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Ironweed: A Novel Paperback – February 7, 1984

by William J. Kennedy (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 511 ratings
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“[W]ith Ironweed, William Kennedy is making American literature.”—The Washington Post Book World

Francis Phelan has hit bottom. More than twenty years ago, the ex-ballplayer, part-time gravedigger, and full-time bum with the gift of gab left Albany after a tragic accident. Now, in 1938, Francis is back in town and faced with the wife and home he abandoned, roaming the old familiar streets, trying to make peace with the ghosts of the past and present. Winner of the Pultizer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Ironweed “goes straight for the throat and the funnybone" (The New York Times).


William Kennedy’s Albany Cycle of novels reflect what he once described as the fusion of his imagination with a single place. A native and longtime resident of Albany, New York, his work moves from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, chronicling family life, the city’s netherworld, and its spheres of power—financial, ethnic, political—often among the Irish-Americans who dominated the city in this period. The novels in his cycle include, Legs, Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game, Ironweed, Quinn’s Book, Very Old Bones, The Flaming Corsage, and Roscoe.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    227 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Penguin
  4. Publication date
    February 7, 1984
  5. Grade level
    12 and up
  6. Reading age
    18 years and up
  7. Dimensions
    7.76 x 5.16 x 0.45 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0140070206
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0140070200
  10. See all details
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From the Publisher

Legs Billy Phelan's Greatest Game Ironweed Quinn's Book Very Old Bones
Legs Billy Phelan's Greatest Game Ironweed Quinn's Book Very Old Bones
Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
109
4.0 out of 5 stars
62
4.3 out of 5 stars
511
3.8 out of 5 stars
101
4.0 out of 5 stars
26
Price $15.20 $13.17 $17.71 $14.38 $16.15
Other Books by William Kennedy ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Very Old Bones Roscoe Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes An Albany Trio O Albany
The Flaming Corsage Roscoe Chango's Beeds and Two-Tone Shoes An Albany Trio O Albany!
Customer Reviews
3.3 out of 5 stars
12
4.3 out of 5 stars
54
3.8 out of 5 stars
48
4.4 out of 5 stars
45
4.3 out of 5 stars
22
Price $16.00 $22.00 $16.00 $30.00 $17.00
Other Books by William Kennedy ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Ironweed

“Rich in plot and dramatic tension...almost Joycean in its variety of rhetoric.”—The New York Times

“Astonishing...Kennedy’s ambitious vision and soaring imaginative powers make this book one of the richest, most startling, and most satisfying novels of recent years.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A beautifully sorrowful novel.  Kennedy asks us again to confront the mystery of human behavior.  And as he illuminates it, we share in one’s man’s struggle to understand his life.”—The Washington Post

“Kennedy’s power is such that the reader will follow him almost anywhere, to the edge of tragedy and back again to redemption.”—The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

William Kennedy, author, screenwriter and playwright, was born and raised in Albany, New York. Kennedy brought his native city to literary life in many of his works. The Albany cycle, includes Legs, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, and the Pulitzer Prize winning Ironweed.The versatile Kennedy wrote the screenplay for Ironweed, the play Grand View, and cowrote the screenplay for the The Cotton Club with Francis Ford Coppola. Kennedy also wrote the nonfiction O Albany! and Riding the Yellow Trolley Car. Some of the other works he is known for include Roscoe and Very Old Bones.

Kennedy is the founding director of the New York State Writers Institute and, in 1993, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Literary Lions Award from the New York Public Library, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a Governor’s Arts Award. Kennedy was also named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France and a member of the board of directors of the New York State Council for the Humanities.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (February 7, 1984)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 227 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0140070206
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0140070200
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 12 and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.76 x 5.16 x 0.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 511 ratings

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William Kennedy

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
511 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Judith
5.0 out of 5 stars Literary masterpiece
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
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And a wonderful read. Loved it!
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Steven M. Anthony
4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Little Six Hour Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2011
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At 225 pages (a short 225 pages at that, with large type), this Pulitzer Prize winner can best be classified as a novella. It can be easily read in one sitting. Part of a series of short novels from the same era and featuring many of the same characters, it is the tale of a down and out, former baseball player, Francis Phelan, who turned to drink after the death of his infant son. Set in the depths of the Great Depression, the imagery and descriptive writing is excellent.

Throughout the novel, Francis is beset by flashbacks and visits from ghosts of his checkered past, many of whom met their ends as a result of Francis's actions. A former streetcar conductor, with a wife and family, Francis fled his home in Albany following his murder of a strike breaking scab. A decade later, he returns to Albany, living on the streets as a "bum", with his common law wife, Helen, and a ragged collection of homeless winos.

