{"product_id":"five-finger-discount-a-crooked-family-history-9780375758706","title":"Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History","description":"\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 \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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Trade\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/12\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780375758706\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.45lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.22w x 0.61d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/17\/2002 pg. 67\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Helene Stapinski","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43040173490357,"sku":"9780375758706","price":18.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_e81d9583-bb50-4222-8b62-d0f59cf69d6d.jpg?v=1689086206","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/five-finger-discount-a-crooked-family-history-9780375758706","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}