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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Historical fiction about NYC beginning with the first Dutch settlers to present day.
These books are far from perfect, but they're perfect for me. They're long, they're full of history, they are full of rich detail. Sure, the prose are kind of generic and strange, and the characters are all pretty one-note. But that's not the point, and that's not why I like Rutherfurd's writing.
What I like is the way that his settings are his characters, and his characters are symbols for something much bigger than themselves. One could point out that this book focuses on the English (and Dutch) experiences of New York more than it does other types of people, and this is certainly a mark against it. But at the same time, I like how the story folded in more and more people at representative times in the city's history. We start with the Dutch, and the Native Americans. We fold in the English soon after. We fold in slaves of African descent, who later become freed black people living in a hostile city. Later, Irish and German immigrants. Then Italian. Then Jewish. And in the later stages, Latino (Puerto Rican specifically) and Asian American characters get added in. At earlier stages of the book, a Master and an Irish girl would never have been married, but by the second half of the twentieth century, Gorham and Maggie's relationship is totally normal. It shows how the passage of time erases heritage and culture sometimes, but also the prejudices and pain that go along with a very weighted history.
I actually got a little it emotional about the belt from Pale Feather - I wanted it to survive to the end. There was actually something just a little bit unsettling (and maybe not in a way the author intended) in having the one named character to lose her life in the 9/11 attacks be a Jewish woman, and have her death be described in such a way that it's clear she's incinerated in the flames. Turned to ash. It hit home for me in a way that was a little bit distracting from the story I think Rutherfurd was maybe trying to tell.
But this still gets five stars from me, because it provided literal months of entertainment. I'm excited to read more of Rutherfurd's books. I really enjoyed this one!
What I like is the way that his settings are his characters, and his characters are symbols for something much bigger than themselves. One could point out that this book focuses on the English (and Dutch) experiences of New York more than it does other types of people, and this is certainly a mark against it. But at the same time, I like how the story folded in more and more people at representative times in the city's history. We start with the Dutch, and the Native Americans. We fold in the English soon after. We fold in slaves of African descent, who later become freed black people living in a hostile city. Later, Irish and German immigrants. Then Italian. Then Jewish. And in the later stages, Latino (Puerto Rican specifically) and Asian American characters get added in. At earlier stages of the book, a Master and an Irish girl would never have been married, but by the second half of the twentieth century, Gorham and Maggie's relationship is totally normal. It shows how the passage of time erases heritage and culture sometimes, but also the prejudices and pain that go along with a very weighted history.
I actually got a little it emotional about the belt from Pale Feather - I wanted it to survive to the end. There was actually something just a little bit unsettling (and maybe not in a way the author intended) in having the one named character to lose her life in the 9/11 attacks be a Jewish woman, and have her death be described in such a way that it's clear she's incinerated in the flames. Turned to ash. It hit home for me in a way that was a little bit distracting from the story I think Rutherfurd was maybe trying to tell.
But this still gets five stars from me, because it provided literal months of entertainment. I'm excited to read more of Rutherfurd's books. I really enjoyed this one!
I enjoyed this overview of New York history a lot, though there were plenty of places I wish he could have spent more time. Most jarring was his almost entirely skipping over Depression-era and WWII New York. There are some brief passing comments by a character about what his family did during that time, but that's it.
Sarum is still my favorite of Rutherfurd's books, but I think this one is second.
Sarum is still my favorite of Rutherfurd's books, but I think this one is second.
_New York_ by Edward Rutherfurd was an enjoyable, but somewhat boring, book. I was excited to explore the history of this one-of-a-kind city, and ultimately a little disappointed.
I really enjoyed the early portion of the book. The Dutch/English coloniztion and their interactions with each other and the tribes of the area. The discussions of the natural waterways and how these influenced the development of New York was also interesting and intriguing.
I rated it as only a three-star for a few different reasons.
One, this books seemed to lack some of character depth that I've found in his other books. It really only follows the Master family, and even there the only real character of interest with Charlie...I mean, every generation was another "merchant/old money" variation. There are other families that make short appearances, but usually when select members of these secondary families are mentioned, it seems to be as an obligation to the genre, not as an integral part of the story. Honestly, I was disappointed that there was more of a interconnectedness of the families
Secondly, I was really surprised at the lack of diversity in this story. Now, I've never visited New York, but my persception is that New York is a city of international diversity. I felt that the story-line of immigrant families where only briefly touched on and then we were off to other decade with the Masters.
Finally, I found the last few chapters to be tedious as he approached the present, and the end of the book. I felt as if he was just marking time thru the 80's, 90's, 2001, followed by a diatribe on ADD & antibiotics and trying to tie it into the pre-colonial history of the area. Just didn't get the Epilogue.
I really enjoyed the early portion of the book. The Dutch/English coloniztion and their interactions with each other and the tribes of the area. The discussions of the natural waterways and how these influenced the development of New York was also interesting and intriguing.
I rated it as only a three-star for a few different reasons.
One, this books seemed to lack some of character depth that I've found in his other books. It really only follows the Master family, and even there the only real character of interest with Charlie...I mean, every generation was another "merchant/old money" variation. There are other families that make short appearances, but usually when select members of these secondary families are mentioned, it seems to be as an obligation to the genre, not as an integral part of the story. Honestly, I was disappointed that there was more of a interconnectedness of the families
Secondly, I was really surprised at the lack of diversity in this story. Now, I've never visited New York, but my persception is that New York is a city of international diversity. I felt that the story-line of immigrant families where only briefly touched on and then we were off to other decade with the Masters.
Finally, I found the last few chapters to be tedious as he approached the present, and the end of the book. I felt as if he was just marking time thru the 80's, 90's, 2001, followed by a diatribe on ADD & antibiotics and trying to tie it into the pre-colonial history of the area. Just didn't get the Epilogue.
Enjoyable read that follows the Master family through generations, with lots of missed opportunities to bring the growth of New York to the forefront. New York was the background, not the focus as the title would suggest.
This is a big book about the big history of a big city, New York. From a Dutch colony to the fall of the Towers, this book follows the lives of several intertwined families. It shows how people live their lives and forget their past. I really liked it.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Not sure what's gotten into me, but I've been picking out very large books to read lately. I was very interested in Rutherfurd's New York because I really love the city. This giant tale follows the Master family through four centuries of life in Manhattan. It starts with the early fur merchants in the Dutch colonies and ends about 2009.
While the writing was fine, I really felt that this was just a bunch of short stories all vaguely wrapped together. Some people in the story feel like token characters and it really feels like everything always works out in the end. There are way too many happy endings for this to feel like it could be a genuine tale about New York City. It's pretty vanilla, but a very enjoyable historic journey through the city. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries were most interesting, but I stand that the city outshines all the characters and their scattered plots. The city outshines us all.
While the writing was fine, I really felt that this was just a bunch of short stories all vaguely wrapped together. Some people in the story feel like token characters and it really feels like everything always works out in the end. There are way too many happy endings for this to feel like it could be a genuine tale about New York City. It's pretty vanilla, but a very enjoyable historic journey through the city. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries were most interesting, but I stand that the city outshines all the characters and their scattered plots. The city outshines us all.
Informational and engaging. Rutherford is always worth the time commitment (in this case, 869 pages).