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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Entertaining as always. Not sure why the story starts with the Dutch, given people had lived in 'New York' for thousands of years before then, but this is my only criticism...
These books are so great. I love trying to piece together how the different families are interconnected. Great LONG reads!
very long. but fascinating story of NY as told through a variety of families mainly the Masters. It is more in depth in the beginning as far as building the characters and that is to its detriment later on. some families like the african american family just get lost and while that may be true to history it also feels like a gap in the book. The Italian family also feels like at some point they just disappear. But overall an enjoyable read.
This book was, well, there. It was like a Forest Gump for rich white people in NYC, who either showed up at or had a hand in every stereotypical NYC experience and people. The beginning was promising but it bogged down during the extensive part about the Civil War. Non-white people barely existed, except in references in how proud the white people were to know them, or have their kids be friends with them, or to feel minor remorse when they were killed, or to express fear when encountering them as drug dealers in the park. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the building of the Empire State Building, the raising of the dome of the Crysler Building, the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Verrazano, the stock market crash, the depression (which was glossed over in terms of how the rich characters did okay), WTC attacks, cliches about if you can make it there, the Big Apple, all the greatest hits. The one character of substance is reduced to a remembrance at the end. The true NY for those who don't want to know the true NY.
Another 800-page, multi-family, multi-generational sweeping historical epic, this one from the founding of the Dutch city on Manhattan to the aftermath of 9/11.
it was good but a bit long and the historical events were utterly predictable after a while...
A tour of the history of New York City, as told through the eyes of a few families. I would have liked more focus on the immigrant plight post 1900 and less on the ultra blue blooded Dutch, but that's just me speaking as the child of immigrants (Am I still allowed to say that even if my grandmother holds a masters and my other set of grandparents own a share of a sailboat?) and a lover of Brooklyn. When I reached the end, I paused and said "And then what happened?" before realizing that the book ended in August of 2009, and that I, in January of 2011, was already living the "and then."
I couldn't finish it, even though I had it on audio. I just lost interest in it. Cardboard characters, predictable behavior. Sorry!
Wow! I struggled between giving it four stars (it's not "The Historian") and five stars, but I had to give Rutherfurd props for naming two minor characters Vorpal and Bandersnatch. Well played, Mr. Rutherfurd, well played.
Also a fantastic view of colonial New York and its usually understated role in the Revolutionary War.
Also a fantastic view of colonial New York and its usually understated role in the Revolutionary War.
This book was very good. I sometimes felt as though the author dwelled a lot on certain periods and entirely skipped others - maybe there could have been a slightly better balance in that regard. I also would have loved to see more exploration of the daughters of the family - I understand that the point was to follow the Master line, and that women don't traditionally pass down the name as men do; however, I was often interested in personalities and decisions of the daughters, but they did not nearly get enough time in comparison. As a whole, though, I thought this book was really wonderful and really reminded me of why I love history - and why I love New York City.