Ironweed (1983)

Dark, dreary..too wordy. ( )

Steinbeck meets Selby ( )

Extremely moving story of bums. Hoboes. A down on his luck baseball player who can't forgive himself for a death he caused, and his former singer girlfriend. All of their friends and life on the streets of Albany. These characters and the writing were very strong. ( )

Francis Phelan is a bum from Albany, New York. He carries guilt, shame, and death wherever he goes. A former professional baseball player, Francis abandoned his family after he dropped his infant son by accident and killed him. He ran for years, took to drink, and finally returned to Albany, but avoided his cast-away family, reduced to asking himself "that enduring question: How do I get through the next twenty minutes."

He is principled, caring and still has a family and wife that loves him and would take him back with no questions, but Francis carries the burden of the doomed. William Kennedy doesn't wrap the story up neatly, but you can't envision it ending well for Francis. ( )

Francis Phelan is one of those characters in literature that you really should dislike but you can't help feeling sympathy and compassion for him and his plight. He's simply a bum. He's spent his life running from his problems, but remains likable. He's taken lives, including his son's through an accident, he's shirked his responsibilities with his family by abandoning them, and he's ran away from his problems instead of facing them head on. He's exchanged all of that for a life of poverty, cold, hunger, and loneliness. Through it all, we still see a side of him that is caring and generous towards his friends, Helen and Rudy, also hobos. We also see that he has no illusions as to his guilt and his place in how his life has turned out. He owns up to it, which is more than we can say for most people. This is a short but powerful look into a life damaged by guilt and remorse and the consequences of our actions and the desire to return home. ( )