Ballad Of The Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein

Ballad Of The Whiskey Robber Reviews

• 
  Brendan (History Nerds United)

  I don’t believe in trying to improve on perfection. In that spirit, here is the synopsis:
  
  “A true story of bank heists, ice hockey, Transylvanian pelt smuggling, moonlighting detectives, and broken hearts.”
  
  None of that is made up or embellished. This is the funniest book I’ve read in a long time. And it is all true.
• 
  Scott Hawkins

  A true gem.
  
  This book is the story of real-life Hungarian bank robber Attila Ambrus. His story alone would be worth five stars even told without flair--bank robberies! hockey! flight to freedom! But Rubenstein elevates the already unbelievable events with his masterful telling. Ballad is a crime-adventure comedy interwoven with slice-of-life journalism set in the proto-kleptocracy that was post-Soviet Hungary.
  
  Truly one of the best books I've ever read. Miraculously, the audiobook performance was even better than the printed version.
  
  Highest possible recommendation.
• 
  LeeAnne

  Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts
  
  
  Budapest, Hungary
  
  Hungary's most beloved criminal and one of the most memorable, fascinating and likable characters ever written about.
  
  The "whiskey robber" was a simple man named Attila Ambrus from a small village in eastern Transylvania, Romania. Attila Ambrus got into trouble at a very young age for petty theft. In 1988, he illegally crossed Romania's borders by riding underneath a freight train looking for a better life.
  
  
  The Whiskey Robber: Attila Ambrus
  
  In Hungary he made a living by doing all kinds of odd jobs, including being a gravedigger & pelt smuggler. He also tried out for a professional hockey team. Despite his terrible performance as a hockey player, he was given a spot on the team as a goalie while doubling as the team's janitor.
  
  
  
  Ambrus had trouble making ends meet even though he worked several jobs at once. Eventually he became so desperate for money he committed his first robbery of a post office in 1993. After the success of this one simple robbery, he continued with a string of 27 robberies of banks, post offices. He became known as the 'Whiskey Robber', because he was often seen drinking whiskey (Dutch courage) at a nearby pub prior to his robberies.
  
  
  The Whiskey Robber in action
  
  The Whiskey Robber became wildly popular and famous in Hungary for his robberies because of his very polite demeanor, his crazy disguises, his giving female bank tellers flowers prior to each robbery and for sending the police bottles of wine. A true gentleman!
  
  The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein is one of the most entertaining, bizarre, laugh-out-loud funniest books I have ever listened to on audible. Don't mis this one!
  
  
• 
  Joy D

  Attila Ambrus escaped from Romania to Hungary during the Ceaușescu regime by clinging to the undercarriage of a train. He asked for political asylum and applied for Hungarian citizenship. In Hungary, he became a janitor for the Hungarian National Hockey team, and eventually a goalie, though he was not actually a hockey player. During the 1990s in Hungarian history, a great upheaval was occurring after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break-up of the Soviet Union. Capitalism started taking root when many American companies expanded into Hungary. It was a chaotic time as former Soviet satellites adjusted to a new economy.
  
  Attila’s life took several downturns (much of it due to his gambling and drinking habits) and he found himself in debt. He tried pelt smuggling for a while. In disguise, he perpetrated a string of robberies, wielding a gun but committing no violent acts, and managed to evade the police for years before being caught. This is a book of true crime, and Attila comes off as a folk hero, admired by the general public for fooling the authorities for so long. The book was reasonably entertaining as this “charming rogue” gets away with his crimes (for a while), but I am not a big fan of romanticizing criminals. The writing is rather uninspired. The author attempts to be humorous, and sometimes succeeds, but it also seems like he is exaggerating for effect. The best part for me was the history of Hungary and Romania.
  
• 
  R.S. Carter

  He was the main conspirator in dozens of armed robberies in post-communist Hungary in the nineties, but the people of Hungary saw Attila Ambrus like this:
  
  
  
  He is the folk hero of Hungary, although he never redistributed his wealth. He stole from the state, but did pour the money back into the economy through his luxurious life style. Never violent, never intentionally harming a soul, giving the bank tellers flowers and maybe a little flirtation while he was half-in-the-bag, knee-walking drunk, Attila Ambrus evaded police detection while continuing his life as a pro hockey player for years.
  
