When Jack Was with Us

Book excerpt: Urban realism in the tradition of E.L. Doctorow, William Kennedy, Philip Roth and Jimmy Breslin, "When Jack Was With Us" immerses the reader in neighborhood life in New York City from the late 1950's through the late 1960's. Unlike many other novels by Baby Boomers, this novel makes no attempt to sugarcoat or nostaligize; it presents life as the author saw it while growing up, in all its beauty and all its brutality. There is no single protagonist; a number of characters whose lives intertwine each seek to make the best out of their lives amid the rich and often volatile ethnic tapestry of New York, against the backdrop of social change as the novel moves from the somnolent 1950's through the turbulent 1960's. Each character struggles and finds his/her damnation or redemption amid a city that personifies a nation in flux. It is a "coming of age" not only for the characters but for the greater American collective psyche.