This remarkable novel begins with the arrival in New York of Ciaran Corrigan, an American who has come in search of his brother, known simply as Corrie, a monk who lives among the prostitutes and heroin addicts in the Bronx housing projects. Generous to a fault, Corrie allows the girls to use the lavatory in his flat and hands out hot drinks at all hours of the day and night, despite beatings at the hands of the pimps; Ciaran, concerned to see his brother taken advantage of, tries to persuade Corrie to return with him to Ireland. Two in particular of the working girls have an enormous respect for Corrie, even if they don’t always show it in their actions. Tillie fears for her daughter Jazzlyn who has followed her onto the streets in spite of her best attempts to give her daughter a life far removed from her own; unable to break the cycle, though, Jazzlyn has ended up on the streets, selling sex to support her two young children and to fund her heroin habit.
Tag Archive > New York
Let the Great World Spin
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Ferret Smuggling and Partying with Warhol
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Tama Janowitz is a favourite of mine and I love her fiction, the titles in particular – “The Male Cross-dresser Support Group” and “A Cannibal in Manhattan” are just two of her greats. So even though I don’t really like books of essays, the strength of the Janowitz ‘brand’ was enough to draw me to this book. It was an opportunity to get to know a bit more about the woman behind the name.
‘Area Code 212?’ I hear you ask ‘what’s that about?’ I really couldn’t tell you how I know that, I just do, that 212 is the New York telephone area code and appropriately enough, this book is both a collection of essays on living in New York. It’s a bizarre and sometimes irreverent homage to one of the world’s most famous cities.
