A Stone for Danny Fisher [Paperback]

Harold robbins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2, 1977

Few novelists knew the seamy side of New York as well as Harold Robbins - the terror in the streets, the ways to make shady money by playing along with the gamblers and mobsters, the unbridled lusts and passions of slum life. A Stone for Danny Fisher is the story of a young man who did not start at the bottom. Born into a family of modest means and respectability, Danny Fisher was gradually driven downward into the world of crime, racketeering and poverty. His bitterness, his homesickness over the loss of the house in Brooklyn that was given to him for his eighth birthday, and his feud with his harsli father, pulled him one way; his natural decency and his love for a sweet Italian girl, Nellie Petito, pulled him another. Danny was a boxer - a sensational amateur and potential champion - and he might have gone straight had the fight promoters not tried to exert pressure. He could not escape the gangsters, and later he became deeply involved in the black market and then in slot-machine rackets. Nevertheless, the driving force behind Danny's actions was always his sustaining love for Nellie. In a story that is harsh yet tender, realistic and yet compassionate, Harold Robbins reveals what makes the Danny Fishers what they are.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Robbins grabs the reader and doesn't let go."

-- Publishers Weekly

"A lusty, vital tale."

-- The New York Times

"Robbins's books are packed with action, sustained by a strong narrative drive, and given vitality by his own colorful life."

-- The Wall Street Journal --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Review

"Robbins grabs the reader and doesn't let go."

-- Publishers Weekly

"A lusty, vital tale."

-- The New York Times

"Robbins's books are packed with action, sustained by a strong narrative drive, and given vitality by his own colorful life."

-- The Wall Street Journal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket (February 2, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067181155X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671811556
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,117,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking and bittersweet., January 6, 2006

By 

David Rasquinha (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stone for Danny Fisher (Hardcover)

Harold Robbins, as he became more successful, mastered the art of the pulp fiction stereotype and much of his later work was pure trash. But his initial novels demonstrated what talent the man had, and are as different from his later trash as cheese from chalk. A Stone For Danny Fisher is his best book ever in my opinion : had he never written another book, this alone would have made him an author to remember.

Set in Depression era New York (Robbins himself was born and raised in Brooklyn, though in vastly better circumstances), this is a coming of age story with a difference. Danny Fisher narrates his own story in the first person, starting with a short, stark depiction of his family meeting at a pre-arranged place and then cutting to flashback mode to explain why. He tells of a Jewish kid growing up in the gritty streets of hard-bitten Brooklyn, battling anti-Semitic abuse, using boxing as a way of escaping the economic fates closing in on his family. No punches are pulled as we experience with Danny the world of organised crime, first as victim, then as onlooker, finally as willing (even enthusiastic) participant. Danny is an anti-hero here, but rarely a villain, so sympathetically and starkly are his story and dilemmas painted. Reading it the first time as a teenager, this book had me outraged and disillusioned repeatedly as Danny takes his knocks and too often faces rejection, even betrayal. At heart, he is still a little boy and remains so till the bitter-sweet ending, where the flashback ends and we rejoin the opening scene.

A high quality book, a story that grips the heart, a sparse writing style that wastes no words, a glimpse at the best and worst of human life. Highly recommended.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fifty-year old historical novel, still great, February 1, 1998

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Stone for Danny Fisher: A Stone for Danny Fisher (Paperback)

I recently reread this book, one of my favorites at thirteen, and it's still tender, informative, sad, nostalgic, violent, grandiose, nerve-wracking, forgiving, and great. It's a coming-of-age story set in Depression-era New York, somewhat autobiographical, and vividly drawn and atmospheric. Some of the descriptions are heartbreaking. The enormously popular author Robbins, who died last year, was simultaneously rejected by book critics and loved by millions of readers -- for more than three decades -- much like Krantz, Susann, et.al. He was a master of his genre: low-to-middle-brow page-turners containing the tried-and-true best-seller ingredients of his time: love, lust, money, dangerous men, glamorous, sensual, and/or "fallen" women, "interesting"-- vividly exotic, dangerous, or historical -- settings, and memorable "characters"... Robbins reached much higher in this book, and it's more than just formula. The dialogue rings true, there's a satisfying use of interior monologue, and his eye for details is sharp. It's a story with a lot of heart, and remains well worth reading.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars my all time favorite book, January 28, 2003

By 

Rusty Harrison - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stone for Danny Fisher (Paperback)

It is strange when I say this because I read alot. I read classics like war and peace,les miserables, moby dick and such but when friends ask me what is my favorite i tell them A stone for Danny Fisher.
First of all harold robbins wrote trash novels. his first 3 were classics.Comprared to what he wrote later on. When he died the new york times said in his obiturary that A stone for Danny Fisher deserves a paragraph in this mans life in literary history.
As a kid i related to the charaters and i felt for them i never did that when i read as a kid. i even tear up when i read the epilouge because he hits it dead on . for i am a man of ordinary hopes and ordinary dreams, i too cursed at the umpire for a bad call , im the guy on the boat with george washington, im the guy smoking the ciggarette at the subway platform. no songs will be written about me.
That is what life is all about in my view and he harold robbins nailed it.
i even buy this book used to send to friends so they could read it.
well whoever reads it enjoy.