Chicago

A Novel

By: David Mamet

Narrated by: Jim Frangione

A big-shouldered, big-trouble thriller set in mobbed-up 1920s Chicago—a city where some people knew too much, and where everyone should have known better—by the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Untouchables and Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Mike Hodge—veteran of the Great War, big shot of the Chicago Tribune, medium fry—probably shouldn’t have fallen in love with Annie Walsh. Then, again, maybe the man who killed Annie Walsh have known better than to trifle with Mike Hodge.

In Chicago, David Mamet has created a bracing, kaleidoscopic tale that roars through the Windy City’s underground on its way to a thunderclap of a conclusion. Here is not only his first novel in more than two decades, but the book he has been building to for his whole career. Mixing some of his most brilliant fictional creations with actual figures of the era, suffused with trademark ""Mamet Speak,"" richness of voice, pace, and brio, and exploring—as no other writer can—questions of honor, deceit, revenge, and devotion, Chicago is that rarest of literary creations: a book that combines spectacular elegance of craft with a kinetic wallop as fierce as the February wind gusting off Lake Michigan.

David Mamet tries too hard

Wow. I am disappointed by David Mamet’s attempt to write hardboiled fiction in the vein of Dashiell Hammett or Elmore Leonard.

At times the attempts to be literary are clunky and inelegant. I actually found myself rewriting some of the prose in my head while I was listening to this novel.

What this was not a horrible book, it was certainly far from the best book that I’ve listened to in Audible.

More Parlow!

Maybe a chuckle or two but I did not think I'd be laughing out loud. The buddy-banter is hilarious and now we heard Mike's side it makes me want more of Parlow.

Could have used a more dynamic reading, more divergent voices, but that's pretty subjective. I listen to a lot of audio and found the performance bland as compared.

Just brilliant

I don’t think there’s a line in the book you can anticipate, everything’s the unexpected. Informative, a perfect evocation of the period and wonderful characters. I couldn’t stop listening.

Dialoge awkward

I don't know if it's the reader or the fact that Mamet is known more for scripts than for novels, but the dialogue when read aloud seems stilted. The words themselves within the quotes are fine, it's more the overuse of said that got to me after a while.

I will probably have to read or listen to this again at some point to really review the story plot aspect.

Excellent Dialogue and Settings, Not Much Action

Would you try another book from David Mamet and/or Jim Frangione?

Yes

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Chicago settings during that time period

Which character – as performed by Jim Frangione – was your favorite?

Mike, the main character

Did Chicago inspire you to do anything?

No

Any additional comments?

Mr. Mamet creates great characters but for a story set in the Capone era, I expected more action. This is a character driven book with excellent dialogue not enough insight in gangland Chicago. The Title and cover photo do not represent what happens in the book.