Customer Reviews

A Boardwalk Story

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This author's first novel is riveting. It graphically, and skillfully, describes Atlantic City before the Casino Era. Things in those bygone days were very different than the current scene, but there was certainly no lack of intrigue, adventure, and human interest. Read it and learn about boardwalk hucksters, commodity market opportunities and lurking danger, and the influence of the classic "bosses" of old. Throw in a dash of sex and politics and you have a terrific reading experience.

Welcome to Atlantic City circa 1939, the recreation capital of the Jersey Shore, a wondrous place lined with amusement arcades, elegant hotels, and antique shops. Here men and women stroll along the boardwalk in their best leisure suits and fancy dresses, pitchmen hawk products to eager tourists, and permanent residents move to basement apartments to make room for the summer crowd. In this tenth year of the Great Depression, money's tight and war looms on the horizon. But as the days get longer, fifteen-year-old Jack Laurel is preoccupied with his new job at Krilow's Kitchen Gadgets, his neighbor Rhoda's sexy figure, and avoiding the wrath of neighborhood bullies.

With his best friend away, Jack falls into the company of a motley group of adults. Charming pitchman Benny James amazes him with his ability to attract gorgeous girls, and Morris, a watercolor artist with a secret life as a mechanical man, introduces him to the joys of literature. Then things really get thrown for a loop when a loner with a talent for commodities trading enters the picture. With the help of a fortuneteller who doesn't believe in her own abilities, they stumble into an unlikely business partnership which proves astoundingly successful and attracts the notice of a powerful Italian crime boss. Jack's love life also picks up speed, but growing up brings complications along with new discoveries, and soon he starts to feel like he's leading two separate lives.

This fast-paced coming-of-age tale stands apart from the pack. Jack, writing today, recounts his story while looking back on his youth. His narration, clear and snappy and forthright, switches smoothly between an adolescent's exuberance and an older, more seasoned man's experience. He peppers the story with details on clothing, geography, housing, prices, and salaries, but he personalizes everything so well that they never feel like dry facts. The author teases by having some of the characters veer close to caricature, but their unpredictable personalities prevent them from crossing the line.

Between Jack's adventures and the eccentric characters he meets, the novel definitely has its zany side -- it's lots of fun to read -- yet the tone is tempered by a sobering realism. It's nostalgic without being schmaltzy. In 1939, many men over forty are World War I vets who served in the trenches. Their perspective (and that of the older Jack) serves as a reminder of the world war they survived and the next one soon to come.

Though written for adults, A Boardwalk Story tells it like it was for teenagers living in the late Depression years. The author's personal story is equally as remarkable. A retired accountant and financial manager with no previous fiction writing experience, he wrote the manuscript over a summer, inspired by his granddaughter's questions for a school history project. If you'd like to journey back to Atlantic City of yesteryear, you can't ask for a more entertaining or knowledgeable guide. (Originally posted at Reading the Past)

I swear if this book had some marketing dollars behind it or was published by a major company like Random House, it would be a #1 best seller. The author wrote the book using an easy conversational style making it an easy read. He fully developed each character so that I had a perfect idea of Jack, Zena, Roland, etc... in my mind. I read some web chatter that this could be made into a movie...fingers crossed!

This is a wonderful ead. It combines Bildunsroman with an exciting trip through sophisticated financial manipulations. The characters staed with me. I can see a slimmer Alec Baldwin as Benny, mentor to the hero, who show helps him on the path to manhood. Although set in 1939, the storey evokes all the glamour of Atlantic city in the forties, before everyone traveled to Europe for vacation.
E.Streit Cohen, an old AC hand

Though this is fiction, there are enough actual sites and events to have meaning for all who remember Atlantic City back then, especially if you grew up there or visited frequently. The author obviously knows his Atlantic City stuff - the boardwalk, the boardwalk stores with their pitchmen and shills, the fortune tellers and tarot card readers, how people did and still do set up their easels to paint the ocean, and even the infamous underbelly of Atlantic City life before casinos. A book to get lost in as you follow the main character's teenage development and maturation. Great read!!!

I was only four years old in 1939, but my parents took me to Atlantic City on many occasions in the ensuing years. This brings back all the memories of Steel Pier, the boardwalk, and the rolling chairs. The story itself is captivating which is narrated through the eyes of a 15 year old Jack Laurel. It involves first loves, mobsters, boardwalk entertainers, prostitutes, neighborhood bullies, and a fortune teller. The way the novel is written is easily followed and is impossible to put down.

"A Boardwalk Story" sends you back to Atlantic City during the years when men wore suits and ladies wore dresses to walk the boards. Although the story is told through the eyes of a teenage boy, it does not lack sophistication and quality of adult characters. This novel is a quick page turner as you become engossed in the unique and interesting characters and events occuring. The characters in this book are unforgettable. I highly recommend it for all readers.

Like falling into a hole, one is inexorably drawn in to this startling find. The characters are memorable, the plot is a riot, and beneath the surface one is captivated by the way Yampolsky blends entertainment with the wisdom of three quarters of a century of life lessons.
I personally know a woman who, a few chapters in, bought two more to give to friends. She felt they should not have to wait until she finished to read it!

A BOARDWALK STORY is a nostalgic gem, a perfect description of what it must have been like to grow up in pre-WWII Atlantic City, before the post-war boom. You grow to love the kids, the adults, and the country, the America that was so good to all of us for all those wonderful years. This one is a great read and would make a wonderful movie!!!!

I am a picky reader. If a book doesn't grab me I won't push on through to see if it gets any better past maybe the first 50 pages. That said, A BOARDWALK STORY was honestly a book I could not put down! I true page turner.
Not only did it draw me in with wonderful details of time and place, and historical context, but the story itself is exciting and keeps you guessing. I never got ahead of it. If you like a little adventure and intrigue with your historical novels this won't let you down.
Finally, mark my words, you read it here first: this book is going to make a terrific movie-- but don't wait for the film. Read it now!