  
  
  The story of Attila Ambrus is the most unbelievable true crime story I've ever read. His crime spree combined with the complete ineptitude of the ridiculous cast of characters who encompassed the shoddy police department was not only too good to be true, it was hilarious!
• 
  Gregory

  This book is as fun to read as it is enlightening. Every once in a while there comes along a person who leads such an unlikely life that it would be impossible to invent them. In addition to the story of the protagonist himself, the story of post-communist Hungary is a major part of the book as well. Everything that you would need to put the life of Attila (the whiskey robber) in context of the world that he lived in is provided in vivid detail. This book would have been fascinating to me even without the bank heists, ice hockey, Transylvanian pelt smuggling, moonlighting detectives and broken hearts, but it has all of that too! Others have written much more eloquent reviews of this book than I so I am hoping that my review will merely be seen as an embelishment of what others have said of this entertaining, enlightening, and possibly even rip-roaring book. Just know that I had fun AND learned a thing or two from reading it.
• 
  Siria

  As the Communist regime in Romania crumbled, Attila Ambrus—a member of the country's Hungarian ethnic minority—headed west to Budapest to try to make a new life for himself. Despite talking his way onto one of the city's professional hockey teams, Ambrus decided that the best way for him to earn some money would be to rob banks and post offices. He turned out to have a flair for it, and became something of a folk hero—"the Whiskey Robber"—for Hungarians in the 1990s who were disillusioned with governmental incompetence and corruption.
  
  The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is entertaining enough but slight. Julian Rubinstein frames Ambrus as a kind of charming rogue, a thief with a heart of gold, in a way that doesn't quite convince—his addiction issues are only glancingly touched on and he seems to have been a bit of a jerk towards women, to be honest. And while the '90s in the former Soviet bloc were a wild time in many ways, Rubinstein leans a bit too much on the "oh those wacky Eastern Europeans!" angle.
• 
  Patricia

  The audio edition of this book is fantastic--really a radio comedy/drama. It is introduced by Attila Ambrus himself, the eponymous Whiskey Robber, as he served time in jail for his string of non-violent bank robberies in Budapest in the 1990s. The author is the main narrator, with voices supplied by a wildly diverse array of people from comedians Dmetri Martin and Eugene Mirman to author Gary Shteyngart, and music by One Ring Zero.
  
  It is the crazy-but-true story of how Attila, a hapless and basically unpaid professional hockey goalie (as well as a pen salesman, pelt smuggler, and serious drinker and would-be high roller), applied himself to the profession of bank robbery, becoming a national folk hero as he left the overworked and under-equipped police sputtering in his wake. Great characters, detailed reporting, and a wry style drive the story along irresistibly. The author even manages to work in a quick background history of Hungary and paints a cynical picture of 1990s Budapest, when the influx of western-style capitalism only changed the style of corruption.
  
  Haven't read the book in book form, but I can highly recommend the audio version as a most enjoyable roller-coaster ride.
• 
  Ryan Chapman

  This debut is the perfect summer read: compelling as hell, witty, illuminating, and really unbelievable for a nonfiction title. This is the story of Attila Ambrus, who in the 1990's in Hungary started as the most dedicated and talentless professional hockey goalie in the world, moonlighting first as a Transylvanian pelt smuggler and then as Eastern Europe's most legendary bank robber.
  
  Filled with incredible details, from his habit of robbing while blisteringly drunk to the ubiquitous corruption ballooning on the police side of the law, this is the kind of book you impress upon friends. Rubenstein deftly balances the geopolitical climate with Ambrus's rise and fall, sometimes with prose almost too witty. But you can forgive him that—anyone who comes into contact with Ambrus inherits his sense of daring and bravado. So go read it already.
• 
  Judith E

  A most excellent audiobook performance and a very entertaining listen. The path Attila Ambrus took to become a prolific bank robber followed the fall of Communist Hungary and the struggling, chaotic, independent government that ensued. The criminal and the political struggles are intertwined true stories and very well told.
• 
  Rincey

  3.5 stars.
  
