Quotes
“Mitchell’s darkly comic articles are models of big-city journalism…His accounts are like what Joyce might have written had he gone into journalism.” Newsweek
“A legendary figure…Mitchell’s reportage is so vivid, so real, that it comes out like fiction of the highest order.” Chicago Sun-Times
“A song of the streets that casts a wide net and fearlessly embraces everything human…So rich and generous and funny that it ought to stay in print forever.” San Francisco Examiner
“Grover Gardner is amazing here. He creates an intelligent, interested, wry voice for Mitchell that matches his reportorial stance and lets the voices of the many and varied characters who trust and talk to Mitchell take center stage. Gardner evokes, rather than imitates, regional accents when necessary: his Boston is wonderful, his Southern ditto, and his Gypsy King is absolutely hilarious. This is a listening experience to savor and share and return to. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.” AudioFile
“This collection promises an uncommon world. And it delivers, in compassionate, wistful examinations of early-20th-century New Yorkers who share a common trait: they exist on the outskirts of society in either habit or mind…Mitchell speaks of facts that enlighten and redeem—the book’s greatest gift.” Publishers Weekly
“Mitchell’s impeccable prose fuses fact with fiction and hums with gentle irony, mischievous delight in people’s peculiarities, and an offhanded yet elegant precision.” Booklist