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nikread84's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliantly engaging from start to finish. There is no big flourish at the end, but why would you expect one when the book is about the world continuing on and on? I loved the characters, all flawed, all with their own demons, and I loved that it was centered around an actual event - Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers.
If you are a New Yorker and you haven't read this book yet, do yourself a favor.
If you are a New Yorker and you haven't read this book yet, do yourself a favor.
tmiles's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
xcaity's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly surprised at how much I liked this book. Took me a bit to get invested, but it was worth it.
daja57's review
5.0
Winner of the US National Book Award in 2009.
Based on a true story, as they say. On the morning of 7th August 1974 (the day before President Richard Nixon announced that he would resign because of the Watergate scandal), Philippe Petit performed an illegal tightrope walk on a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. This novel tells the linked stories of a number of New Yorkers: mother and daughter prostitutes Tilly and Jazzlyn, Corrigan, a monk-in-the-world, bereaved mother Claire, her husband Judge Solomon and her friend Gloria, and Lara, a drug-taking artist. And the walker himself.
The chronology is non-linear and it took me a long time before I understood that all these individual narratives are linked not only by the tightrope walk but also intimately to one another. But this isn't a book in which the plot is centre-stage. This is much more about a slow exploration of the characters and their relationships with one another, and building this up into a portrait of New York in 1974 in all its beauty and its ugliness.
Corrigan is most important character who doesn't narrate; what we learn of him comes mostly from his brother, Cieran. Following the abandonment of the family by his father, Corrigan becomes a very religious boy who loves to hang out with the homeless, drinking with the down-and-outs. He reminded me very much of Sally Trench, author of the memoir Bury Me In My Boots. Having travelled from Dublin to New York, he becomes a friend of prostitutes, allowing them to urinate in the bathroom in his flat. He is a fascinating portrait of a modern-day St Francis. His scarcely-understanding brother says: "I recalled the myth that I had once heard as a university student - thirty six hidden saints in the world, all of them doing the work of humble men, carpenters, cobblers, shepherds. They bore the sorrows of the earth and they had a line of communication with God, all except one, the hidden saint, who was forgotten." (All Respects to Heaven, I Like It Here)
Another key character is Claire whose privileged world, living in an art-strewn penthouse apartment overlooking Center Park, is destroyed by the death of her only son in Vietnam. The depth of her sorrow hollowed me out. Colum McCann deserved awards just for this gut-wrenching portrayal of grief.
Based on a true story, as they say. On the morning of 7th August 1974 (the day before President Richard Nixon announced that he would resign because of the Watergate scandal), Philippe Petit performed an illegal tightrope walk on a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. This novel tells the linked stories of a number of New Yorkers: mother and daughter prostitutes Tilly and Jazzlyn, Corrigan, a monk-in-the-world, bereaved mother Claire, her husband Judge Solomon and her friend Gloria, and Lara, a drug-taking artist. And the walker himself.
The chronology is non-linear and it took me a long time before I understood that all these individual narratives are linked not only by the tightrope walk but also intimately to one another. But this isn't a book in which the plot is centre-stage. This is much more about a slow exploration of the characters and their relationships with one another, and building this up into a portrait of New York in 1974 in all its beauty and its ugliness.
Corrigan is most important character who doesn't narrate; what we learn of him comes mostly from his brother, Cieran. Following the abandonment of the family by his father, Corrigan becomes a very religious boy who loves to hang out with the homeless, drinking with the down-and-outs. He reminded me very much of Sally Trench, author of the memoir Bury Me In My Boots. Having travelled from Dublin to New York, he becomes a friend of prostitutes, allowing them to urinate in the bathroom in his flat. He is a fascinating portrait of a modern-day St Francis. His scarcely-understanding brother says: "I recalled the myth that I had once heard as a university student - thirty six hidden saints in the world, all of them doing the work of humble men, carpenters, cobblers, shepherds. They bore the sorrows of the earth and they had a line of communication with God, all except one, the hidden saint, who was forgotten." (All Respects to Heaven, I Like It Here)
Another key character is Claire whose privileged world, living in an art-strewn penthouse apartment overlooking Center Park, is destroyed by the death of her only son in Vietnam. The depth of her sorrow hollowed me out. Colum McCann deserved awards just for this gut-wrenching portrayal of grief.
trin's review against another edition
3.0
Recent National Book Award Winner in which the lives of a diverse group of New Yorkers intersect with each other and with Philippe Petit’s 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers. I’m surprised by how strongly this book has stayed with me. McCann’s prose is consistently beautiful and lucid and controlled, but I found the first half of this book a slog. McCann’s main device involves using a different POV character for each chapter, and several of the early sections are spent in the minds of the most self-involved, pretentious ones. The disparate threads don’t connect until the book’s second half, either, so I spent the first 150-or-so pages floundering.
The book rewards your patience, however, with the sense of connection that eventually begins to trickle in, and there are some truly lovely moments, ones that have grown and lingered in my mind. I’m glad I read this—and that I continue to try to read “literary” fiction in general, as this book reminds me that despite its pomposity, the genre does offer its rewards.
The book rewards your patience, however, with the sense of connection that eventually begins to trickle in, and there are some truly lovely moments, ones that have grown and lingered in my mind. I’m glad I read this—and that I continue to try to read “literary” fiction in general, as this book reminds me that despite its pomposity, the genre does offer its rewards.
bog_elfin's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
martiiine's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
david_brent's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Car accident, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Drug abuse, and Grief
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Racial slurs
plattcraig's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my top reads in recent memory. I especially enjoyed McCann's ability to change voices and create a rich and realistic fiction that could make me laugh and cry. I would recommend this book to all comers as I think it's take on history, the world, politics, poverty, religion and 9/11 are flawless and pitch perfect.
natashaball's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: War