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mrswhite's review
4.0
"God said, 'Let Tesla be,' and all was light."
- B. A. Behrend
Nikola Tesla is arguably one of the most important inventors to have ever lived, yet one of the most unsung. To him, we can credit the efficient alternating electrical current system, the remote control, and the radio (although Marconi stole the patent for that last one). He harnessed Niagara Falls' energy potential, is credited with giving birth to robotics, and his "Tesla Coil" gave us neon and fluorescent lighting and x-ray photography. Wildly imaginative, Tesla was also rumored to have experimented with wireless energy transmission, extraterrestrial communication, invisibility, antigravity, time travel, and a "Death Beam" which, as a life-long pacifist, he hoped would make war impossible due to its fearful capability of mass destruction. But thanks to a far better sense of imagination than a head for business, Tesla died penniless, living alone but for his pigeons in the Hotel New Yorker, his legacy largely obscured.
Needless to say, Samantha Hunt - who spent four years researching the life and work of Nikola Tesla, weaving this meticulous research into her sophomore novel - already had some fascinating source material at her disposal.
The Invention of Everything Else blends fact with fiction so well that it often becomes difficult to discern between the two. Taking a non-linear approach to storytelling, Hunt bounces around through Tesla's biography, revealing his life through stories of his childhood up to the story of his death; however, the bulk of the novel focuses on Tesla's final days in the Hotel New Yorker and his brief encounters with the fictional Louisa, a curious chambermaid who - fascinated by the myriad curiosities she uncovers in his hotel room and encouraged by a shared affinity for pigeons - is determined to befriend the reclusive scientist. Hunt's novel is a history lesson wrapped in a pretty story, and the extent to which you are interested in Tesla, science, and history is probably the extent to which you will enjoy The Invention of Everything Else. Seeing how I am fascinated with all of these things, I firmly loved it.
- B. A. Behrend
Nikola Tesla is arguably one of the most important inventors to have ever lived, yet one of the most unsung. To him, we can credit the efficient alternating electrical current system, the remote control, and the radio (although Marconi stole the patent for that last one). He harnessed Niagara Falls' energy potential, is credited with giving birth to robotics, and his "Tesla Coil" gave us neon and fluorescent lighting and x-ray photography. Wildly imaginative, Tesla was also rumored to have experimented with wireless energy transmission, extraterrestrial communication, invisibility, antigravity, time travel, and a "Death Beam" which, as a life-long pacifist, he hoped would make war impossible due to its fearful capability of mass destruction. But thanks to a far better sense of imagination than a head for business, Tesla died penniless, living alone but for his pigeons in the Hotel New Yorker, his legacy largely obscured.
Needless to say, Samantha Hunt - who spent four years researching the life and work of Nikola Tesla, weaving this meticulous research into her sophomore novel - already had some fascinating source material at her disposal.
The Invention of Everything Else blends fact with fiction so well that it often becomes difficult to discern between the two. Taking a non-linear approach to storytelling, Hunt bounces around through Tesla's biography, revealing his life through stories of his childhood up to the story of his death; however, the bulk of the novel focuses on Tesla's final days in the Hotel New Yorker and his brief encounters with the fictional Louisa, a curious chambermaid who - fascinated by the myriad curiosities she uncovers in his hotel room and encouraged by a shared affinity for pigeons - is determined to befriend the reclusive scientist. Hunt's novel is a history lesson wrapped in a pretty story, and the extent to which you are interested in Tesla, science, and history is probably the extent to which you will enjoy The Invention of Everything Else. Seeing how I am fascinated with all of these things, I firmly loved it.
matthewschirber's review
I just didn’t see the reason behind the book and it wasn’t compelling
katzreads's review
4.0
Really fascinating! I thoroughly enjoyed this fictionalized account of one part of the life of Tesla (although the book was also about a bunch of invented characters)
celtfem's review
4.0
I wish I could rate it a 4 1/2. There were some gorgeous, poetic turns of phrase in this book ... all wrapped around a fairly compelling story and characters. But man. Some of the sentences I read were a thing of beauty.
dontpanic42's review
4.0
This is a beautiful, sometimes bittersweet story of two dreamers in a world that too often doesn't allow space for dreams. One is Nikola Tesla, the famed inventor who created AC electricity and set the stage for wireless communications. The other is Louisa, a woman in her mid-20s who happens to work as a maid in the hotel where Tesla is staying. In a story that ranges idly though the years between the late 1800s and the mid 1940s, various narrators unfold the histories of both Tesla and Louisa and the circumstances that bring them into a brief friendship towards the end of 1942.
