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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
I was disappointed in this book. First, it seemed to simplistic. History was presented through the lives a few primary families. And I thought I would like the premise but ultimately there is just too much time to cover - 400 years. Second, the dialogue was very contrived and preachy- used to explain or give historical context. Finally, I felt like it was less a history of NYC and more of a history of the US that took place in NYC. Not sure I will read his other books.
I'm picky about my fictional American history because I studied American history, and seeing it misrepresented annoys me beyond all reason. I can't say that about this book. I'm beyond impressed. I'm seeing at least most of the recent scholarship taken into account. Somehow, Rutherford has managed to blend that scholarship and fantastic storytelling into something I don't know if I've ever seen before.
The book starts with a fictional, typical Dutch settler and a slave and I believe spans through to the modern day, the descendants of both meeting time and time again. His characters are real people, not cutouts spouting ideals, and his New York is populated with recognizable figures, from Peter Stuyvesant to George Washington to the politicians of Tammany Hall and Abraham Lincoln (where I am right now). Though the central family, the Masters, is a wealthy merchant family, he delves into the lives of the underclasses, including slaves and freedmen, radical Sons of Liberty, Irish immigrants, and whoever else might be floating through New York.
Rutherford has brought New York City and it's people's past to life without sacrificing accuracy for storytelling. It's masterful, and I can't wait to finish this book and start another of his.
PS, the Kindle version, which I'm reading, is currently $5. A great investment!
Edit: Have just finished this book. The second half didn't keep my attention nearly as well as the first, probably because I generally have less of an interest in post-Civil War history than I do in the foundations of the country. Still, absolutely fantastic. Many of the reasons I liked the book in the first place continued, and looking back, I can see how various strands of plot came together over time. I love that he continued to tell side stories, and how important those side stories were overall. This is a deeply insightful, interesting, and brilliant book.
The book starts with a fictional, typical Dutch settler and a slave and I believe spans through to the modern day, the descendants of both meeting time and time again. His characters are real people, not cutouts spouting ideals, and his New York is populated with recognizable figures, from Peter Stuyvesant to George Washington to the politicians of Tammany Hall and Abraham Lincoln (where I am right now). Though the central family, the Masters, is a wealthy merchant family, he delves into the lives of the underclasses, including slaves and freedmen, radical Sons of Liberty, Irish immigrants, and whoever else might be floating through New York.
Rutherford has brought New York City and it's people's past to life without sacrificing accuracy for storytelling. It's masterful, and I can't wait to finish this book and start another of his.
PS, the Kindle version, which I'm reading, is currently $5. A great investment!
Edit: Have just finished this book. The second half didn't keep my attention nearly as well as the first, probably because I generally have less of an interest in post-Civil War history than I do in the foundations of the country. Still, absolutely fantastic. Many of the reasons I liked the book in the first place continued, and looking back, I can see how various strands of plot came together over time. I love that he continued to tell side stories, and how important those side stories were overall. This is a deeply insightful, interesting, and brilliant book.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
medium-paced
I definitely enjoyed this book, however it spent a ton of time on both the Revolutionary and Civil wars and then blasted through 1917 to 2001 in 100 pages. Also, the Master family took center stage, but you really didn't care about Gorham's quest for professional satisfaction in the shadow of his more successful wife (who, coincidentally is the descendant of the Master's maid ( before they lost everything in the stock market crash). Also, some families were just introduced to show a moment in history, i.e. The Caruso family in the Triangle shirtwaist factory fire. All in all, I would've loved less about the various battles and more 20th and 21st story lines.
Phew. Alright. I have some Thoughts.
I was incredibly excited to read this. I love Edward Rutherfurd and have been living in NYC for the past 3 years and was waiting until I had enough experience and loved this city enough that I could truly appreciate it and catch all the references. Rutherfurd excels at writing accessible historical novels and the hidden gems within the book if you're familiar with the city are delightful... but he is apparently entirely disinterested in writing about anything post World War II.
While I enjoyed this novel (and that 9/11 sequence had me tearing up and is everything I love about Edward Rutherfurd novels) there are two glaring absences that really negatively impacted my enjoyment of the last 150 or so pages of this book. 1. The disappearance of the black family midway through the book was a BAD choice. I was fully expecting the line to make its way back into the story via a long lost family connection for the Civil Rights movement but not only did the family line not come back he also barely touched the Civil Rights movement???? Nothing about the Harlem Renaissance???? What??? 2. No mention at ALL of the AIDS epidemic????? What????? One character had a brother who was gay and I assumed we were going to touch on this topic but it literally never came up or was even mentioned in passing.
To set out to tell the entire story of the New York City and barely touch on Civil Rights movement and not touch on AIDS epidemic at all is an unforgivable choice and really had me not enjoying the back part of this novel that up to this point was a 5 star read for me. It was clear that Rutherfurd was only interested in the history up until WWII and then everything else was filler to get us to 9/11.
I might change this to 3 stars later, still sorting through my thoughts. The first 700 pages are incredible and I'm annoyed the last 150 fell apart.
I was incredibly excited to read this. I love Edward Rutherfurd and have been living in NYC for the past 3 years and was waiting until I had enough experience and loved this city enough that I could truly appreciate it and catch all the references. Rutherfurd excels at writing accessible historical novels and the hidden gems within the book if you're familiar with the city are delightful... but he is apparently entirely disinterested in writing about anything post World War II.
