{"product_id":"five-finger-discount-a-crooked-family-history-paperback","title":"Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eHelene Stapinski\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eNow a PBS documentary, this astonishing memoir of growing up in rough-and-tumble Jersey City \"will steal your heart\" (\u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e)\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e With deadpan humor and obvious affection, \u003ci\u003eFive-Finger Discount\u003c\/i\u003e recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls \"a page-turner,\" Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City--a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight--with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eFive-Finger Discount\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"By turns hilarious and alarming,  Helene Stapinski's] book reads on the surface like something by Damon Runyon and Elmore Leonard, with a dark undertow of real-life pain and disillusion.\"\u003cb\u003e--Michiko Kakutani, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"It's a brilliant book, a darling book. It is the blessedly modest chronicle of a magical consciousness that seems to have been born pulling diamonds out of the muck, hearing angels' voices in the fiercest thunder. . . . I adored every word of this wondrous book. Get it. Read it.\"\u003cb\u003e--Michael Pakenham, \u003ci\u003eThe Baltimore Sun\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"In the tradition of . . . Rita Mae Brown and Amy Tan, Ms. Stapinski is an exciting writer, unabashedly candid, and at the same time unashamedly self-contained. \u003ci\u003eFive-Finger Discount\u003c\/i\u003e is a must-read.\"\u003cb\u003e--Victoria Gotti, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Observer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"What  Frank] McCourt did for Limerick, Ireland, Helene Stapinski does for Jersey City.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Star-Ledger\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \"Hugely entertaining.\"\u003cb\u003e--\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e (London)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith deadpan humor and obvious affection, Five-Finger Discount recounts the story of an unforgettable New Jersey family of swindlers, bookies, embezzlers, and mobster-wannabes. In the memoir Mary Karr calls \"a page-turner,\" Helene Stapinski ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown of Jersey City--a place known for its political corruption and industrial blight--with the tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale at once heartbreaking and hysterically funny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e Helene Stapinski\u003c\/b\u003e began her career at her hometown newspaper, The Jersey Journal, and since then has written for \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, and \u003ci\u003ePeople\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She received her B.A. in journalism from New York University in 1987 and her M.F.A. from Columbia in 1995. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 272\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.61 x 8 x 5.22 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 12, 2002\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51987440173357,"sku":"9780375758706","price":22.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/BnLP5FekN99780375758706.webp?v=1776178716","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/five-finger-discount-a-crooked-family-history-paperback","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}