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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This review might be a little closer to 2.5 stars, if it wasn't for the ending. Admittedly, I took a several-months' long break about halfway through the story so I don't entirely remember much of the first half. My favorite thing about this book was the formatting, which was a larger narrative made of smaller short stories, all focused around a central theme: New York.
My biggest beef with this story, which I only pulled together in the last chapter, was the fact that the only family that consistently did well was the rich white family. Every other family, including the ethnic and religious minorities, faced constant tragedy and turmoil ending in (SPOILER) some of them dying in the 9/11 terror attacks, while the most recent descendant of the rich, white family were incredibly lucky and got to have a happy ending. I guess it is an accurate portrayal of the history of America.
I did enjoy the small vignettes of different characters and families, but I didn't like the overall theme of the lucky and happy, rich, white man.
My biggest beef with this story, which I only pulled together in the last chapter, was the fact that the only family that consistently did well was the rich white family. Every other family, including the ethnic and religious minorities, faced constant tragedy and turmoil ending in (SPOILER) some of them dying in the 9/11 terror attacks, while the most recent descendant of the rich, white family were incredibly lucky and got to have a happy ending. I guess it is an accurate portrayal of the history of America.
I did enjoy the small vignettes of different characters and families, but I didn't like the overall theme of the lucky and happy, rich, white man.
This was a fantastic read - I couldn't put it down. A fast-moving, exciting story about the early days of New York while it was still New Amsterdam, woven through the stories of a few families as generations passed by and America changed around them. I learned a lot I didn't already know about early American history as well as more about how so many famous landmarks in NYC got their names.
Probably 3.5 stars, close to 4. But there was a lot lacking - while the author tried to pull in other non-WASP characters and sort of bring their stories along, it was very white-male-centered. And that's definitely not the only history of NYC, although of course it is a big part of what shaped how the story played out. Anyway - an enjoyable saga, and it was fun to watch as people's paths crossed and recrossed. My favorite character and storyline were that of Rose Master. I also wish Hudson's family line hadn't been so abruptly and horrifyingly cut off; I would have liked to follow that family through to the present.
All in all, a very enjoyable several months with this novel and its characters - their many, many flaws and all. Watching NYC unfold into the city it ultimately is today was so great; my favorite pieces of every story were all the history interwoven - buildings, historical figures, streets & avenues, etc. Very cool to see things come and go, and watch the city breathe in & out with the times.
All in all, a very enjoyable several months with this novel and its characters - their many, many flaws and all. Watching NYC unfold into the city it ultimately is today was so great; my favorite pieces of every story were all the history interwoven - buildings, historical figures, streets & avenues, etc. Very cool to see things come and go, and watch the city breathe in & out with the times.
Despite being a thousand pages long, the book felt rushed. Each time you felt comfortable with a character and their story you are suddenly introduced to a new generation. New York has such a fascinating history and could be a colorful backdrop but the book focuses on one family who generation after generation maintains wealth and status and whose problems seem quite petty compared to the multitude of (far more interesting) secondary characters.
This is a painful 3 star review because the book started out so well. The beginning of the book was very captivating, the characters keep you engaged and you really get an appreciation of the history of NYC.
However, around the turn of the 20th century, the story began to go a bit down hill and I think a lot of that was due to the characterization of the Masters family (the main family). They became increasingly less relatable and more irritating. While the beginning half of the book had some great engagement between a variety of ethnicities, by the 1950s, minorities were written as accessories and their stories were not being told from their own points of view. It’s also a little surprising because there was a lot of cultural changes between the 1950s and 2009 (where the book ends) that could have given the plot a much more enjoyable end.
Overall, it was still a pretty good book and I did enjoy it for the most part, I just wish it had ended as well as it started. That said, as a newish New Yorker (moved here 4 years ago!), it was still very nice to imagine the history of my home.
However, around the turn of the 20th century, the story began to go a bit down hill and I think a lot of that was due to the characterization of the Masters family (the main family). They became increasingly less relatable and more irritating. While the beginning half of the book had some great engagement between a variety of ethnicities, by the 1950s, minorities were written as accessories and their stories were not being told from their own points of view. It’s also a little surprising because there was a lot of cultural changes between the 1950s and 2009 (where the book ends) that could have given the plot a much more enjoyable end.
Overall, it was still a pretty good book and I did enjoy it for the most part, I just wish it had ended as well as it started. That said, as a newish New Yorker (moved here 4 years ago!), it was still very nice to imagine the history of my home.
I have always loved Rutherfurd's books and this one did not let me down. I am a huge fan of histroical novels and loved how the novel told a lot about the history of New York City while also following afew families from the beginnings of the city to modern day.
One of my favorite authors growing up was James Michener. I was that kid who, when given a choice between a 300 page novel and a 1200 page novel, I always grabbed the 1200 page book, because bigger was better. When James Michener died in 1997, another up and coming author named Edward Rutherfurd filled the void of the grandiose historic novel that spanned generations. What James Michener's and Edward Rutherfurd's novels have in common is that they write books around a central setting. Michener wrote books titled Alaska, Hawaii, Poland, Texas, Caribbean, etc. Rutherfurd has written novels titled Sarum (area in England known as Salisbury), The New Forest (also in England), London, Russka, etc.
