Running through all of these stories are stories of a group of men named Mack, Eddie, Hughie, Hazel and Jones. These men lived for free (based on a mild threat to the owner) in a one room building that really wasn't meant to be a home. They also were drunk most of the time based on what Eddie gleaned from his bar-tending job - whatever was left in a guest's drink after they left he put in a jug under the bar and would take home at the end of the night.
Mack, being the leader, and the rest of the group were really not bad people they just didn't want to work for more than a couple of days at a time, and felt that not working was a better pastime than working.
One story about Mack and the boys told about them giving a party for Doc (who they felt was a 'good guy' and they needed to do something good for him). Everybody showed up to Doc's house and eventually trashed the house, unfortunately, Doc never made it to the party because he was out collecting samples needed for his work. These are the type of things Mack and the boys got into, they tried to do something good, but it ended up turning out bad in the long run.
In between chapters about Mack and the boys, there are stories about Dora the mistress of a whorehouse, Lee Chong the owner of a grocery store and Doc the scientist who collected marine samples and sold them to companies for research.
I know this book sounds bad with the drunks and the whorehouse, but it really is very tame and light. I enjoyed reading the book because it painted such wonderful caricatures of people from a time so long ago.
Rating: 9/ 10
ISBN: 0670202819
Publisher: The Penguin Group
Edition: 2nd Edition