Samantha Hunt's portrayal of Tesla and the circumstances in which he lived is one of the most powerful pieces of the novel. Testla is in his last years, and he lives between narrating his history and a present magical reality that is both beautiful but also indicative of his mental decline. Tesla is depicted as a man whose wonderful inventions were often suppressed becasue they conflicted with the capitalist greed of others with more power, and indeed Tesla is 1942 (in the midst of a world war) is being pursued by some unknown but apparently federal authority seeking to prevent him from completing a new invention with the power to destroy the world (but which Tesla naively believes, a la Alfred Nobel, will be so dangerous to humanity as to make humans recognize the folly of war). It is the disconnect between the idealist Tesla and the cynicism of the world that drives Tesla's story and which enraptures Louisa.
Louisa is also a dreamer, but she is depicted as being on the cusp between the forces of cynical reality and those dreams. This edge on which she is teetering is brought to the forefront most of all by Azor, her father's best friend, who has just reappeared after a 2-year disappearance with the claim that he has invented a time machine. Should she believe that such a thing could exist? Is Tesla in fact from the future? Where to draw the line between dream and reality, between the possible and the impossible, is a driving question throughout the novel and Hunt does a beautiful and subtle job of pushing the reader slowly but surely into the realm of the believers.
At the same time, this is also a novel about love, which always threatens the stature of a novel in my eyes. But while this particular novel does dip its toes into the pool of sentimentality, it never wades in any further, and it more than compensates for its brief sentimental moments with the rest of its strengths. In the present, this is a love story between Louisa and Arthur, a mysterious character who shows up and recognizes Louisa from elementary school. The question of who Arthur is and what the future holds for the two of them is one that cycles through most of the story. We are also presented with the apparent love of Tesla for a woman named Katherine (not to mention for a different character altogether--a pigeon), a married woman. The theme of impossible love, and of how people cope with that loss, is an important one and Hunt takes it on beautifully.
I wavered for a long time before finally picking this book up for a read. Every time I saw it, I thought it looked overly sentimental, or insubstantial, or just not that interesting, but something always drew me back. Maybe just the nice cover art--who knows? But I'm glad I ultimately decided to give it a chance.
Samantha Hunt's portrayal of Tesla and the circumstances in which he lived is one of the most powerful pieces of the novel. Testla is in his last years, and he lives between narrating his history and a present magical reality that is both beautiful but also indicative of his mental decline. Tesla is depicted as a man whose wonderful inventions were often suppressed becasue they conflicted with the capitalist greed of others with more power, and indeed Tesla is 1942 (in the midst of a world war) is being pursued by some unknown but apparently federal authority seeking to prevent him from completing a new invention with the power to destroy the world (but which Tesla naively believes, a la Alfred Nobel, will be so dangerous to humanity as to make humans recognize the folly of war). It is the disconnect between the idealist Tesla and the cynicism of the world that drives Tesla's story and which enraptures Louisa.
Louisa is also a dreamer, but she is depicted as being on the cusp between the forces of cynical reality and those dreams. This edge on which she is teetering is brought to the forefront most of all by Azor, her father's best friend, who has just reappeared after a 2-year disappearance with the claim that he has invented a time machine. Should she believe that such a thing could exist? Is Tesla in fact from the future? Where to draw the line between dream and reality, between the possible and the impossible, is a driving question throughout the novel and Hunt does a beautiful and subtle job of pushing the reader slowly but surely into the realm of the believers.
At the same time, this is also a novel about love, which always threatens the stature of a novel in my eyes. But while this particular novel does dip its toes into the pool of sentimentality, it never wades in any further, and it more than compensates for its brief sentimental moments with the rest of its strengths. In the present, this is a love story between Louisa and Arthur, a mysterious character who shows up and recognizes Louisa from elementary school. The question of who Arthur is and what the future holds for the two of them is one that cycles through most of the story. We are also presented with the apparent love of Tesla for a woman named Katherine (not to mention for a different character altogether--a pigeon), a married woman. The theme of impossible love, and of how people cope with that loss, is an important one and Hunt takes it on beautifully.
