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Audiobook11 hours
Billy Bathgate: A Novel
Written by E.L. Doctorow
Narrated by Mark Deakins
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
To listen to this audiobook is to enter the perilous, thrilling world of Billy Bathgate, the brazen boy who is accepted into the inner circle of the notorious Dutch Schultz gang. Like an urban Tom Sawyer, Billy takes us along on his fateful adventures as he becomes good-luck charm, apprentice, and finally protégé to one of the great murdering gangsters of the Depression-era underworld in New York City. The luminous transformation of fact into fiction that is E. L. Doctorow's trademark comes to triumphant fruition in Billy Bathgate, a peerless coming-of-age tale and one of Doctorow's boldest and most beloved bestsellers.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Fred Ahlert Music Corporation and Henderson Music Company: Excerpts from the lyrics to "Bye Bye Blackbird," lyrics by Mort Dixon, music by Ray Henderson. Copyright 1926. Copyright renewed 1953. All rights for the extended term administered by Fred Ahlert Music Corporation for Olde Clover Leaf Music and Henderson Music Company, c/o William
Krasilovsky, Feinman and Krasilovsky. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bourne Co./New York Music Publishers: Excerpt from the lyrics to "Me and My Shadow," words by Billy Rose, music by Al Jolson and Dave Dreyer. Copyright 1927 Borune Co. Copyright renewed, International Copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The Songwriters Guild of America and CPP Belwin, Inc.: Excerpt from the lyrics to "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else," by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones. Copyright 1924. U.S. rights renewed 1980 Gilbert Keyes Music and Bantam Music. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.: Excerpt from the lyrics to "Limehouse Blues," by Philip Braham and Douglas Furber. Copyright 1922 Warner Bros. Inc. (Renewed). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:
Fred Ahlert Music Corporation and Henderson Music Company: Excerpts from the lyrics to "Bye Bye Blackbird," lyrics by Mort Dixon, music by Ray Henderson. Copyright 1926. Copyright renewed 1953. All rights for the extended term administered by Fred Ahlert Music Corporation for Olde Clover Leaf Music and Henderson Music Company, c/o William
Krasilovsky, Feinman and Krasilovsky. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bourne Co./New York Music Publishers: Excerpt from the lyrics to "Me and My Shadow," words by Billy Rose, music by Al Jolson and Dave Dreyer. Copyright 1927 Borune Co. Copyright renewed, International Copyright secured. All rights reserved. Used by permission. The Songwriters Guild of America and CPP Belwin, Inc.: Excerpt from the lyrics to "The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else," by Gus Kahn and Isham Jones. Copyright 1924. U.S. rights renewed 1980 Gilbert Keyes Music and Bantam Music. Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.: Excerpt from the lyrics to "Limehouse Blues," by Philip Braham and Douglas Furber. Copyright 1922 Warner Bros. Inc. (Renewed). All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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Reviews for Billy Bathgate
Rating: 3.6993900613496935 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
326 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved this beautifully written book and fascinating to read about the real story on Wikipedia. Excellent reader on audio version.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gangster youth turns into successful business may - very strong Dickensian vibes for me with solid rough-and-ready American gangster.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A gripping account of the gangster life of Dutch Schultz, fictionalized but still close to what actually happened. The narrator also does very well bringing the words to life.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a reader opens the pages of "Billy Bathgate" they are taken back to the days of prohibition and notorious gangsters.One of those famous gangsters wi Dutch Schultz. He befriends Billy and becomes a father-like figure to the fifteen-year-old boy. Shultz who was born in the Bronx in 1901 built his criminal network from bootlegging, gambling and murder.Billy lives with his mom in a run down area of Lenox Ave and 125th street. He had no father and no direction in life. He comes to idolize Schultz from his power, the way he's revered in the community and by many of New York jet setters.There are many shady characters in the story. The reader gets to share some of the words of Walter Winchell and hear Schultz's remarks of Thomas E. Dewey.Schultz has a girlfriend and Billy spends a great deal of time with her she is much of the reason for his sexual awakening.I enjoyed the story and look back into a time that many of our parents and grandparents enjoyed. Their stories may be gone but in this story, some of the events of that time are brought to life once more.The characters are well developed and become likable in their own way. It is particularly fun to witness the Jewish Schultz conversion to Catholicism as nears his trial date and he attempts to build a good-guy image.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Billy Bathgate is a novel about a precocious boy from a poor section of the Bronx who voluntarily joins the gang of Dutch Schultz who finds Billy to be an invaluable new member of his murderous New York racket. Billy has an intelligent eye and learns quickly, proving to the gang he is older than his years. Billy does indeed seem older than his years though the first person account he gives in this novel. He has very wise reflections on himself, his relationship to crime, his predicament, and ways to extricate himself. But in the end billy stays loyal and. Enefits from a bit of luck but also his smarts. He is someone we can cheer at the end.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this book because it won the Book Critics Circle fiction award for 1989. It is the 27th such winner I have read. It is laid in 1935 and tells of the ingratiating way that Billy, age 15, worked his way into the Dutch Schultz gang by being "capable" and doing what he was told. It read easily and is of interest as an insight into gangsterdum in that era. The story skips around some, telling of the death of a character--dumped into the ocean after having his feet encased in cement--and then telling of what lead up to that murder--although just why Bo was murdered in not spelled out. One of course cannot admire the central character, except that he was making himself agreeable to the mammon of iniquity, as Scripture suggests..