While I enjoyed this novel (and that 9/11 sequence had me tearing up and is everything I love about Edward Rutherfurd novels) there are two glaring absences that really negatively impacted my enjoyment of the last 150 or so pages of this book. 1. The disappearance of the black family midway through the book was a BAD choice. I was fully expecting the line to make its way back into the story via a long lost family connection for the Civil Rights movement but not only did the family line not come back he also barely touched the Civil Rights movement???? Nothing about the Harlem Renaissance???? What??? 2. No mention at ALL of the AIDS epidemic????? What????? One character had a brother who was gay and I assumed we were going to touch on this topic but it literally never came up or was even mentioned in passing.
To set out to tell the entire story of the New York City and barely touch on Civil Rights movement and not touch on AIDS epidemic at all is an unforgivable choice and really had me not enjoying the back part of this novel that up to this point was a 5 star read for me. It was clear that Rutherfurd was only interested in the history up until WWII and then everything else was filler to get us to 9/11.
I might change this to 3 stars later, still sorting through my thoughts. The first 700 pages are incredible and I'm annoyed the last 150 fell apart.
Thoroughly enjoyable read especially when anticipating my first visit to this awesome city.
I wanted to like this more than I did but just could not get into it. It could have been the timing of when I tried to read it. I enjoyed the historical fiction of learning about the various phases of NYC as it developed but it was too slow moving for me. Definitely a style of writing that you need to have time to dedicate too. That being said, I loved the character carry over between generations and would like to check out some of Rutherfurd's other work.
From the outset of reading this book I wasn’t sure how the author was going to be able to tell 400+ years of history within the confines of about 800 pages – but somehow he did the job and did so beautifully. Edward Rutherfurd makes New York into a character all its own that has highs and lows, good days and bad days, and grows and evolves over time. He integrates the story of New York so well with the lives of his characters that you don’t even notice that you are getting a very thorough history lesson at the same time.
As the author has said in interviews, this story is about the roots and family of his characters as well as the evolution of the city itself. Even though the story covers over 400 years you don’t lose connection with the characters because you are following a family and with each new decade or event you still usually have at least one character you already knew. The main family that is followed is the Masters – they have their roots in the founding of the city – from the settlement by the Dutch right up until the present day. At different times we also follow a slave family, a group of Native Americans, Irish and Italian immigrant families and a couple others as well. I really liked how people from these core families would re-encounter and interact with each other as time went on.
To give you a taste of just a few of the topics covered in this book: Dutch settlement, Revolutionary War, Slavery, Civil War, Blizzard, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, Women’s Suffrage Movement, Draft Riots of the Civil War, Depression, 9/11.
I haven’t encountered any novels prior to this one that included 9/11. This event was handled so well – it wasn’t dramatized, it was more about how it affected the characters who represented different experiences had during that fateful day. I was very impressed with the handling and sensitivity given to this topic. The combination of the way it was written and the way it was narrated absolutely made me cry.
There was only one event in this book where I could tell where the author himself had his roots, and that was during the Revolutionary War. Even though he spent equal time with the Loyalists and Patriots, you could tell there was a Loyalist/British leaning. I actually would catch myself from time to time rooting for the British – that was quite a shock for me!
I highly recommend this read and can’t wait to get my hands on some of his other books.
The narrator for this book was AMAZING! He made each character truly unique – he had great and somewhat convincing accents for all. I think some of the events were made more poignant because I was listening to this book rather than reading the words off of the page. As I was listening to the section on 9/11 I had goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes – that is how much feeling the narrator can evoke.
As the author has said in interviews, this story is about the roots and family of his characters as well as the evolution of the city itself. Even though the story covers over 400 years you don’t lose connection with the characters because you are following a family and with each new decade or event you still usually have at least one character you already knew. The main family that is followed is the Masters – they have their roots in the founding of the city – from the settlement by the Dutch right up until the present day. At different times we also follow a slave family, a group of Native Americans, Irish and Italian immigrant families and a couple others as well. I really liked how people from these core families would re-encounter and interact with each other as time went on.
To give you a taste of just a few of the topics covered in this book: Dutch settlement, Revolutionary War, Slavery, Civil War, Blizzard, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, Women’s Suffrage Movement, Draft Riots of the Civil War, Depression, 9/11.
I haven’t encountered any novels prior to this one that included 9/11. This event was handled so well – it wasn’t dramatized, it was more about how it affected the characters who represented different experiences had during that fateful day. I was very impressed with the handling and sensitivity given to this topic. The combination of the way it was written and the way it was narrated absolutely made me cry.
There was only one event in this book where I could tell where the author himself had his roots, and that was during the Revolutionary War. Even though he spent equal time with the Loyalists and Patriots, you could tell there was a Loyalist/British leaning. I actually would catch myself from time to time rooting for the British – that was quite a shock for me!
I highly recommend this read and can’t wait to get my hands on some of his other books.
The narrator for this book was AMAZING! He made each character truly unique – he had great and somewhat convincing accents for all. I think some of the events were made more poignant because I was listening to this book rather than reading the words off of the page. As I was listening to the section on 9/11 I had goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes – that is how much feeling the narrator can evoke.