I wavered for a long time before finally picking this book up for a read. Every time I saw it, I thought it looked overly sentimental, or insubstantial, or just not that interesting, but something always drew me back. Maybe just the nice cover art--who knows? But I'm glad I ultimately decided to give it a chance.
lenny_ray's review against another edition
5.0
So many reviews berate this book for disparate plot-lines that don't go anywhere and don't eventually get tied together. These observations are not untrue. But, for me, they are precisely the things that make this book so beautiful. Our selves, our relationships, our worlds, our lives, are fragments. Some of them sad, some of them beautiful, some of them magical, and some of them downright weird. Many of them are pieces we share with someone else's story. And not all the pieces add up - not to 42, and not to any other answer to life, the universe and everything. There is no single ending, because there is no single beginning. You could say, oh yeah, what about death and birth? I could say, well what about that tree you planted and what about the moment your parents met? Trying to connect every dot and join every jigsaw piece is the road to misery and insanity.
This book is an echo of that. It is not one complete story, but it is many little ones. A story about a brilliant inventor that the world has forgotten. A love story. A story of a father and a daughter. A story about time travel. A story about friendship. A story about madness and genius. A story about dreaming impossible dreams. It is about being an incomplete human being living an incomplete story in an incomplete world. This is not a book to read wondering 'What happens in the end?'. It is a book to read for what is happening now and what may happen next. And maybe the two things will connect. Or maybe they won't. Either way, it's wonderful.
This book is an echo of that. It is not one complete story, but it is many little ones. A story about a brilliant inventor that the world has forgotten. A love story. A story of a father and a daughter. A story about time travel. A story about friendship. A story about madness and genius. A story about dreaming impossible dreams. It is about being an incomplete human being living an incomplete story in an incomplete world. This is not a book to read wondering 'What happens in the end?'. It is a book to read for what is happening now and what may happen next. And maybe the two things will connect. Or maybe they won't. Either way, it's wonderful.
jkkb332's review
3.0
I haven't had time to read at all lately so finally just slogged through this last night. I just couldn't get into it at all, and I can't put my finger on why. The characters were fine and fairly well-developed, the plot was OK, the resolution was only mildly unsatisfying... Yet I still ended up disappointed and irritated that I stayed up an extra hour to finish it.
milkweedwitch's review
4.0
If I can learn one new thing while reading a book, I'm pretty pleased. In that regard, The Invention of Everything Else is more than pleasing. At times I felt like I should be taking notes (did you know limicine means slug-like? I didn't). I mean that in the best possible way.
Not quite faction; not quite historical novel, The Invention of Everything Else tells the story of the last days of the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla at the Hotel New Yorker. This is imagined history interwoven with real history. History as we all sort of wish it could be.
This is a fascinating, at times baffling, and always compelling novel. The writing is superb and I think most readers will find this not only highly readable, but also highly educational, a quality only the finest examples of fiction can manage without being heavy handed.
Highly recommended, especially for those who know little about Tesla, as I suspect this will spark a further interest to learn more about the mysterious inventor.
Rating: 4.5 Bryant Park pigeons out of 5
Not quite faction; not quite historical novel, The Invention of Everything Else tells the story of the last days of the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla at the Hotel New Yorker. This is imagined history interwoven with real history. History as we all sort of wish it could be.
This is a fascinating, at times baffling, and always compelling novel. The writing is superb and I think most readers will find this not only highly readable, but also highly educational, a quality only the finest examples of fiction can manage without being heavy handed.
Highly recommended, especially for those who know little about Tesla, as I suspect this will spark a further interest to learn more about the mysterious inventor.
Rating: 4.5 Bryant Park pigeons out of 5
jelundberg's review
4.0
An astonishingly beautiful evocation of 1940s New York City, and the last days of Nikola Tesla, as befriended by Louisa, a chambermaid in the Hotel New Yorker. Poignant and gorgeously told, with an honest enthusiasm for the age of invention, brought to a screeching close by the advent of corporations and the commodification of the natural world. Hunt manages to bring Tesla to life through his interactions with Louisa, his long-term relationship with a pet pigeon, and his letters to Samuel Clemens. Science and imagination become one through Tesla's extraordinary mind, and one can't help but wonder how he has been forgotten in American history, and rejoice that such a novel can bring him back, if only briefly. (Full review at Lit Mob.)