on the foundation of romance, and (biased statement forthcoming) that does not seem to validate the decision to use historical fiction as the medium for this story.

There was one other technical thing that really confused me about this book. For the first 2/3 of the book it was fine: first part was 1st person POV, second part was 3rd.

But the third section of the book (it was purposefully divided) was at first startling to read. It phased in-between first and third person perspective. It was intriguing at first, but I ultimately thought it was an editorial error. But then it kept happening.

And it got slightly annoying.

It’s just jarring to the system to go from “I did this” to “and then Quinn did this” in the middle of a page.

I’m assuming there is a reason William Kennedy did this. Maybe it symbolizes that Quinn was the narrator of his own story all along, or something deeper like how presence of mind influences our actions. If I think really, really, hard maybe I could write a decent little essay on the topic of hos perspective was used in this book.

But I really don’t want to think that hard, and I don’t know anyone who would want to while reading a romance novel. The use of perspective shift was a poor choice in this novel.

In conclusion, I really did enjoy this book because of the characters, writing, and the historical context everything was set in. There were lots of great grammatical quirks - for example, a multiple page paragraph comprised of entirely one sentence - and it gave me a lot to think about.

Quinn’s Book is a tragic tale of how death and turmoil are one of the few defined realities in humanity.

I will repeat my previous warning of know what you are getting yourself into before cracking open this books cover and curling up with a cup of tea. Something a little stronger would be more suitable. And maybe sit on a stiff wooden chair. Prepare yourself.

But, if you are not concerned with mature content (In terms of sexuality and violence. More the latter than the former, surprisingly.), than read away. It’s a wonderful ride.

[grantlovesbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yesterday (31,03,21) I went to visit Vancouver's used book shops to see what I could find.
The friendly shopkeeper asked if he could help me.
I'm looking for Kennedy.
The one who killed himself, the Confederacy of Dunces guy?
No, the one who wrote Ironweed. They made a film of it a long time ago, with Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep.
What are you looking for?
Well, I read Ironweed, and I really liked it. Then I found out it's part of a series called The Albany Cycle, so, I'd like to read the rest of them.
(Long pause.)
It's been about a decade since anyone asked me for any Kennedy, and I kind of forgot about him. Interest, kind of fallen off, about ten years ago at least.

Which made me sad. Because he's still alive, Kennedy, right now, and perhaps even still writing.
Maybe he'll be rediscovered and his books will be reprinted. Maybe he'll be the voice of the next generation.
It's a shame though, for me. Because I'd like to read those books now, and I didn't find any in three used bookshops. I guess it's a sign that my wide-ranging reading habits have moved into some new, illusive territory.

This novel was quite good. But I have to say that I really did resent the quote on the front from Coraghessan Boyle (who was a Gen. X hipster). And the quote on the back from Stephan King!? It's a shame to put comments from a pair of hacks on proper literature.

[Elizabeth du Fresne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The finish date is for my sixth or seventh reading of Quinn’s Book, one of my favorite books of all time and my favorite of Kennedy’s books. It has everything I seek in a book: memorable characters, totally unpredictable action enhanced with just enough magical realism to keep things interesting, drenched in Irishness ( my maiden name was Jamison) and writing so delicious that you read sentences aloud when you are alone for the pleasure of the hearing the wording. This book along with Ann Patchetts Bel Canto and Thomas
Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, and Joyce’s Ulysses and Joyce Carol Oates ‘ I Lock the Door Upon Myself are books I’ve thrust on others for years.

[Lois Bouchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is wild and crazy. It doesn't really have a plot and doesn't really have an ending. It gives the reader a painful glimpse into just pre-civil war and during the civil war in the U. S. but, mainly, in New York City and Albany, New York. The characters are fantastical, but that was actually ok. That also gives the reader a glimpse of who the most vibrant characters in society were at the time. I guess I mainly objected to the lack of focus as the book progressed.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never read of William Kennedy's books, but I found this book quite interesting to read. This book tells the story of the orphaned Daniel Quinn. It has a love story mixed with historical fiction. The characters are unforgettable and the story included elements of magic realism makes this book more interesting and unique.

