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Saint Mazie A Novel Jami Attenberg Books

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Saint Mazie A Novel Jami Attenberg Books

This fiction book is based upon the life of real-life Mazie Phillips-Gordon (Queen of the Bowery). She was the ticket booth lady at the Venice Theatre in the 1920’s. Mazie was somewhat wild, which I guess wasn’t that unusual at the time. But she also had a heart of gold, helping the homeless with little acts of kindness. It is written as journal entries from Mazie, along with snippets of interviews from people who knew her. However I found there were too many people to keep track of, people that just pop up in the story with no real background information to determine their importance on Mazie’s life. The entire book just seemed too disconnected to me. I would have liked to have known more about Mazie but I didn’t get much from this book.


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Saint Mazie A Novel Jami Attenberg Books Reviews

In 1940, Joseph Mitchell, a writer for "The New Yorker", wrote a series of essays about New York City. One featured a woman named Mazie Phillips Gordon, who was known throughout the poorer parts of the city as "Saint Mazie". She spent the Depression-era years helping the down-and-out, those poor men who slept in the streets and begged for food and drink. She'd pay for them to sleep in shelters and pass out money for them to buy food. She'd call the ambulances when they were sick or dying. Mazie Gordon gave poor men - "bums", as others called them - some dignity in their lives. The "New Yorker" article was real, the men were real, and Mazie Gordon was real. But, who was she? And what were her motives for helping as she did?

Author Jami Attenberg has taken the bare facts of Mazie Gordon's life and has written a novel based upon those facts. She has added her own interpretation of Mazie's life and extrapolated a story. How much of the story is true is unclear, past the basic facts. But Attenberg - whose latest novel was "The Middlesteins" - has created a woman who, both in her own words in diary form and those of relatives and friends, is someone you won't soon forget. She was the owner of a theater and she worked the box office. Facing the street, she saw the rough and real life of Depression-era New York City and felt compelled to help those she could. But she had her own life, too, and it was filled with interesting people who she loved and who loved her.

I finished the book a bit curious about why Jami Attenberg chose to write a fictional account of the life of Mazie Gordon, rather than a non-fictional one. I suppose I would have preferred reading a biography of this fascinating woman who helped so many needy. I hope that someone will write a bio of Mazie. Until then, I'm satisfied with this excellent novel.
An interesting peek at a colourful character positioned in the perfect job during the Great Depression in NY - ticket taker at The Venice movie theatre. Mazie's personal story is interesting but perhaps similar to others at that time. However, what sets her apart is how she develops from an introspective burdened person to a multi caring dynamo - able to see and appreciate the suffering, humour, and pathos of those in her immediate ticket line, then reaching out to her larger community. Finally drawn out of the safety of her little kiosk, and sharing what little she has gathered with the many in need, she finds a purpose and certainly a more permanent form of love she always craved. Mazie always seems sardonic and perhaps distrustful of the deeper more profound emotions of the healthy, but her ability to reach through hurt & confusion to give the little she has to others in many ways, makes her special. I hope there were many Mazie's at that time, and maybe now.
After finishing Saint Mazie, I am skimming through again. A fascinating story I won't soon forget. The 20s are my current reading obsession but this book is so much more. It is about family, love, NYC, the Depression. It is based on a true story of a remarkable woman who didn't see herself as remarkable at all. Or good. But what an impact she made by helping the helpless and the hopeless. She was a free spirit who didn't play by the rules. I enjoyed the characters of her sisters and lovers as well. Each having their own stories.
Wow! What a wonderful story of life and how our best laid plans can veer in unexpected directions. Many who read this won't like the style of writing moving from Mazie's diary to witnesses in her life and back again but it was one aspect of the book that I loved. We do not see ourselves as others do and we certainly don't always see, or admit to, our own internal truths. And generally, we only see ourselves in bits and pieces of memory that evolve to fit our personal desires. The diary is as much a record of Maize's growth and character as the comments of the witnesses. The central characters in this story, three sisters, grew up "hard". Their choices in life were driven not just by their own desires but also the need to survive. Mazie's transformation began as she became an observer but also one who wanted to help the people on the street in any way she could. She reminds me of my parents generation that grew up "hard" during the depression, two world wars, and witnessed the unbelievable transformation of the world around them while they also changed without realizing it. The final entry in Mazie's diary is so apropos of my parent's generation who silently did the right thing and didn't want to talk or boast about it. "Just for a minute, I thought I needed someone to know what I knew, but I can see I was wrong.....It's enough that it happened. It's enough that I survived."
This fiction book is based upon the life of real-life Mazie Phillips-Gordon (Queen of the Bowery). She was the ticket booth lady at the Venice Theatre in the 1920’s. Mazie was somewhat wild, which I guess wasn’t that unusual at the time. But she also had a heart of gold, helping the homeless with little acts of kindness. It is written as journal entries from Mazie, along with snippets of interviews from people who knew her. However I found there were too many people to keep track of, people that just pop up in the story with no real background information to determine their importance on Mazie’s life. The entire book just seemed too disconnected to me. I would have liked to have known more about Mazie but I didn’t get much from this book.