The Man with the Golden Arm: 50th anniversary critical edition (Paperback)

by Nelson Algren (Author) "We had two goals in mind for this critical edition of Nelson Algren's Man with the Golden Arm..." (more)
Key Phrases: oney one, query room, iron sanctuary, Nelson Algren, Frankie Machine, Division Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A true novelist's triumph. --Time

This is a man writing and you should not read it if you cannot take a punch....Mr. Algren, boy, you are good. --Ernest Hemingway --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
Seven Stories Press is proud to release the first critical edition of Nelson Algren's masterpiece on the 50th anniversary of its publication in November 1949. Considered Algren's finest work, The Man with the Golden Arm recounts one man's self-destruction in Chicago's Polish ghetto. The novel's protagonist, Frankie Machine, remains a tragic American hero half a century after Algren created this gritty and relentlessly dark tale of modern urban society.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press; 50 Anv edition (April 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583220089
• ISBN-13: 978-1583220085
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #554,372 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is one book that takes you all the way there, December 25, 1999

By	Johnny Roulette (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

I don't know how I missed Algren, but I had never heard of him before I picked this book up. I only bought it because of the title. The darker days of my own youth have made me skeptical of books dealing with alcoholism and addiction. They never seem to get it right. This one nails it, seemingly without effort. Unlike other books of the genre, this one does not romanticize the ugliness it deals with. Frankie Machine's life is a tour through poverty, loveless marriages, addictions and hopelessness. It is not exaggerated. This is what it's really like. Algren's realism and intelligence make this one of the finest novels I've ever read. The details are so vivid and accurate that one has to wonder how many demons Algren shares with his characters. The Man With The Golden Arm is simply fiction mirroring life. It presents a side of life that many of its readers will never experience first-hand. Of that, you will be grateful. A combination of poor choices, bad luck, and lack of opportunity has overwhelmed the characters so completely that most of them don't know that they are already dead. I am a writer...this is one of those books that will always keep me humble. For most, their greatest achievement of words will never come close to to Algren's harrowing tome. Do not read this while distracted. It requires your full attention. It's that rich, that brilliant. This is not just a book about morphine, booze & the ghetto....it is a book of suffering, pain, betrayal, neglect & spite. Mr. Algren has been graceful enough to supply the compassion that most of characters seem to lack.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, dark, and unnerving., March 4, 2000

By	M. Mazza (Elizabeth, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The dimensional misery in which the novel's characters find themselves is poetically narrated. Since the novel was published in the late 40's, it belongs to an era where readers were patient enough to relish lengthy but poignant description. It's an alluring read that can prove rewarding to all those who ponder its painful subtleties. The characters' hopelessness may seem unbearable at times, but ironically, it is rendered in such beautiful prose that it easily illicits compassion and understanding from the reader. This alone makes it quite addictive. Frankie Machine and his cohorts (who never seem like cartoonish dregs, but actual people), embody what many would rather ignore: the reality of those who meet with constant disillusionment. The reader doesn't have to be from the "underbelly" of America to empathize with the book's main figures. In fact, Algren, through his melodic sentences of haunting sincerity, might even corrode the comfort of those who believe too strongly in the American Dream. Darkness and destitution have never exuded such truth and humanity.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No Work and No Play, February 27, 2004

By	"toxicomaniac" (Leuven, Belgium) - See all my reviews

I think this is one of the best novels ever written. People who say Algren romanticizes the poor have clearly not read the book properly, all he does is say they are human just as you. But describing them as low-lifes like some reviewers did, just shows that Algren's message did not come across. This book is about love for humanity. And that is ALL humanity, not just the part that's nicely educated and has a good job and doesn't rob you at night. One reviewer said that Frankie Machine should of just quit taking drugs and sought himself a nice job and everything would of turned out fine. How? Would Frankie be loved then, would his crippled wife be able to walk, would there be no loneliness and desperation. would it stop raining? Would it stop the El from going round and round? I'm sick and tired of people romanticizin' the rich.