Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
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Awards
Finalist, 2005 Edgar Award, Best Fact Crime
Finalist 2005 Anthony Award, Best Non-Fiction
A 2004 New York Times Editors' Choice
Powells.com Staff Pick
The Pink Panther meets Bonnie and Clyde in the rollicking Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, one of the funniest, saddest gangster tales ever told. Charming, tenacious Atilla Ambrus escaped Transylvania clinging to the bottom of a traincar for nine hours. Though the comrades in Budapest didn't appreciate his archaic Hungarian, Atilla scraped along as a professional hockey goalie (the worst in Hungarian history), pelt smuggler, pen salesman, gravedigger, and... bank robber. For six years, Atilla, fueled by Johnnie Walker, befuddled the keystone cops of the Budapest police force while stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars. In the end he was caught, but not before he had become capitalist Hungary's first Robin Hood, a gentleman thief cheered by the populace, cursed by the cops.
Recommended by Steven, Powells.com
"The setting is Budapest, the time is the end of the last century (when communism was just giving way to a wild west-atmosphere of burgeoning capitalism), and the hero is Attila Ambrus, a.k.a. the Chicky Panther, a.k.a. the Lone Wolf, a.k.a. the Whiskey Robber....Rubinstein relates his (pleasantly, only slightly overwritten) tale with an absurdist energy appropriate to the Whiskey Robber's wild ride. His book offers that simple pleasure, a great story." Anna Godbersen, Esquire (read the entire Esquire review)
Synopses & Reviews
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Attila Ambrus, the Robin Hood of Eastern Europe. He's the onetime pelt smugger, goaltender (possibly the worst in the history of professional hockey), pen salesman, Zamboni driver, gravedigger, church painter, roulette addict, building superintendent, whiskey drinker, and native of Transylvania who's decided that the best thing to do with his time is to rob as many banks as possible.
His rival: Lajos Varjú, the Inspector Clouseau of the Iron Curtain, whose knowledge of police work comes from Hungarian-dubbed episodes of Colombo. His deputy is nicknamed "Mound of Asshead" because of his propensity for crashing police cars. His forensics expert, known as "Dance Instructor" for his lucrative side career teaching ballet, wears a top hat and tails on the job.
Welcome to Julian Rubinstein's uproariously funny and unforgettable account of crime in the heart of the new Europe. With a cast of backup characters that includes car wash owners, exotic dancers, drunk army generals, cocaine-snorting Hungarian rappers, the Johnnie Cochran of Budapest, and a hockey team that seems to spend as much time breaking the law as they do practicing, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber gives us the most charming outlaw-hero since the Sundance Kid — and the Sundance Kid didn't play hockey.
As the Eastern bloc slips off its communist skin and replaces it with leopard-skin hot pants, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is here to screw in the pink lightbulbs. Part Unbearable Lightness of Being, part Pink Panther, and part Slap Shot, Julian Rubinstein's tale is a spectacular literary debut — and a story so outrageous that it could only be true.
Review:
"This story of a bank robber who captured a nation's sympathy in post-Communist Hungary is a rollicking tale told with glee and flair. Attila Ambrus sneaked over the border from Romania into Hungary in the waning days of Communist rule. After talking his way onto a Hungarian hockey team, he turned to robbery to make some cash in the Wild West atmosphere of the early 1990s in Eastern Europe. As journalist Rubinstein shows, Ambrus was quite good at it. Taking advantage of poor police work, he took in millions in Hungarian currency and became a headline-grabber. He managed to stay at large for several years while continuing in his role as a back-up goalie on the ice. Rubinstein has a knack for telling a good story, and he captures well both Ambrus's appeal and the atmosphere of the first few years of capitalism in Hungary. Along the way, he introduces readers to memorable characters in addition to the appealing, alcoholic protagonist: the women Ambrus attracts and a Budapest detective driven out of office by the crime spree. While Rubinstein (whose work has been collected in Best American Crime Writing) overwrites at times, he has a rootin'-tootin' style that's a perfect fit for this Jesse James — like tale, which has the chance to be a sleeper that transcends nonfiction categories. (Sept. 16)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"The vivid and riveting story of Attila Ambrus, Transylvanian-born immigrant, outlaw, and gentleman, also hides a key to the still inexplicable and mad passage of communism to capitalism. This is a grand thriller, perhaps the first of a genre." Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of Wakefield
Review:
"Punchy, hilarious and apparently even true,
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber gives hope to anyone who ever smuggled an animal pelt, climbed aboard a Zamboni, or pondered whether truth can be better than fiction. Mr. Rubinstein has committed a high-wire, bravado act of journalism."
Gary Shteyngart, author of the best-selling novel The Russian Debutante's HandbookReview:
"A great crime story is a strange and smudged window to peer through, to get a glimpse of life in a very specific place and time. And Julian Rubinstein has tracked down and written a great crime story. Very funny, heart-breaking, gripping, incredible, and it implies volumes more: the distillation of a people or an era, or the failings and promise of money, freedom, fame. Any novelist making this up would be duly executed. Julian Rubinstein deserves to be read, and Attila Ambrus deserves to be America?s favorite gangster-goalkeeper." Arthur Phillips, author of the best-selling novel Prague
Review:
"Ourageously entertaining...An essential absurdism is never far from the surface here...This fast-moving story is a rip-roaring cops and robbers saga with a Mitteleuropean heart." San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
"If all the world loves a romantic thief, the world will fall head over heels for Attila Ambrus...Fast-paced and exquisitely detailed." Outside
Review:
"Rubinstein has found a story of the sort that would make even the most dry-mouthed jounalist slobber. Sometimes sad, often hilarious and always absurd, Ambrus's tale microcosmically condenses the politico-historic oddities of his place and era into one entertaining and fairly tidy narrative." The New York Times (Editors' Choice)
Review:
"Robin Hood tales always entice, yet few are as madcap and captivating as this rollicking portrait of Attila Ambrus ("Whiskey Robber"), a Transylvanian refugee turned lousy pro hockey goalie turned legendary Hungarian bank robber and gentleman heartthrob in the waning days of communist rule." Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Review:
"A deadpan true story so improbable and freewheeling that it reads like a tall tale...this funny book just might make off with all your free time." Entertainment Weekly
Review:
"Never was there a more entertaining case history of the fall of communism...Wholly enjoyable." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"Sometimes a book comes along that taxes even our best summarizing skills, but since we can't just really order you to read it (or can we?), let's just say that Julian Rubinstein's
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber, the totally bizarre true story of ice hockey-playing bank robber (and pelt smuggler, grave-digger, the list goes on) Attila Ambrus is one of the quirkiest and most riveting narratives to come down the Danube this fall."
ElleReview:
"An instant classic." Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Review:
"A whiz-bang read, the hilarious and oddly touching story of Attila Ambrus." Salon
Review:
"A madcap joyride alongside one of the most endearing figures in the annals of bad behavior." Men's Journal
About the Author
Julian Rubinstein has written for the New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Details, Sports Illustrated, Salon, The Washington Post and others. His work has been selected for The Best American Crime Writing anthology and twice cited by The Best American Sports Writing. Raised in Denver, he lives in New York. This is his first book.
