Billy Bathgate

I am still reading the works of E.L. Doctorow for the class I am taking on Tuesdays. This time I finished Billy Bathgate. Billy is a poor 15 year old boy living in the Bronx with his Irish mother who is not mentally well. She works in a laundry and Billy loves her.  The book never specifies the year but I would guess it is the 1930's. He lives across the street from an orphanage and he often hangs out with the kids there. Billy has learned to juggle. One day his juggling skills are noticed by a gangster named Dutch Schulz. Billy ends up working for the mobster running errands and spying on people. Any earnings Billy gets he shares with his mother. Billy witnesses crimes, murders, and a trial where Dutch Schulz is acquitted. He also gets fed better than he did at home and he gets to travel, stay in nice hotels, see upstate New York for the first time and even go to the horse races at Saratoga Springs.  I thought it was interesting to look at the life and activities of mobsters through the eyes of a 15 year old boy. Billy was always evaluating and judging them but was careful in what he said. Billy had street smarts. The book won several awards and I can see why.