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoa--intense and fast-paced. Typical Doctorow in many ways, especially, I think, in his somewhat limited treatment of female characters, but still I like Doctorow's style and focus on historical fiction.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book is an interesting peek into the lives of gangsters in 1930's New York. Billy Bathgate was born in the Bronx slums, living a fatherless and reckless life, until he is befriended by famous gangster, Dutch Schultz. Schultz shows him the inner workings of crime, killing, gambling and bootlegging. Billy latches on to this less-than-admirable life as way to scratch some type of existence for his insane mother and himself. An opportunist and a quick study, Billy seems to be numb to the unethical lifestyle of a gangster. That is, until he falls in love with Schultz's girlfriend.I doubt few could argue Doctorow's brilliance as a writer. Even with a neatly tied-up ending, his story about a young boy, love and relationships transports you to the very setting of the story. Admittedly, I was thrown off by the many run-on sentences and stream of consciousness writing style, but I believe it was a necessary literary trick used by Doctorow to make you feel like you knew exactly what Billy is thinking.Like Ragtime, this novel is a snapshot of the lives of people living our American history. When you finish Billy Bathgate, you will have a better understanding of the Great Depression, Prohibition and the economic impacts of the 1930's. If you like historical fiction mixed with a social commentary, then you may find Billy Bathgate to be a good selection for you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Billy Bathgate is the story of a 15 year old East Bronx kid becoming involved in a very sterotypical portrayal of the New York mob. At first I enjoyed the run on sentences that seemed to sound like a poorly educated street kid, but then Doctorow loses that tone. It is as if he needs to wield some impressive author vocab acrobatics every now and again so the voice of the kid is lost. Example: "I felt as if I was descending into a pore of the planet, and then I came around a bend and was looking down at a cantilevered ledge shaped like an enormous arrowhead" In the end the reader learns that Billy Bathgate is telling the story years later after a very good education. Without knowing this in the beginning the Bronx tone mixed with the Ivy League language is disjointed and pulled me away from the story. However, without Doctorow's way with language and character development this would be a boring cartoonish crime/mob novel.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A gripping opening yanks you into the heart of Dutch's gang, and as the book unfolds you're left dreading the inevitable unravelling. It sagged a little in the middle (to be fair, the crew was supposed to be lying low) but this has great writing, great characters and a great story to boot.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was captivating coming of age novel that takes place in 1935. Billy Bathgate is an unusually bright teenager, but he's also a neglected, poor child from the Bronx who needs attention and someone's approval. He finds this in a dangerous place, becoming involved with one of the most violence gangsters in New York City. How he manages to stay on the right side of a dangerous man and avoid serious trouble makes for a good read. This is written in Billy's very credible voice, and is well-paced.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The notorious Dutch Schultz gang is revered by the young deprived boys of the Bronx, among them and no less impressed is Billy Bathgate who is keen to become involved, so when the chance arises he does not hold back and soon this precocious young fifteen year old finds himself accepted into the gang. This is the world of protection rackets, gang enforced business monopolies and tax evasion set against the background of drive by shootings and big black Packards.Billy's diligence, inventiveness and initiative is such that very soon Schultz is referring to Billy as his protege. We follow Billy's rise within the gang, and his various assignments through to the ultimate fate of the gang, and to what becomes of Billy thereafter.The shear beauty of the prose is enough to keep one going through this involving account, even if I did hesitate when just a few pages in it seemed we were going to witness a brutal gang retribution; while the horrors of gang life are there it never descended into any unnecessary gruesomeness, but maintains the emphasis on the individuality of the various characters, primarily the members of the gang and the beautiful young women who becomes involved with Schultz, and through such, Billy. Billy Bathgate is a most involving novel, the character of the title is most endearing, but above all it is the high quality of the flowing prose that is the real pleasure of this book.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An absolutely brilliant mix of fact and fancy. The story of the downfall of the Dutch Schultz gang as told by a young hanger-on who manages to insinuate himself into the club. Excellent full characterizations, intricate plot and wonderful use of the English language. After reading it, I looked at the real story of Dutch Schultz on Wikipedia. Doctorow did a fabulous job of using the known details and weaving Billy's story into it. Excellent story and writing.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doctorow’s fictional account of the journey of Billy Bathgate is an exceptional examination of what it means to grow into a man. After wowing his way into working for the infamous Dutch Schultz gang, Bathgate witnesses the ugly side of the world. He is a narrator who is, at times, both confident in and scared of his new-found profession. The book is an elegant view into the mind of a boy who is coping with the loss of innocence that comes with knowledge of the real world--only he does so under some violent circumstances.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really like this one, even if there were some disturbing scenes that had me starting to second guess why I wanted to read this, my first exposure to E. L. Doctorow's novels. What worked for me is the well drawn setting and the pitch perfect voice of our young Billy. Boy, does Billy think fast on his feet and grow up fast for a street smart middle teen kid from a fatherless, East Bronx childhood! I get that the Depression era was a hard scrabble on its own. Add in a strong, gangster element as Doctorow has done here, and the end result is a fast-reading peerless (and perilous) coming-of-age story. Doctorow provides enough detail about 1930s New York life (from the view of the city's notorious underground crime economy) that it was easy for me to visualize life in those times, from that perspective. What can I say... an easy flowing, captivating read, with some interesting jolts along the way.