In this case, Rutherfurd's setting is New York City. Its ambitious and it starts off promising. The first few chapters are about the settlement of New Amsterdam, the control of the Dutch and Stuyvesant's rule, and how England came to be in possession of the the city, renaming it New York. The history is told from the point of view of the Master family, English merchants who make money any way they can. We watch the following generation of the Master family as they deal with all the major events that engulf the city, from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812 and the Civil War. We watch them as the city grows around them, and they slowly move uptown with the growth. The original members of the family live near Bowling Green and by the end, the modern generation are living along Central Park in the Upper West Side, the family making stops in places like Gramercy Park, 5th Ave, and Park Avenue along the way.
The first half of the book was good, well written and well paced. I enjoyed the split in the family, one member a Tory and the other a Patriot during the Revolutionary War. It was a great devise used by the author to show both sides of the conflict. His descriptions of the Draft Riots of 1863, and the turmoil before and after those events was the pinnacle of the story for me. The last half felt hurried, as if the author was trying to jam as much of New York as he could into the story. But like the city he was writing about, Rutherfurd's story felt large, clunky and he seemed a bit overwhelmed. Another caveat that annoyed me: the story should have been called Manhattan, not New York. There are some scenes that take place in Brooklyn (trips to Coney Island come to mind) but the outer boroughs are largely forgotten. There's an Irish family thrown in haphazardly during the Civil War chapters that don't really do much to move the story along, other than give the Irish perspective of those years. There's an Italian family tossed in, mainly to touch on the Ellis Island experience and the building of the Empire State Building.
Once their stories have been told, they are largely forgotten about. I personally would have loved to read more about the adventures of one of the Irish characters in the story, but his job in the narrative was a way for the author to touch on Tammany Hall, and then he and his heirs vanished. Many strings seemed to have been left dangling, lost in the miasma of New York City.
I applaude the author for tackling a subject as large as New York City. I understand why some characters and their heirs had to vanish. If he had followed every thread, the book would have been overwhelming. Instead of writing a book that seemed rushed and full of characters there only to show the author's knowledge of New York City history, why not focus more on a certain chunks of time and flesh it out. Rutherfurd wrote a series of books about Ireland. New York, in its grandeur, could easily have been a series of fleshed out books. Trying to jam as much as he did in one novel, albiet a very long novel, did not seem to do the story justice. As I said earlier, the last half of the novel was just to clunky and tried to do too much in a short amount of time.
The first half receives 5 stars, and the second half receives 1 star, making for an average of 3.
In this case, Rutherfurd's setting is New York City. Its ambitious and it starts off promising. The first few chapters are about the settlement of New Amsterdam, the control of the Dutch and Stuyvesant's rule, and how England came to be in possession of the the city, renaming it New York. The history is told from the point of view of the Master family, English merchants who make money any way they can. We watch the following generation of the Master family as they deal with all the major events that engulf the city, from the Revolutionary War to the War of 1812 and the Civil War. We watch them as the city grows around them, and they slowly move uptown with the growth. The original members of the family live near Bowling Green and by the end, the modern generation are living along Central Park in the Upper West Side, the family making stops in places like Gramercy Park, 5th Ave, and Park Avenue along the way.
The first half of the book was good, well written and well paced. I enjoyed the split in the family, one member a Tory and the other a Patriot during the Revolutionary War. It was a great devise used by the author to show both sides of the conflict. His descriptions of the Draft Riots of 1863, and the turmoil before and after those events was the pinnacle of the story for me. The last half felt hurried, as if the author was trying to jam as much of New York as he could into the story. But like the city he was writing about, Rutherfurd's story felt large, clunky and he seemed a bit overwhelmed. Another caveat that annoyed me: the story should have been called Manhattan, not New York. There are some scenes that take place in Brooklyn (trips to Coney Island come to mind) but the outer boroughs are largely forgotten. There's an Irish family thrown in haphazardly during the Civil War chapters that don't really do much to move the story along, other than give the Irish perspective of those years. There's an Italian family tossed in, mainly to touch on the Ellis Island experience and the building of the Empire State Building.
Once their stories have been told, they are largely forgotten about. I personally would have loved to read more about the adventures of one of the Irish characters in the story, but his job in the narrative was a way for the author to touch on Tammany Hall, and then he and his heirs vanished. Many strings seemed to have been left dangling, lost in the miasma of New York City.
I applaude the author for tackling a subject as large as New York City. I understand why some characters and their heirs had to vanish. If he had followed every thread, the book would have been overwhelming. Instead of writing a book that seemed rushed and full of characters there only to show the author's knowledge of New York City history, why not focus more on a certain chunks of time and flesh it out. Rutherfurd wrote a series of books about Ireland. New York, in its grandeur, could easily have been a series of fleshed out books. Trying to jam as much as he did in one novel, albiet a very long novel, did not seem to do the story justice. As I said earlier, the last half of the novel was just to clunky and tried to do too much in a short amount of time.
The first half receives 5 stars, and the second half receives 1 star, making for an average of 3.
Guilty, these books take me a solid full month to read, and they are always my favourite. It's historical fiction at its best. Rutherfurd takes five hundred years of history and turns it into love stories, rivalries, david vs. goaliths, and in general makes it human, interesting, and relatable for all audiences. At 1700 pages, it's not a quick read, but when Rutherfurd ties it all together at the end it's completely worth it. Can't wait to read London!
This novel managed to cover well over 300 years of the history of New York city and make it a fascinating read. At over 800 pages, I never anticipated that I would finish it in just over a week, but I could not put it down. The stories were nicely developed, and there were common threads that helped connect all parts. I thoroughly enjoyed it.