William Kennedy's first novel, set in a nameless Albany but not part of that cycle of books, suffers from the overheated prose often connected with first-timers. It is a little too proud of its quirkiness and cleverness. The hero, Bailey, a newspaper Guild member carrying on a doomed strike, is a character that is by turns fascinating (at least in his misadventures and dreams) and tiresome. Still, there is plenty to like amid the fireworks and much that presages the greater books to come.
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