This is a very well written, powerful story. I do wonder, however, if many of the superlatives being accorded this short work are because it is a Pulitzer winner and not the other way around. I suspect that given this book to peruse, without awareness that it won the Pulitzer, most would acknowledge that it is a nice, little six hour read. That is pretty much how I found it.
7 people found this helpful
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Jody J Sperling
5.0 out of 5 stars Years of Memories
Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2023
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As the author of The Luke In Time Mysteries, I know how valuable reviews are. And I know William Kennedy can't benefit from my review anymore, but you can.

Ironweed is a baseball novel, but like so many baseball novels, it's not much about baseball. Its hero is a former and disgraced baseball player who has fallen so far he's homeless and scraping for ever scrap of food.

You can find a lot to judge about a man who wasted so much, but you can find even more to relate to in a man who could never be grateful for what he had. I found myself in the highs and lows of this book. The addiction. The confusion. The despair. The triumph. I loved it. You will too.
4 people found this helpful
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Michael Ben Zehabe
3.0 out of 5 stars The Gritty Side of Big Dreams:
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2019
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I wasn't inspired by this book until the movie. Funny how when someone else puts level into literature it comes alive. Loved the movie. So-so for the book.
One person found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars As compelling as ever
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2023
Verified Purchase
Forty years have passed since this masterpiece was first published and it is as fresh and vivid and compelling as ever.
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John Conner
4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Redemption, Or Not?
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2006
Verified Purchase
IRONWEED by William J. Kennedy was the latest selection for a book club I've recently joined. The premise of the club is to read a novel and then view the movie (at the group meeting) that was based on the novel. As I expected, the movie paled in comparison to the book, despite the screenplay being written by Kennedy himself. Jack Nicholson plays the main character (Francis) and Meryl Streep is his "wanna be" socialite girlfriend (Helen), but this star power doesn't elevate the story beyond what Kennedy had already done in the novel.

Set during the "Great Depression," IRONWEED is a great look at the underbelly of society: drunks, homeless, impoverished, and in that regard the story is timeless. I enjoyed the characters' quirkiness and the loosely connected plots, but more significantly to me were the themes of redemption, forgiveness, and love. The love aspect may be hard to spot, but it is there, unconventionally, in many of the character's interactions.

This favorable recommendation comes with a warning: it can be a depressing read, definitely not a happy one, and while I found it inspirational, it will not conjure any blithe emotions. IRONWEED is definitely not a June beach read, being more apropos to a long winter night, indoor, by a warm fire.
13 people found this helpful
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The Bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written novel
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2022
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It took me a long while to read this book but that was by design. I wanted to savor the moments and loved the feel and mood William Kennedy invoked. It's a slice of Americana...of yesteryear. Gritty and messy but somehow charming. What a journey!
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Sara Bee 1321
4.0 out of 5 stars Inside the mind of a homeless alcoholic
Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2005
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You may have seen the movie. You may feel it evokes Albany, NY. But reading this gave me insight into the mind of my own homeless alcoholic, my younger brother.

Like the protaganist, my brother doesn't have to be homeless. But the requirements of the straight life are just too much.

Why would anyone choose this? How can my brother prefer sleeping outside in the cold, being dirty and hungry? He had a good job, was a homeowner, a husband, is still a father and grandfather.

William Kennedy has given me a clue. I'll never really get it, but Ironweed got me closer.
25 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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nicholas gordon
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2019
Verified Purchase
A book that perfectly encapsulates the seedier side of depression era Americana. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment spent with the bums, misfits, and dowtrodden, beautiful souls it portrays 👍
2 people found this helpful
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Giuseppe
4.0 out of 5 stars E' in lingua originale
Reviewed in Italy on December 29, 2012
Verified Purchase
Purtroppo non l'ho potuto leggere e quindi non posso fare alcun commento. Direi tuttavia che dal sito non era chiaro che il libro era in inglese
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jcbinok
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Readable
Reviewed in Japan on March 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
This was a selection for my book club. It has been our highest rated book so far out of 15 or so. It tells the story of a man facing the ghosts of his past and trying to gain some measure of peace. There are some truly touching moments, and I enjoyed it even better the second time I read it. Solid thumbs up.
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sally warden
5.0 out of 5 stars Good quality. .
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2015
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Arrived in good time also good quality book very pleased. ...
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robert ward
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2017
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excellent
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