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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
adventurous
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I bought this book on my second trip to NYC, while at the public library. I love historical fiction and thought this was a great book. It could have been better, yes, but it took me on a real ride through the history of New York. There is so much that it was hard to include everything, but the stories included were great. I learned quite a bit and walked away with a stronger love for NYC.
Some of the stories were better than most (I loved Hudson and his family as well as the Carusos) and some were not as strong. I cried, I laughed, I researched, learned and more. I would recommend this book.
Some of the stories were better than most (I loved Hudson and his family as well as the Carusos) and some were not as strong. I cried, I laughed, I researched, learned and more. I would recommend this book.
Another great read by Rutherfurd, almost makes me want to move to New York. It certainly made me appreciate the spirit of this great city.
Edward Rutherford's New York is an engaging journey through the history of one of the world's great cities as told by the families that lived there. From its early history as a trading post, to the tragedy of 9/11, I found myself engrossed in the stories of her residents; their challenges, their loves, their biases, and tribulations. In a work of this length you will naturally gravitate to some characters more than others, but I found Rutherford generally successful in creating engaging characters capable of telling the fascinating stories of New York. It is my opinion that Rutherford misses the opportunity to more deeply tell the stories of some of New York's diverse communities, only lightly touching on these characters that are so much a part of this great city, but I think it's a focused decision to allow for the continuity and flow of the novel. Overall a strong read engagingly telling over 300 years of New York's history. I will certainly be picking up more of Rutherford's work.
I don’t know why this wasn’t obvious to me before picking up this book, but here was my issue: because the book spans 400 years, you get to know a character for about 100-200 pages then adios. To me, this resulted in a disjointed reading experience which I did not really love. As a result it took me forever to read the book, I kept putting it down and was not motivated to continue to read.
I found the prose a little too simple and straightforward.
However, it was fun to picture New York in its various states of development. I will credit the author with his research and weaving major city events in with the lives of the characters.
I found the prose a little too simple and straightforward.
However, it was fun to picture New York in its various states of development. I will credit the author with his research and weaving major city events in with the lives of the characters.
To be honest the book was better than expected. Further, I feel it's kind of strange to believe that too much has been omitted in a book of this length. But yes, for the first time in my life, I think that Rutherfurd should have written a bit more. Especially on less fortunate families than the Master family. New York is just as much about the ones finding The American Dream to be a nightmare as those who prosper.
He does write about slaves, the poor Italians arriving and so on. But these stories fade too much compared to the stories of the upper classes. In my opinion, that is. But all in all, it's a great book.
He does write about slaves, the poor Italians arriving and so on. But these stories fade too much compared to the stories of the upper classes. In my opinion, that is. But all in all, it's a great book.
I rounded up from 3.5 stars - this was not as good as some of Rutherford's other books. It was a pity that, as other reviewers noted, there wasn't much ethnic diversity throughout the novel. What I did particularly like was that most of the MAJOR events in NY's history were mentioned, but not dealt with directly. That would have been too easy - this way, Rutherford was forced to think about the people, not the events. Rutherford's sagas are always ambitious, and I love them.
This book was entertaining, but I did have problems with the disjointed, herky jerky nature of the narrative. [ai:Edward Rutherfurd|16204|Edward Rutherfurd|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1368159716p2/16204.jpg] Edward Rutherford skipped between events and people. It was rather disconcerting to be introduced to new characters, only to have them dropped with little or no mention of them afterwards. One instance was the character of Hudson River. He disappeared and it wasn't until a few chapters later, we get a throwaway line about his eventual fate. Another instance was the introduction of an entire immigrant family. We follow the children as they grow and then... another throwaway line about a descendant much later. The skipping between events was another problem. We jump from war to war to war or crisis to crisis to crisis with little discussion of the events that occur between. There was little talk about the events outside of New York as well. For being the financial center of the world, it seems there's little concern for or even idea about what happens in other parts of the country or world. Perhaps there was simply too much history of the city to include those little bits of information. New York City is a large metropolis with a history that goes back to the time when the city was in the hands of the Dutch. Perhaps following one family through from New Amsterdam to modern times was too much for one book. It might have worked better as a series.
I'm a sucker for these sweeping historical fiction novels, and this one was very good. Lots to pack in but I really enjoyed how he pulled it off (although some of the connections were a bit too coincedental). Looking forward to reading some of his other books!