In Jami Attenberg's chronological novel Saint Mazie (2015), set amidst New York City's Jazz Age, a party girl begins a diary after she starts working behind the ticket counter of a local movie. Critics acclaim the book for its vivid characters and its intense heart. Attenberg is a famous writer who writes basically for adult audiences. She utilizes her very own experiences of living in New York City for more than twenty years to illuminate her books and improve the portrayal. She is most popular for writing clever, character-driven books.
As the book opens, a documentarian discovers a diary belonging with Mazie Phillips Gordon. Around ninety years of age, the diary depicts, in detail, what it resembles to live in New York City's Lower East Side during the Jazz Age and the Great Depression. The documentarian shares the diary with others so they can become familiar with American history and this unfathomable lady.
Mazie experiences childhood in Boston with her sisters Rosie and Jeanie. They do not have a simple home life. Mazie's father, Horvath, drinks continually and beats their mother, Ada. Ada consumes her life on earth attempting to keep Horvath cheerful; she takes the beatings with the goal that he does not turn his temper on the girls. At only ten years of age, Mazie needs to find her very own sheltered space.
Rosie, the oldest, weds Louis. She moves to New York City, welcoming Mazie and Jeanie to move in with them. It is because, Mazie has a sense of security and cheerful. She finds part-time job in Louis' candy emporium. While she despises serving as a shop associate, she cherishes meeting new individuals and learning further about New York City. She additionally appreciates the incidental free candy.
As Mazie grows older, she turns to men for consideration. Rosie stresses over her because the family cannot stand to take care of an infant in the event that she gets pregnant. Louis proposes that Mazie work at his movie theatre, the Venice, to profit yet in addition to prevent her from dozing around to such an extent. Rosie fears that Mazie will just meet many men there.
For Mazie, the Venice is a bad dream. It is exhausting and she cannot drink or party each night. In the interim, Jeanie falls in love with vet, Ethan Fallow. She meets him at the racetrack, which upsets Mazie because she adores the course and she cannot continue any longer since she works each night. Accepting that she will transform into a spinster, Mazie pushes everybody away.
On an uncommon night off, Mazie heads to a nearby bar. Here she meets Captain Benjamin Hazzard, and they rest together that night. Some time later, Mazie finds that she is pregnant. She is scared to tell Rosie, yet when Rosie admits that she is attempting to consider, Mazie inquires as to whether she needs Mazie's child. Rosie is charmed; she can hardly wait to meet the infant. Nonetheless, Mazie prematurely delivers and everybody winds up hopeless once more.
Louis moves the family to Coney Island for a new beginning. Presently it is in Jeanie's turn to be troubled, and she flees to join a move troupe. When Prohibition is presented, it gets more diligently to discover authentic dance work, yet Jeanie does well in the underground circuit. Mazie is glad that Jeanie found a spot where she has a place regardless of whether despite everything she feels lost and alone.
In a little while, Jeanie gets back home once more. Jeanie portrays how, between breaking her leg and passing an explicitly transmitted illness around the troupe, the lead performer in the long run requested that her to leave. Mazie does not have the opportunity to take care of Jeanie because she works such extended periods of time at the Venice. When she is not working in the ticket office, she helps the vagrants who sleep unpleasant around the local roads. She provides them whatever cash or food she needs to save, acquiring the nickname "Saint Mazie."
The family's hardships worsen when Louis kicks the bucket. Rosie and Mazie discover that Louis was ready to go with obscure people; they should take care of these men or else they will disturb the family permanently. Louis has money reserved around the home and the Venice, and the sisters must discover who it all appertains to and what obligations he owes. Jeanie, recouped, moves to Los Angeles. Mazie despises how Jeanie flees from duty while she is troubled with caring for Rosie and serving food on the table.
