Miracle Man

by Ben Schrank and Ana Huang

Twenty-one-year-old Martin Kelly Minter knows what he wants: a meaningful relationship with his beautiful Puerto Rican neighbor, Luz, and a place in history as a modern-day Robin Hood. A college dropout trying to escape his middle-class childhood, Kelly works for the Miracle Moving company. Every day he wonders if the people he moves appreciate what they have. Thinking the answer is no, he steals from them, and gives food and money to people on the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688167713
• ISBN13: 9780688167714
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

From the Los Angeles Times.....

An impressive first novel...With Kelly, Schrank has created an appealingly reticent rogue who--for all his good intentions and distaste for phoniness--cannot escape the contradictions of desire, class, altruism and blowing money on shoes at Barneys.

Miracle Man is my favorite book

Even though I have no experience living in the city like Ben Schrank's main character, Kelly Minter -- suburbs-kid turned Spanish Harlem resident -- I found that I connected with him and with the novel in a way I never have with any other. Ben Schrank knows what it's like to be twenty years old, doubtful of your upbringing, and determined to do good for others, and his writing is honest and true to life. He is, thankfully, unafraid to tell everything like it is, and I can't wait to read his next novel. If you've ever dreamed about New York City, questioned your parents' values, wanted to take from the rich, loved someone but were afraid -- or even if you haven't -- you've got to read Schrank's novel.

I loved it!

This book is so great. Read it when you're on a long train ride or going somewhere because you'll get such an exciting restless feeling. The main character turns everything in his world -- all his assumptions, his background, his parents' expectations -- upside down. And even though he ultimately messes up and reveals himself to be fairly misguided, he will succeed in shaking things up for you, too. Why is the world like it is? It doesn't have to be! For this guy, love saves him. It's really nice.

Miracle Man spoke to me

I'm no thief, but I could completely connect with Kelly, the main character. He's confused by the wealth that surrounds him, and wants to reject it, while at the same time, be a part of it. I think anyone who lives in a city sees this almost every day, as they watch people just dripping with money step over bums on the street. Schrank also deals with issues of race in a smart, frank way that I appreciated. He's honest and fresh. Ditto for the way he deals with love and sex, which also play a big role in the book. I can't wait for his next novel. If it's half as good as Miracle Man, it'll be fantastic.

An endearing and original debut novel

Twenty-one-year old Martin Kelly Minter is determined to carve out a path for himself in New York City. Self-exiled from his ultra-liberal parents, and sickened by the materialism he witnesses all around him, the Vassar College drop-out lives alone in an illegal Spanish Harlem sublet. He hauls furniture for the Miracle Move Company by day, assessing the wealth of the Upper East Side clients, and by night he walks the streets of his neighborhood placing hot food and quarters in the hands of the homeless and needy. And when he meets Luz, a beautiful, tough young woman in his building, he imagines a future with her, and a place in her life as a father to her young son. Working side by side with Felix, his "blood brother" and childhood Fresh-Air-Fund brother, he becomes more and more frustrated with the rich lives led by the people of Manhattan. When Kelly decides the affluent New Yorkers he moves don't appreciate what they have, he steals from them. In thievery, Kelly believes he has found a calling, something with which he can win Luz's love, and prove his worth. Kelly tries to do right, but when Wyt, a shady art dealer, offers him a chance to make big time money as a bigger time thief-he comes to believe that this is his destiny. A confident and assured debut of a gifted writer, set firmly in the confusing and complicated territory of early adulthood, Miracle Man confirms Ben Schrank's arrival as a distinct, and refreshing literary talent.