I receive this from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this with a little trepidation, as the writing to fit the 1800’s can be a bit… tedious. But Kennedy manages to give the flavor without it being stilted or flowery. Of course, we are not stuck in parlors with the lords and ladies, but a world peppered with orphans, courtesans, fighters, and more.
Our story opens in 1849 with the 12-year old orphan Daniel Quinn, having a life changing moment - the rescue of Maud who becomes his life’s passion. This also starts him on an upward path in life, bringing to mind the question “do we make our ‘luck’, or is it a matter of being in the right place at the right time?” I think with Quinn, it is a little of both. He is smart enough to come up with the right response to situations, people generally like him, and he takes advantage of opportunities to learn and better his life.
Maud proves to be an elusive catch, being a young orphan herself, and prone to dramatics and a fickle nature. Quinn has to make his way in life without her companionship, getting by on infrequent encounters. He aimed high after a basic job with a publisher and became a reporter, writing about his ‘colorful’ friends, and then the Civil War. Thus, he traveled, grew up, and both hardened his heart and pursued Maud, philosophizing along the way. Kennedy’s writing treats us to such as, “and with that awe I knew what was wrong in my life and work was that I was so busy accumulating and organizing facts and experience that I had failed to perceive that only in the contemplation of mystery was revelation possible; only in confronting the incomprehensible and arcane, could there be any synthesis.” This passage went on with equally delightful musings and conclusions…
At any rate I quite enjoyed this story, filled with “unusual” characters, scandalous women, horse racing, and with insights on life, including war…and the issues that come up in war -(such as the poor fighting wars so the rich can get richer….) But it is “Quinn’s Book” after all, so enjoy his adventurous life and the romantic pursuit, spanning some 15 years.

[David Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know quite what to make of Quinn’s Book, the fourth novel in William Kennedy’s Albany cycle. I noted before that each of the first three books seemed more and more focused on a mystical Catholic view of things, with Ironweed taking a big leap, as Francis Phelan is able to see the dead and the narrator takes them seriously as characters, inhabiting their thoughts. Quinn’s Book at first seems to go even more in that direction, when a woman who has drowned is brought back to life by an act of sexual intercourse (that didn’t seem to be the man’s purpose when he began; he was apparently part-necrophiliac). That woman subsequently goes back to being a vaudeville/burlesque performer but interrupts her act to recount her near-death experience, and her niece—in many ways the most interesting character in the book, and Daniel Quinn’s primary love interest—is positively psychic, and eventually practices communicating with the dead. It sounds as if we’re moved from Catholic mysticism to Theosophy..

But it doesn’t feel that way. Despite these astounding events, the surrounding landscape seems just as harsh and realistic as the earlier novels, even more so. We’re back in the 19th century, tracing the Quinn family from its arrival on these shores, and the story seems fabulous, not unrealistic. It seems more invented than the other novels, as if to recall an earlier time (when men were men, and the dead weren’t all that damn dead). It’s part of the overall Phelan/Quinn saga.

Daniel Quinn is a young orphan, who watched his sister and two parents die of cholera but was somehow not infected himself. He has become an apprentice on a riverboat, working for a man named John the Brawn. In the middle of winter, with dangerous ice flows on the Hudson, a performer named Magdalena Colon (“whose presence turned men into spittling, masturbating pigs”) has vowed to cross the river, and found someone fool enough to take her. A huge crowd of spectators, including a number of boatmen, have come to watch. When her boat capsizes, John takes off to try to rescue her. And Daniel has his first meeting with Magdalena, and more importantly, her niece Maud, who will become the love of his life.

John somehow knows one of the wealthiest people in Albany, a woman named Hillegond Staats, who despite her wealth is as altruistic and compassionate (and sexy) as anyone in literature, and John carts the corpse and traumatized niece to her place. The scene that Daniel eventually happens on, when John is not only engaging in sex with a corpse, but indulging in a three-way with the corpse and Hillegond, somehow bringing Magdalena back to life, is a make-or-break scene for this novel. If you keep reading at that point, you’re buying into a different kind of story. We’re a long way from Legs. But not only because I’ve admired Kennedy’s previous books, but also because the texture of this one is so entrancing, I continued, and would think anyone would. I don’t quite believe what’s happening at the same time that I want to know what happens next.

Daniel is the proverbial person who, if he fell off a mountain, would find gold. John the Brawn, who takes up with Magdalena (she owes him her life, after all), eventually abandons Daniel as he and the two women are heading off to another city to perform, but Daniel makes his way back to Albany, stumbles back to Hillegond’s house, and finds that the woman not only embraces him and allows him to stay there, but outfits him sumptuously and sends him off with various contacts to find a job. The man Daniel has met in Albany whom he admires the most is Will Canaday, owner of the local newspaper and fierce defender of people’s liberties. Daniel has an idea he’d like to get into newspaper work.

In that way, and perhaps that way only, he resembles his creator.

Kennedy’s book of nonfiction—Riding the Yellow Trolley Car—is dedicated to every journalist who has a novel manuscript buried in his desk drawer. Kennedy once was that person, published journalism for many years and didn’t publish a novel until he was 41. There is a scene in this book where Daniel discovers that he is a writer—he had been thinking of being a typesetter, starting off with some other kind of newspaper work—and it is my favorite moment, understated as it is.

“Quinn picks up his pen, dips it in his ink, and writes one sentence: ‘They call him John the Brawn and he doesn’t know enough to pull his head in when he shuts the window, but he knocked down the best fighter in the world,’ and having written that, puts down his pen, smiles, walks up and down the bedchamber, and understands that he has just changed his life.”

