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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
McCann is a wonderful writer, but this book frustrated me. Each chapter was narrated by a different character, and most of them were interesting enough to warrant an entire book. So why jump around? Maybe that was the point of the book, but I would have preferred a regular ol' novel where the characters interact, but in a linear fashion.
Excellent book chronicling the life of disparate characters living in NYC when the World Trade Center towers loomed large and prompted a tightrope walker to traipse between them in 1973. McCann's ability to connect all these lives was flat-out amazing. Loved this story. Loved his writing. There's a reason this is National Book Award winner.
"One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief.
He had a theory about it. It happened, and re-happened, because it was a city uninterested in history. Strange things occurred precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. The city lived in a sort of everyday present. It had no need to believe in itself as a London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. No, the city couldn’t care less about where it stood. He had seen a T-shirt once that said: NEW YORK FUCKIN’ CITY. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would.
New York kept going forward precisely because it didn’t give a good goddamn about what it had left behind. It was like the city that Lot left, and it would dissolve if it ever began looking backward over its own shoulder. Two pillars of salt. Long Island and New Jersey."
— Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin)
"One of those out-of-the-ordinary days that made sense of the slew of ordinary days. New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief.
He had a theory about it. It happened, and re-happened, because it was a city uninterested in history. Strange things occurred precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. The city lived in a sort of everyday present. It had no need to believe in itself as a London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. No, the city couldn’t care less about where it stood. He had seen a T-shirt once that said: NEW YORK FUCKIN’ CITY. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would.
New York kept going forward precisely because it didn’t give a good goddamn about what it had left behind. It was like the city that Lot left, and it would dissolve if it ever began looking backward over its own shoulder. Two pillars of salt. Long Island and New Jersey."
— Colum McCann (Let the Great World Spin)
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished sometime around the middle of February, I think.
I’ll never live the lives of the characters in this story, but I no doubt believe these stories exist in real life, some perhaps in the same timeline as me. Heartbreaking yet profoundly human, the book reminds me of the sorrows of war and poverty felt across generations, geographic and socioeconomic divides. The story that stuck with me the most was Grace’s, the mother who feels her war-fataled son through electric currents in the house.
There were numerous lives told in this story, some of them short-lived, weaving across each other like a web that made up the picture of New York in the 70s. The feelings this book brought me as I was reading it are hard to forget. Thank you to a random coffee shop in a random local market next to the Atlanta airport for having this on their shelf — I took the recommendation and read this over spring break.
There were numerous lives told in this story, some of them short-lived, weaving across each other like a web that made up the picture of New York in the 70s. The feelings this book brought me as I was reading it are hard to forget. Thank you to a random coffee shop in a random local market next to the Atlanta airport for having this on their shelf — I took the recommendation and read this over spring break.
3 and a half. American Book Award winner by Colum McCann. Multiple perspectives from a diverse group of characters relate events that took place August 7, 1974, the day the French acrobat Philippe Petit tightrope walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It's an ambitious attempt, and although McCann doesn't pull it off perfectly, it makes for very satisfying reading. My main complaint is a long section from the viewpoint of an aging, black hooker; it just made me uncomfortable. Admittedly, I'm really picky about cross-gender portrayals. They can be done well, but this one didn't work for me. Overall though, a worthwhile read.
2.5 Stars
Is it odd to say a book feels like it is more for writers than readers? This book feels like a book for writers and that happens to not exactly be my cup of tea it seems.
Is it odd to say a book feels like it is more for writers than readers? This book feels like a book for writers and that happens to not exactly be my cup of tea it seems.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Slow start but it picks up. The character's stories loosely interwove together in an interesting way. For awhile i wondered how it would all come together, but it does nicely. Worst person of the year award easily goes to Blaine...best person character is a tough call between Corrigan and Gloria.