Customer Reviews

Cut Numbers : A Novel

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

 

 

I loved this book. I learned about Tosches through a Vanity Fair article and began reading some of his stuff - 'The Devil and Sonny Liston', 'Country', 'The Last Opium Den'. I found and read this novel after those and loved it. I've since given it to several friends and they loved it, or so I think. I don't think I care, but I would say they loved it based on their reactions and that I never got the books back. If you are afraid of dirty words or dirty deeds don't read this (the last reviewer would have benefited from this advice). Its real (I've live in NJ Hudson Ctny and NYC most of my life) and honest. Its also a tightly written story, which is lost on some b/c of the language and subject matter. F*** them - read it and see for yourself.

Nick Tosches' Cut Numbers is a mish-mash of (at least) three crime novel conventions--the "small time crook with a heart of gold", the "twist/double-twist/triple-twist con job", and "avenging of past transgressions". That doesn't make it bad--it's well written, and the plot is engaging if a bit tangled at times.
Some of the book doesn't work. Tosches development and use of Donna, the main characters love interest in the 'straight' world, is flat, and her character never seems to rise above the level of annoying and trite. It doesn't help that she gets some of the worst dialogue in the book. The overly macho tone of the book sometimes seems to border on parody, though I don't think that Tosches means it that way. Finally, some of the details are needlessly vulgar, leaving the reader to feel that Tosches is trying to make the story as scummy, as dirty, as he possibly can. To what end? It feels forced and doesn't really propel the story forward.
On the other hand, some of the book works great and is truly engrossing. Tosches' description of his main character, Louie, walking through neighborhoods, tending to a run-down bar, and collecting debts, are marvelously fun to read and simultaneously seem to reveal something about the characters and Tosches' love for the city and its culture. The scenes between Louie and his uncle are tender yet stoic, closely observed, and for me they seem utterly realistic--this is how a middle-aged man would interact with his old, somewhat legendary uncle. Those parts, for me, overcome many of the brutal tendencies Tosches displays elsewhere in the book, and make it a worthwhile read.

Gangsters and hoodlums, gambling, sex and drugs. It's dark, dirty, and not a very compelling story. But it is written so insightfully I find myself re-reading paragraphs just to savor the genuine humanity that has been captured.

"Nowhere"
"Well?"
"The old man's chin jutted out. He looked straight ahead and raised his palms, as if, having concluded an irrefutable argument of great eloquence, he awaited the roaring approval of the Roman Senate.
Each looked away from the other, and they let the tide of silence rise awhile, until it was almost as if what had been said had not been said."

Wanted to like this book. It has a good title and an interesting storyline, but the characterization was weak. Author spent too much time calling people names like, "Fourth guy at the end of the bar", "The small man with glasses", "The gray-haired man in the flashy suit", "Irish bartender", and so on. Why not give them names? Why keep giving your characters titles more than halfway through the book? In addition to the fact that the physical descriptions were weak, as well as the characterizations, the details were weak as well. For example, the author will write: "Man with the briefcase walked into the Carly's Bar. It was mostly dark but it had a bright light in the corner. He walked to the end of the bar, sat at a table, and nodded to the bartender with the brown toupee and the four guys at the bar. Then he took out a book and began to read it." Why is everything so lacking? What was the bar like? Give me more than it was dark. Give me atmosphere and a detailed setting.

Lastly, the language of the characters of the author seemed more like New York/New Jersey working class language. I kind of felt alienated, and I'm sure most readers did too. Most readers of literary fiction are intellectuals who need more of a stimulating read. The working class people who could identify with this language generally don't read literary fiction. They tend to read sensationalist fiction, or car magazines, or sports magazines. This book would have been higher on the rating scale if the author had made it more intellectual for the literary readers, or turned it into crime fiction for the sensationalist fiction readers. Otherwise, it's flat.

The premise of this book about the illegal numbers game, could have been executed SO much better, with the use of more dictionary words, instead of some of the grossest four-letter ones I've ever seen in print. I'm sorry to say, that instead of a "page-turner", I found this writing effort to be more of a "turn-off". Which is a pity, because I feel the story itself had so much promise, and could have been told in a far better fashion.