Books like Young Lonigan

Studs Lonigan, on the verge of fifteen, and wearing his first suit of long trousers, stood in the bathroom with a Sweet Caporal pasted in his mug. His hands were jammed in his trouser pockets, and he sneered. He puffed, drew the fag out of his mouth, inhaled and said to himself:Well, I’m kissin’ the old dump goodbye tonight.Thus do we meet “Studs” Lonigan in 1916, on the verge of (maybe) entering high school. Young Lonigan - the first part of James T. Farrell’s trilogy Studs Lonigan. Farrell, born in 1904, in the Irish section of Chicago’s South Side. William/Bill/”Studs” Lonigan, born maybe a couple years earlier, but essentially same time, same place. Studs and his family live on South Wabash Avenue, in the area of Chicago bounded by East 60th Street and East 57th Street on the south and north, S. State Street to the west, and S. Prairie Avenue to the east. A little farther east, across Calumet Avenue, lies Washington Park, Washington Lagoon, and Bynum Island, where Studs spends an afternoon in that summer of 1916 talking with Lucy, a girl who lives on in his memory in an achingly poignant manner.Studs, constantly ragged by his siblings, but tormented by his dad Pat, who has plans for William – a few more years of schooling, then learn the painting business, starting as an apprentice and working his way up, and finally “step in and run the works”. Meanwhile his mother Mary constantly urging Studs to “pray”, to open himself to the calling - of the priesthood. This while Studs yearns to join the older kids, tough guys, young men who are experienced with the girls (to hear them talk), who all have their own problems with their own families, being pushed by that first generation of hard-working (and many hard drinking) Irish who made a life in Chicago.Farrell knows the people, knows the kids, knows the territory. Thank goodness for him, he resisted the temptations of the hard urban life on that South Side, as the Jews and Blacks begin to infiltrate the Irish neighborhood, ethnic hatred and worse beginning to bubble in the stew.Studs. Tough guy. Sexually frustrated, tormented by fears of divine retribution, constantly swaying between fear of being looked on as a young brat (not even worth attention from the older guys), and a childish pride in a hard-boiled image that becomes protective armor - whenever he can get in a wisecrack that makes the older boys laugh, or a hurtful remark or even a smash to the face to a member of the scorned tribes, that the older guys will admire – anything to be part of that crew, that group that he desperately wants to join, so as to somehow free himself from the expectations of that first generation who have such plans for their kids.I remember reading the trilogy close to half a century ago. It’s raw, natural, a mantel of urban realism, and ultimately tragically sad. I’ve wanted to reread it now for some time. I’m on my way.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Previous review: The World as I Found ItNext review: The Ornament of the WorldOlder review: Values in a Universe of ChancePrevious library review: Studs Lonigan the trilogyNext library review: The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan