Pete Hamill was New York. There’s really no other way to put it. When he passed away in 2020, the city lost its most lyrical chronicler, a man who grew up in the Brooklyn of the 1940s and somehow kept the soul of the five boroughs alive in his prose for decades. But if you want to understand the man and his obsession with the concrete jungle, you have to read Forever by Pete Hamill. It’s not just a book. It’s a 600-page heartbeat.
Magical realism usually feels like it belongs in the dusty villages of Gabriel García Márquez or the labyrinthine alleys of Isabel Allende. Hamill decided it belonged in lower Manhattan. He took a wild, high-concept premise—a man who cannot die as long as he stays on the island of Manhattan—and turned it into a gritty, smelling-the-sewers-and-expensive-perfume history of New York City.
The Irishman Who Couldn’t Leave Canal Street
The story kicks off with Cormac O’Connor. He’s a young Irishman coming to the New World in 1740. He isn't there for a job or a fresh start; he’s there for blood. He’s hunting the man who killed his father. But things get weird. After an encounter with an African shaman (an enslaved man named Kona), Cormac is granted the "gift" of immortality.
There’s a catch. Isn't there always?
He can never leave the island. If his feet touch the water or cross a bridge, the spell breaks and he dies. It’s a brilliant literary device. It forces the character—and the reader—to witness every single transformation of New York from a muddy colonial outpost to the gleaming, steel-and-glass titan of the 21st century. Honestly, the geography is the real protagonist here.
Cormac lives through it all. He sees the Great Fire. He witnesses the horrors of the Draft Riots. He watches the Brooklyn Bridge rise like a miracle and the Twin Towers fall in a nightmare. Through Forever by Pete Hamill, we don't just read history; we feel the grit of the 19th-century Five Points under our fingernails.
Why the History in Forever by Pete Hamill Hits Different
Most historical fiction feels like a museum tour. You look at the artifacts, you read the little plaques, and you move on. Hamill doesn’t do that. Because he was a legendary journalist for the New York Post and the Daily News, he writes history like he’s reporting from the scene.
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Think about the 1863 Draft Riots. In the novel, this isn't a dry paragraph from a textbook. It’s a visceral, terrifying explosion of class warfare and racism. Hamill describes the stench of the streets and the specific way the light hit the smoke-filled sky. He understood that New York is built on layers of bone and brick.
He spends a lot of time on the "Yellow Press" era too. It makes sense. Hamill loved the newspaper business. He captures that transition where the city stops being a collection of villages and starts becoming a global brand.
The Evolution of the Island
- 1740s: A place of mud, pigs, and brutal colonial tension.
- The Mid-1800s: The influx of Irish immigrants and the rise of Tammany Hall.
- The Modern Era: The loss of "old New York" and the trauma of 9/11.
It’s a long book. Some people find the middle sections a bit dense. If you aren't into the minutiae of 18th-century politics, you might find yourself skimming a page or two. Don't. Every detail Hamill includes serves a purpose. He’s building a map. By the time Cormac is walking through the gentrified streets of the 1990s, you feel the weight of the ghosts he’s walking over. It’s heavy.
The 9/11 Connection and the Timing of the Novel
There is a bit of a tragic coincidence regarding the publication of Forever by Pete Hamill. Hamill had been working on this book for years—decades, actually. He started it in the 90s. He was almost finished when the September 11 attacks happened.
He had to change the ending.
He realized that a book about the "forever" nature of New York couldn't ignore the biggest scar in the city’s history. The way he integrated the fall of the towers into Cormac’s immortal timeline is nothing short of masterful. It’s subtle. It isn't exploitative. It feels like a natural, albeit devastating, progression of the city's cycle of destruction and rebirth.
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You’ve got to wonder how the book would have ended if the towers were still standing. It likely would have been a quieter meditation on aging. Instead, it became a defiant shout that New York survives. Always.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Immortality Trope
Usually, immortality stories are about the "curse" of seeing loved ones die. While that's present in Forever by Pete Hamill, it isn't the main point. The real focus is the loss of place.
Cormac watches his favorite bars vanish. He sees neighborhoods change languages three times in a century. He watches the light change as skyscrapers block the sun. Hamill is arguing that the city is more alive than the people in it. People are just cells in a larger organism.
It’s a bit cynical if you think about it too hard. But it’s also weirdly comforting. The idea that "the city" remains even when we don't is the central heartbeat of the narrative.
A Masterclass in Atmospheric Writing
Hamill’s prose is muscular. There’s no other word for it. He doesn't use five syllables when two will do. He writes with the rhythm of a guy telling a story at a mahogany bar while the subway rumbles underneath.
"The city was a palimpsest," he basically tells us through Cormac's eyes.
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New York is a place where the past is never fully erased; it’s just written over. You can see this in the way he describes the African Burial Ground or the hidden springs beneath the pavement. He makes you want to go to Manhattan, find a quiet corner in the Village, and just stare at the bricks until they talk back.
Actionable Insights for Readers and Travelers
If you’ve read the book or are planning to, don't just let the story sit on your shelf. Use it as a guide. The "Hamill Method" of seeing New York is something anyone can do.
1. Do the Cormac Walk. Start at the Battery and walk north. Don't look at the shops. Look at the second and third stories of the buildings. Look at the cornices. Look at the dates etched into the stone. Hamill’s novel teaches you that the "real" New York is hidden about twelve feet above the sidewalk.
2. Visit the Sites of the Draft Riots. Go to the areas around the Old Five Points (near present-day Columbus Park). It’s quiet now. It’s tourists and legal offices. But try to imagine the chaos Hamill describes. It gives the city a depth that a tour bus never could.
3. Read Hamill’s Non-Fiction Alongside It. If you want the full experience, pair this novel with his memoir, A Drinking Life. You’ll see where the emotional core of Cormac comes from. You’ll see the man behind the myth.
4. Pay Attention to the Water. Cormac is trapped by the water. Next time you're on the West Side Highway or the FDR Drive, look at the rivers. Think about them as boundaries. In the colonial era, that water was the only way in or out. It was a lifeline and a prison.
Forever by Pete Hamill remains a foundational text for anyone who loves urban history. It’s a reminder that we are all temporary, but the places we build have a soul that can last centuries. It’s a long read, but honestly, it’s a journey worth taking. Grab a coffee, find a park bench, and get lost in it. You won't regret the time spent in Cormac’s shadow.
To truly appreciate the layers of the story, focus on the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries in the book's middle act. This is where Hamill’s expertise as a journalist shines brightest, capturing the shift from a maritime economy to a financial one. Notice how Cormac’s own occupations change to reflect the city’s needs; it’s a subtle nod to how New Yorkers have always had to reinvent themselves to survive. If you are looking for a deeper understanding of the city's grit, visit the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side after finishing the chapters set in the 1880s—the physical reality of the spaces described in the book will hit you with much more force.