CHEZ JOEY: The World of Joe Flaherty

by Joe Flaherty ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 1974

This is a haphazardly arranged collection of articles from the Village Voice's resident Irish boozer, whose main interests in life are apparently the race track and the Lion's Head, though not necessarily in that order. He got his start (at the time he was working on the docks) when he wrote an article about the vituperation Lindsay received back in 1966 from Flaherty's beloved Brooklynites when he tried to talk about the Civilian Review Board. His pugnacious style has remained essentially the same since then, except for an unfortunate and increasing intrusion of the first person and a tendency to name drop (Breslin, Wilfrid Sheed), both a la New Journalese. He is heavy on sentimentality and moralism and most negative on Women's and Gay Lib, as one might expect from a macho who boasts obsessively about his need to have that early morning drink (to cure the hangover). Predictably, his best articles are about sports -- football, racing, boxing -- less metaphysical than Mailer, but more schmaltzy. Collectively, their weaknesses become more glaring -- recycling bits from earlier articles, endless metaphors from The Great Gatsby, strange heroes (Sonny Liston) and stranger enemies (Patterson, Muhammad Ali -- sort of). The dates of the articles (but not where they were published) are included, usually but not always in chronological order, and whether they're collected, selected, or excerpted -- the reader of this book will never know.

Pub Date: March 17, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION