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Night and the City
Gerald Kersh Book Review

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Plot Summary of Night and the City
"He's a guy who'd blackmail a man with a dying wife; sacrifice an aging wrestler in a fight for a meagre profit; sell his prostitute girlfriend, whom he lives off, to white-slavers. He's Harry Fabian, one of London town's low-life, with a humble, street-trader brother that loves him all the same."
Charles Smyth, Resident Scholar

"Kersh's best-known and most-respected novel, published in 1946, is a Dickensian "slice o' life" look at London's underworld. Harry Fabian is a fast-talking con artist and kept man (read: pimp) who claims to have been a successful songwriter in America and tries to put together funding for all-in wrestling matches. We meet his girl, Zoe, and several comely dancer/prostitutes (Vi and Helen) as well as the criminal financiers and tough guys of postwar England. Not everyone is unsympathetic -- Adam, a nightclub waiter and manager who yearns to do sculpture and gets involved with Helen, has a certain ethic and moral grandeur -- but pretty much everyone gets crushed by the milieu. This novel inspired at least two namesake movies: a 1950 Jules Dassin noir starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney, and a much weaker 1990 remake with Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange."
David Loftus, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of Night and the City
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - upbeat - humorous
Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's
Life of a profession: - criminal
Crime & Police story Yes
Story of - criminals stealing from other criminals - conman stealing/fraud - one man's rise in a criminal organization - bad criminals on the run
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - gambler - thief/con artist
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - eccentric - deluded
Ethnicity/Nationality - British
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male - an organization
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status: - unemployed
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric: - obsessed - wild - eccentric - emotionally unstable - dumb
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - a moderate amount - an above average amount
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - bulging muscles

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK
City? Yes
City: - London - dirty, grimy (like New York) - dangerous

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references
Unusual Style: - No single main character?
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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