Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History | 
| Manufacturer: Random House
Category: EBooks
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $7.96
You Save: $1.99 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 19133
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1092
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com Review
Fans of Mary Karr's groundbreaking memoir The Liars' Club will relish the similarly funny, tough-minded tone of Helene Stapinski's recollections centering on her family's petty criminal history in the sordid precincts of Jersey City. But Stapinski is nobody's clone; her autobiography has a tart, distinctively urban Northeast flavor that will ring a bell with anyone familiar with America's aging, deteriorating cities. You can practically smell the soap suds from the local Colgate factory and the stink of the bone-rendering plant in nearby Newark; people didn't settle in Jersey City, writes Stapinski, "they settled for Jersey City ... they settled for less." She was 5 years old in 1970 when her Italian American grandfather was arrested for threatening to shoot her whole family, capping a long career that included armed robbery and beating his children. The Polish American relatives on her father's side included a bookie and an epileptic prone to fits of rage who nearly killed a sibling by breaking his back. None of this was a big deal in Jersey City, notes Stapinski, who deftly interweaves her family's story with the rancid saga of Hudson County's corrupt political machine. She fled to college in Manhattan and a career in journalism without ever really escaping the ties of blood and loyalty; her frank rendering of her mixed feelings as Jersey City was slowly upscaled reminds us what is gained and lost through gentrification. Stapinski's salty, savory account conveys the gritty, enduring legacy of Jersey City: "so tough, I was always prepared for what might come my way." --Wendy Smith
Product Description
On a summer night when she was five years old, Helene Stapinski watched out her kitchen window as her Grandpa Beansie was carted off to jail for the last time. Beansie (so nicknamed because he had stolen a crate of beans as a child) had spent the better part of that day in the Majestic Tavern, a dive bar on the ground floor of the Stapinskisi apartment building. As the afternoon wore on, Beansie's usual ranting turned mean. He flashed a loaded gun; a silver .22 glowing in the light from the Yankee game on the tavern TV, and bragged to his drinking buddies that he had a bullet for each of his relatives living above the Majestic. But news traveled fast in the neighborhood, and before Beansie, a convicted murderer and armed robber, could stumble upstairs, the cops had him in handcuffs. The headline in the local newspaper the next day read "Man Seized On Way To Kill 5 Children". As Stapinski writes, Jersey City was a tough place to grow up, except I didn't know any better.
In this unforgettable memoir, Stapinski tells the heartbreaking yet often hilarious story of growing up among swindlers, bookies, and crooks. With deadpan humor and obvious affection, she comes clean with the outrageous tales that have swirled around her relatives for decades, and recounts the epic drama and comedy of living in a household in which petty crime was a way of life. The dinner Helene's mother put on the table (often prime rib, lobster tail, and fancy cakes) was usually swiped from the cold-storage company where Helene's father worked. The soap and toothpaste in the bathroom were lifted from the local Colgate factory. The books on the family's shelves were smuggled out of a book-binding company in Aunt Mary Ann's oversize girdle (or taken by Grandpa Beansie from the Free Public Library). Uncle Henry did a booming business as the neighborhood bookie, cousins did jail time, and Great-Aunt Katie, who liked to take a shot of whiskey each morning to clear her lungs, was a ward leader in the notorious Jersey City political machine.
No backdrop could be more appropriate for the Stapinskis than Jersey City; a place known for its ties to the Mafia, industrial blight, and corrupt local officials, and the author ingeniously weaves the checkered history of her hometown throughout the book. Navigating a childhood of toxic waste and tough love, Stapinski tells an extraordinary tale that, unlike the swag of her childhood, is her very own.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 A Great Read March 13, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you don't find yourself howling out loud at some passages in this book, then you don't get the east coast sense of humor at all ( finding humor in the absurd, the miserable and the horrible). And well, frankly, I question your horrible taste.
Stapinski's book is very moving, funny and well written. Massive corruption, police brutality, toxic waste, armies of invading rats, packs of wild dogs, and mysterious odors - Jersey City had it all. This book sent me into fits.
 This is not a history of Jersey City, lighten up! February 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was amazed by the vehemence of the reviews of this book, both positive and negative. I was also surprised by the number of reviews. I think that, in itself, tells you that the book is worth reading.
Like many of the reviewers, I was born and raised in Jersey City (born in 1955). That would make me ten years older than the author, so our time in Jesey City pretty much paralleled each other. Was my family like Ms. Stapinski's? No. Can I relate to that which she is writing? Absolutely! I grew up in the Heights section of Jersey City on Waverly Street right off of Central Avenue and near Pershing Field. It was not downtown Jersey City, but we had enough characters of our own. For those who grew up in Jesey City and cannot relate to Ms. Stapinski and her story, well, good for you. But if you were not aware of, or did not see the things she writes about in Jersey City, you were either naive, sheltered, or a liar.
In the 1960s and 1970s Jersey City was not a "model city." But then again, what large city was doing well, especially in the 1970s? For all it's faults, I would not have wanted to grow up anywhere else.
"Five Fingered Discount" is one woman's recollection of her childhood. It is not the definitive history of Jersey City. Jersey City is like any other large city; it has it's good points and bad points. If you happen to remember more of the good points, wonderful, but it doesn't mean the bad ones didn't exist. If you know nothing about Jersey City, but would like some interesting reading, I recommend this book. If you are from another large urban area in the U.S., I am sure you will find Ms. Stapinski's story familiar. Jersey City has not cornered the market on urban dysfunction!
I enjoyed this book July 13, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was reading some reviews here and was surprised that they found this book "offensive", because either they knew better part of the city or Stapinski's family members stole, could not drive, drank, etc. WHY????? Haven't you stole an ashtray from downtown cafe once? Ever? Or haven't you taken a bunch of ketcup packets from fastfood joint? .. OK, all I'm saying is to lighten up a little. I think tragedies and craziness of her family are written here with great humor and affection. And who doesn't have one crazy person in their family? I could feel lump in my throat when I read the part where her daddy died. If you like to read something filled with morals and displines, then this book is not for you. But if you like to laugh and cry over real people with vivid characters, you should try this one.
I absolutely loved Five Finger Discount June 18, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Stapinski relates growing up in Jersey City in a fresh and honest way. And her recounting of the blighted history of Jersey City politics is a head-shaking hoot. As for the popularity of her opinions about JC and its denizens, well, that has no bearing on whether this book is a great read; it is.
I loved the sheer humanity of this book.
LOVED the humor of this book. November 29, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've come to know and appreciate Jersey City on my own, since I became a volunteer historian at The Stanley Theatre 6 years ago. I've had to go the JC Public Library and had the pleasure of going thru the NJ Room, as well as meeting great people (Cynthia, Bruce, and Leon Yost -'Jersey Citians'(?). I've grown up in urban areas (i.e, Newark/Irvington), and now live in the suburbs in another County, but have come to appreciate Jersey City very much.
Jersey City has some wonderful historic sites, as well as areas that have been revitalized by citizens who take pride in their communities. I'm sure that the folks who've taken exception to many aspects of this book have their own arguments, that are probably even valid. But Ms. Stapinski's story is HER family story, the good, bad, and ugly.
There are wonderful Jersey City Arcadia-published books on various historical aspects, but Ms. Stapinski's personal account with "Five Finger Discount" was close to home for me, because my paternal grandfather was somewhat like her Grandpa, and my grandfather was sent to Trenton State Prison in the 1960's for illegal gambling, as well as not naming names.
I also read her "Baby Plays Around" and if nothing else, one has to admit that Ms. Stapinski's candor and raw emotion comes through in both published works.
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