The Man with the Golden Arm Audiobook

" What a book. Beautifully written, depressing and vaguely confusing - it was first published in 1949. It's one of those that 'tells it like it is' while simultaneously blurring the book's reality. Not light reading. "

" I did not read this book, but I listed it because of the movie with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. I was seven years old at the time when I watched it with my dad. He was reading the book and the book was sitting on the end table and I remember reading the title of the book and was surprised the movie had the same title. That impressed a 7 year old a lot. A movie and a book of the same title, wow. That movie scared the living hell out of me and made an impression in my mind that a book could do that as well. I wanted to read so bad that I started reading my dad's books. I may not of understood a lot what I read but I did it any ways. To this day, The Man with the Golden Arm, is the reason I still read books. "

" Exceptionally enjoyable and well written. It also gets a bonus point for being pretty much entirely set within 2 blocks of my apartment. "

" An amazing exercise in writing and wordcraft, this story of difficult times and difficult lives shows the fleeting beauty in the lives and locations of stumblebums, gamblers and junkies who lived on Chicago's west side in the 1940s. Few works capture human pain and the desire to escape so well. "

" Absolutely stunning and heartbreaking. Algren's masterpiece and a must read for any fan of fiction that isn't afraid to dwell on the dark side for awhile. Frankie Machine may be the lead character, but the character that drives the story most is Chicago itself. "

" Its a good book, but I prefer the short stories. "

" Wonderfully evocative of a particular time and place, depths of addiction and loneliness, hope and despair. "

" Gold standard for Nat'l Book Awards. "

" The Man with the Golden Arm is a painful look into the lives of post war Chicago tenements. While the story is depressing as well as the subject matter, Algren's writing elevates above the grit and gives us an important glimpse into a time period in American life. "

" Almost too lyrical for its subject matter but still a cult classic. "

" Very grueling to get through, but the prose is outstanding and there are some very interesting characters and some humor. The style is what stands out the most, though. Excellently written. "

" Review and excerpts to come. "

" I'm ashamed to say I only got halfway through this. It felt so claustrophobic that I threw it to the floor and ran outside in my underwear. To Algren's fans everywhere I offer sincere regrets. I admired what I read but I didn't want to read anymore. "

" So much poetry in this, my favorite of his novels. If I could only have a tote bag of books to be stranded somewhere with Man With The Golden Arm would be in there. "

" Total disappointment. Read 40% and writing seems like schlock; maybe it was terrific back then but it's forgettable and depressing today... In my opinion, that is... Of course.... Not even worth finishing. "

" You can make anything beautiful. "

" Its a great book... not my favorite but the writing and setting is terrific "

" Read for a Literature of Chicago class. Very bleak realist novel set in the Polish ghetto of 1940s Chicago. This is a novel about people near the bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder just getting by, day to day. Made into a spectacularly crappy movie with Frank Sinatra "

" Difficult to get through but it had a good story line "

" It's Algren, but it ain't Never Come Morning. "

" The real look at desire... how to understand the forces involved with life! "

" The famous, more highly acclaimed Algren. I prefer the other. "

" Almost too lyrical for its subject matter but still a cult classic. "

" The story of a man addicted (monkey on his back) to heroin (golden arm) and his fight to come back although his crippled wife and gambling friends want him to stay addicted so everything will remain the same. Excellent story. "

" The Man with the Golden Arm is a painful look into the lives of post war Chicago tenements. While the story is depressing as well as the subject matter, Algren's writing elevates above the grit and gives us an important glimpse into a time period in American life. "

" Total disappointment. Read 40% and writing seems like schlock; maybe it was terrific back then but it's forgettable and depressing today... In my opinion, that is... Of course.... Not even worth finishing. "

" I had a hard time getting into this book. There is some great writing here, but a book shouldn't take me 8 months to finish. I guess it just wasn't "my type" of book. "

" Very grueling to get through, but the prose is outstanding and there are some very interesting characters and some humor. The style is what stands out the most, though. Excellently written. "

" I found this to be really bleak. The life of a junkie in the 50's. "

" Do not be deterred by the first hundred pages! If plot is not your priority, I highly recommend this book. I have never read such hauntingly gorgeous descriptions of loneliness. "