Red Baker [Paperback]

Robert Ward (Author), Michael Connelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

Set in the world of the hard-working men of the steel mills, this acclaimed work tells the story of an unemployed steelworker who drinks, nearly loses his wife, and decides to come back fighting.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The acclaimed TV series The Wire may have recently inclined the public’s imagination toward the mean streets of Baltimore, but back in 1985, Ward wrote a stunning novel that has loomed large in the imaginations of writers exploring Charm City (or “Balmere”) ever since. It’s 1983, Red Baker is 39, and his employer, Larmel Steel, has just laid off 60 percent of its workers—including him and his best friend, Dog. The mill seems likely to close for good. Baker and his coworkers, held together by steady paychecks and a sense of purpose, are unmoored and unmanned. As they stand in line for nonexistent jobs, it’s stunning, if unsurprising, how quickly they begin to crumble. Drinking heavily, flying on speed, Baker fantasizes about fleeing to Florida with his stripper girlfriend, Crystal; even though he knows he’s alienating his wife and teenage son, he can’t help himself. Inexorably, his desperation leads to a tragic act of crime. But calling Red Baker a crime novel is like saying Frederick Exley’s A Fan’s Notes is a book about football. Ward’s genius is that he has created a character who makes all the wrong choices and knows it, yet readers will identify with him so closely that they’ll be hard-pressed to say they would have done anything differently. Ward’s prose is direct and muscular, and his story is both painful and enthralling. Now, 25 years later, the tough, male world of the novel may seem as antiquated as that depicted in Martin Scorsese’s film Mean Streets, but this book remains urgently relevant. Factories still close, and men and women with “nontransferrable skills” still search for new employment, for meaning, and for a sense of self. --Keir Graff

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312362749
• ISBN-13: 978-0312362744
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,539,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly evocative blue collar novel, March 6, 2003

By 

m_noland "m_noland" (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Baker (Paperback)

Highly evocative novel set in late 1970s/early 1980s de-industrializing Baltimore as seen through the eyes of permanently laid-off steelworker Red Baker. No prior knowledge of the milieu is required: A friend unfamiliar with the geographic and social specifics that Robert Ward describes attests to the fact that it conveys a feel for Baltimore's industrial decline, and the individual tragedies that accompanied its transition to a post-industrial economy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great blue-collar drama, January 11, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Red Baker (Paperback)

This novel won the PEN West Best Novel of 1985 and is now is new in paperback. Ward, the author of seven novels, and is also a screenwriter who has worked on Hill Street Blues and Miami Vice.

Red Baker is laid off from his 20-year job in the steel mills of Baltimore and loses it big time--drugs, booze and women (Crystal, a dancer at Lily's Bar). He and his friend Dog struggle to survive after the layoffs with horrible jobs and humiliation after humiliation.

Red's wife Wanda and his teenage basketball star son, Ace, stick by him as much as they can, but it is difficult. Despairing, Dog and Red eventually succumb to the lure of crime, and Dog is killed. Now the man they robbed, Vinnie, is after Red. He is beat up and told he has a few weeks to return the money. Red thinks his only way out is to kill Vinnie, and he urges Wanda to take Ace and leave town. Wanda however, has a different idea. Red's family sticks by him, and helps hold him together.

Ward has written a moving and compelling drama of blue-collar suffering and the desperate effort to survive.

Armchair Interviews says: Although dark and heavy, the story has a redeeming end.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast Moving Novel Set In Baltimore, November 10, 2008

By 

Michael L. Slavin "HardBopper" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Baker (Paperback)

Red Baker was a skilled steelworker who became jobless when the mill closed because of foreign competition as well as more efficient domestic competition. This book chronicles Red's personal downfall as well as those of several of his former co-workers. I personally don't see Red as quite the sympathetic character the some other reviewers do. Everyone who loses their job doesn't carry on in a out of control fashion as did Red; getting regularly drunk, cheating on his wife, being abusive to his son, engaging in brawls, taking amphetamines, participating in a robbery.
Many other individuals who have lost their jobs have adjusted to the very real hardship and recognized they needed to do something constructive to improve the situation. Not easy. But, possible. Still a quick good read.