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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This feels like a book where the concept (overlapping storylines and POV’s on the same event) is more interesting than the actual content. I feel like this book is trying really hard to be literature.
I love authors who so convincingly slip into the minds of so many different kinds of people. What a gift! Without ever focusing on 9/11 itself, the story is a beautiful and relevant memorial to that day.
I really loved this author's writing style and characters. There is some bad language throughout the book with one chapter towards the end being particularly bad.
Maybe all literature grapples with the human condition, but Let the Great World Spin does so in the grandest, most ambitious way. Set in 1970s New York against the backdrop of the Vietnam era, the novel explores how lives mysteriously cross paths, join, collide, our irrepressible longing to connect, to be validated, to find love. McCann convincingly renders a wide variety of characters, many from a first-person perspective—an Irish immigrant dismayed by his brother’s choices and his life in the Bronx, a jailed middle-aged prostitute who fantasizes about suicide, a young drug-addicted artist guilt-ridden about her involvement in a hit-and-run accident, a grief-stricken Park Avenue mother who lost her son in Vietnam and seeks solace from other members of a bereavement group with whom she otherwise has nothing in common. At the center of the novel is Phillipe Petit’s marvelous, almost magical tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. It becomes a unifying event and something onto which the myriad people of the city project meaning. McCann’s writing is rhythmic, lyrical, evocative. And the book contains many beautifully expressed observations that resonated with me. Consider this line: “I suppose I’ve always known that it’s hard to be just one person.” I finished the book at the pool yesterday, and when I read this sentence, I just started crying, right there at one of the picnic tables, surrounded by strangers. I couldn’t help it.
Was disappointed. I guess I just don't enjoy this type of book. Is set in 1970's New York City and tells the story from various people's perspective who are all somewhat linked during this time. Overall - the characters, their lives and the book was very depressing. My favorite part was actually the last chapter which was set in present day. I guess I just didn't find it all the interesting and easily could have stopped reading the book at any point and would not really have cared how it ended.
All I can say is, I was pleasantly surprised by this novel's reminder of just how connected human beings are in even the most simple situations.
a well received recommendation from dan brennan.
it reminds me of, if mrs. dalloway took place in nyc in the 70s and there was overall more heroin, so basically my ideal book.
it reminds me of, if mrs. dalloway took place in nyc in the 70s and there was overall more heroin, so basically my ideal book.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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