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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
I read this a while ago but vaguely remember my review disappearing. I didn't love this book. I felt like the stories were disjointed and the tight walker bit was extraneous. I don't remember all of my impressions from when I first finished the book and I wish I did because I think my review was quite specific about the priest and the sex workers and the woman who worked downtown and the women who had list their sons. It says a lot that I still remember the characters in detail. But I remember being vaguely disappointed in this book that everyone loves.
a beautiful story about connection and persistence. I loved how each character was linked to the right rope walker in some way, but their connection was much greater. Will be thinking about this one for a while.
While I was struggling through the middle of this book, I probably would have given it two stars, maybe three. But, by the end, I think I got it. I understood the characters, understood the connections. Fabulous the way it comes together.
I enjoyed this. Yes, it has a choppy start with lots of story threads that don't seem to match up, but they do eventually come together and they do so fairly believably.
One of the best novels I've read in a very long time. McCann's beautiful language draws you into each character's story quickly and intimately. Phillipe Petit's historic tightrope walk between the World Trade Center's Twin Towers ties together the disparate stories of immigrants, prostitutes, judges, artists and grieving mothers into a tale that is at once heartbreaking and uplifting.
I read this book in 2010 and loved it so much that I recently listened to it on CD. The auditory experience was magnificent, and reminded me how much I admired this novel. Set in New York City in Aug. 1974, the book begins with the morning Phillipe Petit walks across the high wire he has illegally strung between the towers of the World Trade Center. Having just watched Man on Wire in January (a documentary about Phillipe Petit and his infamous escapade on the wire), I was primed and ready for Let the Great World Spin.
The novel starts with the narrative of an Irish fellow named Ciaran recounting his childhood in Ireland with his brother Corrigan, who is now a priest living among junkies and prostitutes in the projects in the Bronx. Ciaran has just landed in NYC and is living with his brother. Much to his surprise Corrigan is on a first name basis with this hookers and even leaves his door unlocked so the "girls" can come pee and wash up between customers. Two of the women are mother and daughter, both working the streets, Jazz and Tilly.
This book uses several different narrators, whose narratives eventually intersect. One is Claire, a Park Avenue housewife whose only child was killed in Vietnam. Claire is part of a support group for mothers whose sons were killed in the war, and she poignantly describes the awful day when the group meets at her penthouse, the same day Petit walks on the wire, the same day tragedy occurs with Jazz and Corrigan,the same day Claire's husband presides in the courtroom with Petit.
I love the way McCann weaves this story, the switch from narrator to narrator, the very real characters, the description of the man on the wire and how his walk that summer morning in Manhattan impacted those who saw it and even those who merely heard about it.
This is a beautiful novel whose characters moved me and touched me. I almost think the listening experience was better than the read. My local library had it on CD.
The novel starts with the narrative of an Irish fellow named Ciaran recounting his childhood in Ireland with his brother Corrigan, who is now a priest living among junkies and prostitutes in the projects in the Bronx. Ciaran has just landed in NYC and is living with his brother. Much to his surprise Corrigan is on a first name basis with this hookers and even leaves his door unlocked so the "girls" can come pee and wash up between customers. Two of the women are mother and daughter, both working the streets, Jazz and Tilly.
This book uses several different narrators, whose narratives eventually intersect. One is Claire, a Park Avenue housewife whose only child was killed in Vietnam. Claire is part of a support group for mothers whose sons were killed in the war, and she poignantly describes the awful day when the group meets at her penthouse, the same day Petit walks on the wire, the same day tragedy occurs with Jazz and Corrigan,the same day Claire's husband presides in the courtroom with Petit.
I love the way McCann weaves this story, the switch from narrator to narrator, the very real characters, the description of the man on the wire and how his walk that summer morning in Manhattan impacted those who saw it and even those who merely heard about it.
This is a beautiful novel whose characters moved me and touched me. I almost think the listening experience was better than the read. My local library had it on CD.
Loved the pace of this book and such wonderfully written characters.
This is the kind of book I will want to read over and over again. It is filled to the brim with powerful imagery, well-drawn characters, and profound statements that transcend the page. It is a picture of New York City that every New Yorker should visit.
Also, for all those people who love Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad (as I do), Colum McCann is worth a read. He mastered the weaving of the short stories first.
Also, for all those people who love Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad (as I do), Colum McCann is worth a read. He mastered the weaving of the short stories first.
Decided to read this book after seeing Colum McCann speak with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, since I'm somewhat obsessed with the walk of Philippe Petit. The book focuses less on Petit's walk and more on what life was like in gritty 70s-era NYC. hile low on plot, there is plenty to keep one entertained here, though some chapters (each is told from the POV of a different character, all of whose lives intertwine) are more interesting than others. The character I found most compelling was Gloria and I was a bit annoyed at how neatly the storylines were tied up in the end (I mean, would you really marry the woman who killed your brother?). Good, but not great.
Great book. Stories of lives in NYC tied together by the true event of a man tightrope walking between the World Trade Center towers in 1974.