Quinn’s Book eventually wanders through much of the nineteenth century, as Quinn does indeed become a well-known journalist, especially a war reporter, and is present for many of the most important events of his day, including the draft riots that rocked New York city in the middle of the Civil War. Young men were being drafted but could opt out if they would pay $300 instead, something the poor Irish of the city didn’t have a hope of doing. They saw the war as an attempt to free black slaves who would then be competing for the low-paying jobs that they were able to get, so why would they want to free their competitors? They had no interest in the war, certainly not in fighting in it. The scene of draft riots is one of the most horrific in this or any of the other Kennedy novels.

And yet weirdly—this is another reason we have a feeling that were in the midst of a fable—the whole novel really just traces the love story of Daniel and Maud (in that way it reminds me of Love in the Time of Cholera, and Kennedy is a big fan of Garcia Marquez). The same characters keep coming back; by the end Daniel is reconciled with John the Brawn, who at that point has not only knocked down the heavyweight champion of the world but is thinking about running for mayor of Albany. Daniel is as comfortable in the company of the rich and the poor. And Maud hasn’t changed her mind since the opening pages of the book. Daniel is her man, and she will have him. As the story ends, she does.

The End, as it used to say at the movies. But who knows what happens next.

www.davidguy.org

[Roger Suters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the current selection by the book club I participate in. Having plowed through Ironweed thirty years ago, with little acquired appreciation of outstanding writing at that time, I started reading Quinn's Book with trepidation. Much to my delight, I could not put it down. William Kennedy is masterful with character development, inventive with plot creation - the use of multiple voices during the course of narration, and brilliant in creating the full range of emotions surrounding tragedy to laugh out loud humor.

[Timothy Swartout · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up for cheap in a Vermont used book store for obvious reasons ( for those who know me). It is a fiction, with historical figures sprinkled in, involving its narrator, Daniel Quinn, occurring in the Albany, NY area during the lead up to and then during the conclusion of the Civil War. Straight-up facts and magical realism, and some situations which may curl the casual readers toes, occur in its telling. The writing brings to mind, for me, that of Charles Frazier and is never less than compelling. Looking forward to reading more by the author.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not even really sure what I just read! This was a random pick off the library shelf courtesy of my son. Was compelled by the setting (Albany). This reads somewhat fable-like at times, and Quinn's story is compelling although more so in childhood than in the later chapters. The narrative voice also changes part way through the book which felt disjointed and confusing. But, I was interested enough to finish it.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This revived my interest in New York and New England history! It was totally engaging and a pleasure to discover there are other books in this series! I will be looking for them to purchase as I enjoyed the characters and the time line.
I received a Kindle ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first paragraph is amazing just as it is. I through three chapters and can see why he is considered a great writer. I learned many new words just in the bit I read. But it got graphic and grotesque quickly and I don't have room in my heart for that right now. The world is too much with me. Perhaps in another season of life I'll return to this.

[Theresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what I expected when I started this book but I have to say that I really didn't like it at all. The magic realism elements didn't do anything for me. The dialogues appeared awkward and the plot wasn't great either. I only finished it because I had to read it for university.

[Greg D'Avis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute delight to read, funny and tragic, wide in scope and exuberantly written. This is the best love story I’ve read in years.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

The writing style and plot were really interesting and I enjoyed them a lot, content was not great

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd little read to finish out the year. If I hadn't done the Readers Challenge I likely wouldn't have chosen this one (ie SHORT!) and I still can't decide whether that's a Good Thing or not.

[Jenna Hendrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent narrative voice

[Katon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of william kennedy's masterpiece i have ever encountered, and i loved it a lot!
The story was clever, humorous, mystical, a bit silly sometimes, but nevertheless captivating. I definitely love the whole magical realism that was combined with love story and adventure. Daniel Quinn himself is a quite character, simply became the most standout personality inside the book.
Initially i thought it was quite a weird story that i found mostly rather comical. I mean, resurrected from death by sexual intercourse, eccentric characters such as magdalena and mrs hillegon, it was borderline comedy. But then the story grew deeper midway, showing how skilled william kennedy is as a writer. His choices of words were poetic and smart. It was definitely one of the best magical realism book i've ever read so far !

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kennedy is probably one of America's finest authors, and yet is probably one of the lesser known. This tale of a young man finding his way to manhood (in almost Horatio Algerish manner) in mid-nineteenth century New York ( and his associations with people in theater and journalism) is wonderful and beautifully written. Some will be shocked by details, but I feel that Kennedy very well describes the many unusual aspects of life at this time, from interest in seances to abolitionism to the fluid entreprenuerialism and opportunity as well as the racism, classism, and sexism of the time.