  This is a fun book, and even more fun on audio.
• 
  Myla

  Amazing true story, so entertaining—just kept thinking it would be the most hilarious movie if they could cast it just right.
• 
  Erik Mudrak

  “There’s no way this is real”
  “That’s too funny to be the truth”
  “The epilogue is going to say: sike! I made all of this up!”
  
  Are all thoughts I constantly had while absorbing the whiskey robber’s saga.
  
  And holy hell is my lie detector broken — it was all true. Another banger in the “non fiction that reads like fiction” genre that I love. Really enjoyed learning about post-communist Europe between wild bank robbery scenes. I’ll defer any further to the Goodreads description of this book, because it captures the bizarre gist!
• 
  Pat Cooney

  While the title and descriptions will suggest to you that this is a book about a criminal ice hockey goaltender who also was a smuggler - and it is, don't you worry - it's selling itself short. This is a book about postcommunist Hungary, particularly Budapest, and is told with amazing love and care through the lens of one Atilla Ambrus who very well might become your favorite bank robber.
  
  While Rubinstein does such a good job of describing Hungarian culture and identity - to the point that I feel as if I've actually been to Hungary, watched Hungarian TV, and hung out in their bars late into the night - he misses slightly when writing about hockey, which never becomes as tangible a subject to the reader. That is my only complaint, however, and I can't think of a single person who I wouldn't recommend this book to or who wouldn't enjoy its crazy adventures and amazingly charismatic factual protagonist. There were times that, even in his criminality, I was inspired by Atilla, a man who didn't let a country trying to define itself define him in any way.
• 
  Lisa

  I loved this book. I thought all the voices were so funny and entertaining. I would laugh right out loud. I can’t believe how truly unbelievable this story is. I don’t want to call the Whiskey Robber lucky or smart but that’s what I kept thinking the whole time!!
• 
  Tiffany

  I had to let this one set for a bit before I could decide what to write in a review. I thoroughly enjoyed this story, it was like listening to radio theatre! This is the true story of Attila Ambrus, a Hungarian pro hockey player who was also leading a double life as the notorious whisky robber. Even without the robbery Ambrus had a very interesting life. He snuck into Hungary riding under a train car. He worked many odd jobs while he tried to gain citizenship. One of which was a zamboni driver which turned into hockey player when one day the team needed a substitute.
  
  He always seemed to have plenty of money but his teammates never questioned it. Many Hungarians had side jobs in the gray area of legal and it was better not to know. Ambrus would plan his robberies for months and was able to carry them off with precision even while drunk on whisky, hence his nickname. It helped that the police force at the time seemed to be on the level of the pink panther. After one robbery he even spent time asking the police where they were rushing to as he stood there holding a bag of stolen cash! As time went on he would bring flowers and flirt with the female tellers. He would also send taunting packages to the detective on his trail.
  
  This is a very entertaining true crime story. It's not often that you root for the criminal while laughing at his capers!
• 
  Craig Dube

  The Ballad of the Whiskey Robber was pitched to our bookclub as a non-ficton that reads like fiction. I find this to be a very accurate assessment. The story is of Attila Ambrus, a young man who immigrates from Romania to Hungary to carve out a new life. When he comes to Hungary, he makes his way onto the local semi-pro hockey team as both a janitor and a 3rd string goalie. Attila struggles to make ends meet until he stumbles across the lucrative profession of pelt smuggling. However the pelt smuggling business peters out not long afterwards and Attila is forced to find a new means of making ends meet. His choice? Bank robbery.
  
  The book details Attila exploits and the exploits of the police around him as the try to capture (and recapture) him. Attila becomes known as the Whiskey Robber as a result of his often downing whiskeys in nearby bars prior to the bank heists. He also becomes seen as a local Robin Hood type folk hero to the people of Hungary; although this moniker seems to be more marketing than reality as Attila didn't really return the money to the people but spent it with reckless abandon on gambling, travel and women.
  
