A fictionalized narrative of the erratic, stylish life and deadly career of notorious twenties gangster Legs Diamond, told with equivocal disbelief by his attorney, Marcus Gorman.
Legs
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First Sentence
"I really don't think he's dead," I said to my three very old friends. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
"I really don't think he's dead," I said to my three very old friends. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This novel a good read but the style is perhaps just a little too pretentious for the subject matter - events leading up to the death of the Irish-American gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond.
Diamond managed to upset the police, politicians and gangsters to the same extent and it is still not clear whether he was murdered by fellow criminals or the police.
The book was originally published almost 40 years ago and owes a lot (perhaps too much) to writers from previous generations like Scott Fitzgerald, Damon Runyon and John dos Passos.
For this reason, it seems rather old-fashioned and I can't see it appealing to European or even young American readers.
The similarity with "The Great Gatsby" is so strong that the author refers to it himself through the voice of his narrator, Marcus Gorman, who is Jack Diamond's Nick Carraway.
The style is needlessly confusing. The reader has to switch back and forwards from Gorman's recollections 43 years after Diamond's death to a third person narrative and then a fantasy scene at the end when Diamond speaks to us as he lies dead with his head blown apart.
Despite Diamond's deathly murmurings, we do not get into his skin at all and he is always seen through the eyes of others through anecdotes, reminiscences and printed records such as newspaper reports and legal documents.
The earlier part when Gorman first gets involved with Diamond and gives up his political ambitions to become part of the gangster's complicated personal and professional life is exciting if rather sentimental at times.
However, it is difficult to balance sentimentality with brutality - some of the scenes are extremely violent - and the book should have been brought to a similarly abrupt end as Diamond's life.
Diamond managed to upset the police, politicians and gangsters to the same extent and it is still not clear whether he was murdered by fellow criminals or the police.
The book was originally published almost 40 years ago and owes a lot (perhaps too much) to writers from previous generations like Scott Fitzgerald, Damon Runyon and John dos Passos.
For this reason, it seems rather old-fashioned and I can't see it appealing to European or even young American readers.
The similarity with "The Great Gatsby" is so strong that the author refers to it himself through the voice of his narrator, Marcus Gorman, who is Jack Diamond's Nick Carraway.
The style is needlessly confusing. The reader has to switch back and forwards from Gorman's recollections 43 years after Diamond's death to a third person narrative and then a fantasy scene at the end when Diamond speaks to us as he lies dead with his head blown apart.
Despite Diamond's deathly murmurings, we do not get into his skin at all and he is always seen through the eyes of others through anecdotes, reminiscences and printed records such as newspaper reports and legal documents.
The earlier part when Gorman first gets involved with Diamond and gives up his political ambitions to become part of the gangster's complicated personal and professional life is exciting if rather sentimental at times.
However, it is difficult to balance sentimentality with brutality - some of the scenes are extremely violent - and the book should have been brought to a similarly abrupt end as Diamond's life.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Jack "Legs" Diamond, a larger than life thief/booklegger/murderer, captured the imagination of the public during Prohibition, the Roaring Twenties, and the beginning of the Great Depression. Living the high life, surrounded by beautiful women, bodyguards, and associates, Diamond, in his early thirties, moved smoothly between speakeasies and sordid backrooms, between murder scenes and rural retreats, always exuding a sense of confidence and glamour. Setting this novel primarily in Albany, New York, in 1930-1931, Kennedy recreates the mystique of Diamond, a much handsomer contemporary of Chicago gangster Al Capone, and New York beer king Dutch Schultz, as he exercises his power, fights off intrusions into "his" territory, corners the market in illegal beverages, buys off politicians and judges, and tries to avoid conviction for his crimes.
Telling Diamond's story is Marcus Gorman, a lawyer who gets swept up in the excitement which surrounds Diamond and ends up as his attorney. Marcus, however, always insists that he be paid for his work, up front, and he refuses to be drawn into obviously illegal behavior. This makes him the perfect narrator-someone who admires much about Diamond but also someone whose judgment the reader can trust. Terse dialogue reminiscent of the novels of Raymond Chandler or Dashiel Hammett, fills the novel, but Marcus's musings about what motivates Diamond offer a more thoughtful approach to this shady character and his life than what one usually finds in noir novels.
