Atta Boy
by Cally Fiedorek
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Pub Date Apr 02 2024 | Archive Date May 31 2024
University of Iowa Press | University Of Iowa Press
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Description
Jacob “Jake” Cohen, the fast-talking patriarch, is one of a generation of financiers who made hundreds of millions of dollars in the cutthroat taxi medallion industry in the early 2000s, largely by preying on the hopes and dreams of impoverished immigrant drivers. As Jake tries to stop the bleed from the debt crisis now plaguing his company, clawing back his assets from an increasingly dangerous coterie of Russian American associates, Rudy gets promoted from doorman to errand boy to bodyguard to something like Jake’s right-hand man.
By turns a gripping portrait of corruption and a tender family dramedy, Atta Boy combines the urban cool of Richard Price with the glossy, uptown charm of Taffy Brodesser-Akner. Here is a novel richly attuned to its time and place, but with something for everyone—high-wire prose and a story wedding ripped-from-the-headlines, social realism with the warmth, angst, and humor of its indelible voices.
Advance Praise
“A Bonfire of the Vanities for the twenty-first century—a propulsive, unforgettable journey through a deeply stratified New York. From brawling barrooms to the glittering co-ops of Park Avenue, this is a fearless chronicle of the way we live and where we are headed. Fiedorek is an urgent writer for these times, with an unstinting eye for the class divisions that define who we are. I couldn’t put Atta Boy down.”—Ross Barkan, author, The Night Burns Bright
“In a lukewarm literary landscape, Cally Fiedorek's Atta Boy blazes like a burning copy of the New York Post chucked from an open window of the 1 train. Fiedorek is a writer to watch—and watch out for.”—Andrew Ridker, author, Hope
“Atta Boy is a New York novel like I’ve never read before. Lively, madcap, and frequently hilarious, but not without sensitivity and insight too. Via its cast of all-too-human characters, Cally Fiedorek whisks us from dim barrooms to gleaming penthouses to examine the complexities and compromises of being alive today.”—Rachel Khong, author, Real Americans
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781609389413 |
| PRICE | $19.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 266 |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Tom R, Media/Journalist
I really, really enjoyed this novel. I wasn't familiar with Cally Fiedorek, but, boy, did I like her writing style. Really funny sentences. Cutting observations. She vividly captures an entire gamut of New Yorkers--barflies wasting their lives, blue collar workers, rich folks in penthouses. One blurb compared her novel to "Bonfire of the Vanities" and I think that's a very apt. I look forward to following her career.
I received an e-galley copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
Reviewer 1102597
Thank you Netgalley & University of Iowa Press for an eARC ♥️
We meet Rudy, a Queens guy trying to figure out his life, who lands a gig as a doorman at a fancy Park Avenue building. He gets pulled into the world of the Cohens, a wealthy family with some shady dealings in the taxi industry. Think corruption, family drama, and loyalty - all set against the backdrop of NYC's elite.
The writing is top-notch, with a mix of gritty realism and relatable characters. It's like a fusion of Richard Price's street smarts and Taffy Brodesser-Akner's wit. You'll feel like you're part of the Cohens' world, with all its glamour and darkness.
Rudy's journey is both entertaining and thought-provoking. You'll be invested in his story and the characters around him. It's a page-turner that's hard to put down!
Thomas K, Reviewer
Rudy is an aspiring actor who is running the family Irish bar in New York City that has been in the family for eighty years. Rudy is destined to take the family business over but after a tiff with his father, Rudy finds his self without a job. With a little help from extended family, he gets a job as a doorman at an exclusive complex. Here he meets one of the residents by the name of Jacob Cohen who shares Christmas Eve dinner with Rudy and so a relationship begins. When Rudy adds to his problems by getting kicked out of his apartment, he has no choice but to reach out to Mr. Cohen. Mr. Jacob Cohen is a man of wealth who has made his money by heading up a publicly traded company who lends money to taxicab drivers to purchase medallions to operator their taxis legally. They have been told that this is more secure than the stock market and this is your path to the American dream. But this does not seem to be the case as there have been a rash of taxicab driver suicides when they are defaulting on their loans. Rudy becomes like a right-hand man for Jacob and his family and each member of the family benefits in their own way with this relationship. But as time moves on and Mr. Cohen has political aspirations Rudy finds out that Jacob has many other secrets and Jacob may not be all he claims to be and this may hit close to home for Rudy.
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