  The story itself is both fascinating and entertaining. The author enhances this experience by choosing to focus on some of the more ridiculous and sublime characters and elements. An example is his use of nicknames for all the police men. While I'm sure that they may have been referred to one another by these names at one time or another, having detectives referenced as Dance Instructor and Mound of Asshead makes for a very silly read. This humorous point of view often comes into play when the author explains the current political environment in Hungary and world abroad.
  
  As it is written, I think most will find themselves routing for Attila, which is what I believe the author intended. I'm sure that another author could take this same story and putting a different spin on it, make Attila seem entirely more dangerous and villainous. Regardless if you root for or against Attila, I think most will enjoy this story and be highly entertained. I was.
• 
  Natalie

  I have recommended this book more times than I can count!
  julian rubinstein writes a page-turning history, of a man, a place, and a series of events that proves once again that real life is stranger than fiction!
  
  THE BEST! You'll be in post communist Budapest / Hungary / Romania during the 1990's. One reviewer said of it:
  "I love this book for giving me insight into a country I had little knowledge of".
  
  Another reviewer said he saw
  "Atilla Ambrus – as a doorway to the bigger story, that of the tragedy of the wild east".
  
  
  
  julian rubinstein writes on his
  webpage that: "BALLAD OF THE WHISKEY ROBBER was named to Hollywood's 'Black List', a studio poll of the industry's best screenplays in development. It is being produced by Johnny Depp and Warner Bros." Read this before the movie comes out, you wont be sorry you did!
• 
  Marieke

  I wasn't expecting this to be this good. First, i'd never heard of the subject, Atilla Ambrus. I was alive and well at the end of the Soviet era and totally into Eastern and Central European stuff. how did i miss this story? Thank you Julian Rubinstein for making sure it didn't slip by me.
  
  Second, i was alarmed when i heard the long list of readers at the beginning of the recording. Normally i don't go in for that type of audio book, but this was done so incredibly well i want to give this book five stars twice, once for the writing, and once for the performance. Cabaret is a perfect description of it. You can
  check it out here and then get yourself the full-length audio book and see if you don't fall in love with Atilla, too. The most likeable worst hockey goalie turned bank robber in history.
  
  
  
  (i'm just trusting that this is him, btw.)
  
  and who wouldn't like a little contemporary klezmer music for interlude music?
• 
  Shervin R

  از طریق پادکست چنل بی با این کتاب و آتیلا آشنا شدم. داستان واقعی مردی به نام آتیلا امبروش که در بحبوحه فروپاشی شوروی وارد مجارستان میشه و با مشقت و پشت کار فراوان به دنبال کار و پول درآوردنه. کتاب لحن خیلی طنزگونه داره و خیلی از جملات جدی رو طوری ادا میکنه که امکان نداره خواننده خنده ش نگیره. در موازات داستان ، اطلاعات خیلی خوبی راجع به تاریخ کشور مجارستان و ناحیه ترنسیلوانیا از ابتدای تشکیل تا دوره ی بعد از کمونیسم داره که برای من که به تاریخ علاقه مندم بسیار جالب بود. و صد البته نقطه قوت کتاب در اینجاست که با اینکه انتهای داستان تقریبا واضح و قابل حدس زدنه اما ابدا خسته کننده نیست و خواننده تا انتها با داستان همراه میمونه.
  اگر به داستان های دزد و پلیسی واقعی و البته کشور مجارستان علاقه دارید ، این کتاب توصیه میشه.
• 
  Rebecca Skane

  
  
  Wow. A true crime story that reads better than fiction. I can see why the country of Hungary fell in love with him. The gentleman Whiskey Robber, the folk hero of the masses, Attila Ambrus. Full review:
  Ballad of the Whiskey Robber Book Review.
• 
  Overbooked ✎

  The saga of an alcoholic hockey player turned polite bank robber, who became a news sensation and Hungarian national hero by evading the local and international police for so long. It’s an unbelievable (why did he insist on hitting the same places multiple times?) but quite funny story, dragging a little in the middle.
• 
  Tasha