A man with no conscience, Diamond double-crosses and cheats his way to success, often killing his own associates, events described in gory detail. But Diamond's legend grows. Kennedy humanizes him by emphasizing the loyalty of his wife Alice and the crazy love of his girlfriend, showgirl Kiki Roberts.
... Read more ›Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.7 out of 5 stars
18 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutley on target
10 April 2002
By Newton Munnow
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
This was the first book of Kennedy's that I'd read and am thrilled at the thought of having the rest of his books to look forward to. First of all, it's just the sheer quality of writing. Kennedy dances into, out of and all around the mind of Jack Legs Diamond, the prohibition era gangster. He'll take you close to him, then appal you with his ruthlessness. Kennedy is essentially trying to deal with a knot of myth and cliche. Legs' story has been played over again and again in literature and film. He really was the good-time gangster with the faithful wife and show girl mistress, the quick one-liners and aggressive ambition. This may have appealed to a writer, but how then to humanize him? Kennedy succeeds mainly because of the voice(s) through which he approaches the story. Marcus, Legs' lawyer, is the perfect guide - people tell lawyers their stories and here, he has passed them on. But the narrative is never that simple, flipping from waiter's anecdotes to mistress's yearnings, and all without losing or confusing a reader. Kennedy presents an incredible portrait. It simply doesn't matter whether or not he has figured out who Jack Diamond really was, for he has imagined an incredible three dimensional replacement of his own.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Legend is just another word to describe a dead man
26 Sep 2003
By IRA Ross
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
_Legs_ opens with a number of former friends and associates of the late Jack "Legs" Diamond reminiscing about the nature of the legendary gangster's death. Despite the subject matter of this rambling discussion I was struck by its high content of "gallows humor."
What I liked about this novel was although William Kennedy attempted to humanize Jack Diamond to a certain extent, Kennedy did not sentimentalize or apologize for him. I had no doubt that Jack Diamond was exactly what he was: a booklegger, a thief, and a murderer. Despite numerous arrests, Jack Diamond was "The Teflon" gangster--none of the state charges against him would stick. Jack was a true media celebrity, in the same sense that the popular, but corrupt New York Mayor, Jimmy Walker, was at the time, although Jack was often unkind to reporters and photographers. Jack had loads of fans, who were mostly "the common man" who probably identified with Jack's humble beginnings. He also had many detractors, some of whom wanted to kill him. Jack also had a loving wife, Alice, and an adoring mistress, Marion "Kiki" Roberts, a dance hall girl. Jack loved them both in his own fashion. In a particularly trying time towards the end of his short life, Jack sought comfort from both women by keeping them near him, in separate rooms, on the same floor in a hotel in which he was staying at the time. His body guards were in another room. It seems that the only person Jack ever truly loved was his brother, Eddie, who died many years before of tuberculosis. Just mentioning Eddie would cause Jack's eyes to well-up with tears. But any doubts of Jack Diamond being a vicious and sadistic criminal were completely dispelled in his kidnapping, torture, and near-hanging of an old man (accompanied by his young companion) who Jack erroneously believed was a rival bootlegger. It was this event (brutally described in the book and not for the squeamish) that caused Jack to be brought to trial, which included federal charges and unwanted media attention.
William Kennedy wrote _Legs_ in a light, informal style that also never let up on the intensity. I found reading the book fun, but with a constant, lingering sense of dread and doom that never left me. The fact remains that Legs Diamonds lived the last months of his life in constant fear of assasination and in spite of his greed for money, he died impoverished.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a remarkable book.
14 Mar 2001
By E. Fahey
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
My brother mentioned that he liked this book and I started reading his copy to kill time, not intending to finish it. I found myself simultaneously repelled by the violence and seduced by William Kennedy's wonderful knack for storytelling and beautifully simple style. Needless to say, I kept reading. Kennedy's characterizations are as fascinating as his story. Legs Diamond is a murderous hedonist whose infectious personality makes his amorality palatable, if not forgivable. The narrator is appropriately colorless in contrast, making him the ideal non-intrusive storyteller. In other words, Legs is like sour candy--it makes you wince, but it's addictive!
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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