  **2.5**The writing just didn't work for me. I also feel like I went into this one with very high expectations from some high praise, I was expecting a lot more and was somewhat disappointed that it didn't work well for me. I seem to be in the minority however so it might just be me.
• 
  Sonal

  This was an absolutely extraordinary story, totally unbelievable yet true. To be honest, I had no clue about Attila Ambrus, never read or heard about him and had no intention of reading his life story. This book came up in a blog as a must read before travelling to Budapest so I bought it before my trip a few years ago and completely forgot about it. After Beartown, this book caught my attention just because of Ice hockey and surprise!! even this one had little to do with the actual sport :P
  
  This book is very well written. It's fun to read and actually feels more like a whimsical and folklorish tale. Attila who fled from Transylvania to Budapest somehow manages to become an unpaid goalie in the local ice hockey team, works as a janitor, sells parker pens to make ends meet. For a better chance at life, takes up pelt smuggling then shifts to less risky business of robbery which becomes more of an addiction. A robber who is always drunk is elegant, graceful (takes flowers to a heist) and kind of comical ultimately becomes a hero for the nation. When the entire country is swept by economic slump, poverty and massive corruption after the fall of communism; the Whiskey Robber emerges with a robin hood image. This real-life story was even better than the best of thriller heist movies.
  Along with the biography, the author also gives a glimpse of the post-soviet condition of Romania & Hungary. A great history lesson as well!
• 
  Deb

  I think this is the funniest audiobook I have ever listened to! Hungary is just emerging from the Soviet era, the police sometimes try, but corruption is rampant and anti-crime funds are nonexistent. The whiskey robber is quite a character: a hockey goalie for a very bad team, a gentleman bandit, a gambler, a master of disguises, an alcoholic, a careful planner - who hides the money in his oven. The author had a great way with words describing the old Hungary tiptoeing into a more modern area. Another sign I really liked a book - I looked up more information about Attila Ablum and watched an interview with him.
  
  Narration was outstanding. I can hear why it won awards. A short, Slavic tune played between sections. Very fun. I got extra cleaning done because I wanted to keep listening!
• 
  Margie

  Truth really can be stranger than fiction. I wasn’t a quarter of the way through this book before I was on the internet trying to figure out if its apocryphal story was some kind of literary hoax. Nope. Attila Ambrus is a real person, and 1990s Budapest was the perfect setting for everything he got away with for so long. He’s not what you’d call a hero. Even apart from his intentionally criminal activity, his judgment in life decisions was repeatedly pretty poor. However, his determination and creativity were amazing, and I had to keep reading to see what happened next. The pace did slow down somewhat when the descriptions of one bank robbery after another began to pile up, but not enough to kill my interest. One other thing: Hungary was as much a character in this story as was Attila. The author did a nice job of framing how the country’s history, both over the centuries and during the turmoil after the breakup of the Soviet Union, set the stage for Attila’s escapades. Enjoyable read.
• 
  Sarah Ingala

  Attila Ambrus is the most likeable terrible hockey goalie turned bank robber in history! This book was so interesting and so much fun. I enjoyed getting to know Attila, while also learning about the political and economic struggles of Hungary during the 1990’s. I started with a hard copy book and then part way through switched to the audiobook, which was amazing with a full cast, sound effects, and whimsical music.
  Hard Book- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  Audiobook- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  
  PS- Super fun coincidence: this was my book club’s non-fiction pick for this month and we are meeting to discuss it on October 6, which just happens to be Attila’s 56th birthday! We will be eating some cake and drinking some whiskey in honor of him. 😊
• 
  Jenny

  This is a fun and hilarious portrait of a bank robber in the 1980's and 90's. The political climate of Romania and Budapest is also discussed, as well as the American influence on Eastern European culture at the time of the fall of communism. Great history lesson for me! The audiobook had a great cast of characters and had me laughing often.
• 
  Lesley

  Love me a well written history book. It started off a little slow but that might be because I am unfamiliar with the history of this region. Once it picked up I couldn’t stop listening!