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3.32 AVERAGE
3.32 AVERAGE
A fairy tale steam-punk masterpiece, set in snowy New York City in a Belle Epoque that never was. There's a charming thief, a story within a story and a horse that flies. It's a great big hulking huge book and it took forever to read, but only because the writing was so exquisite that I had to stop every other paragraph to gasp.
Did I mention that I liked this book?
ETA: Beware the audiobook, the narrator is not up to it.
Did I mention that I liked this book?
ETA: Beware the audiobook, the narrator is not up to it.
This might just be the most ambitious novel I ever laid my hands on. Reeling with evocative descriptions infused with so much life and vibrancy, I couldn't help but forgive the book its several flaws. A solid 3.9 rating, I don't think I'll forget this book so easily.
DNF
I had high Hope's for this book but conceded defeat halfway through. I normally persevere but couldn't.
I had high Hope's for this book but conceded defeat halfway through. I normally persevere but couldn't.
I'm stealing this review from an Amazon review, because it is a perfect description. All I will add is that I found Helprin to be a great writer but a horrible storyteller.
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Since this doesn't hurt the story and I want to close the window, here is the review that is dead on in my opinion:
The moral and artistic equivalent of a Thomas Kincaide painting. A video game with very high production values, where you're forced to read long passages of turgid travel journaling before you can get to the next level and keep playing.
There's a convenient portable heaven that serves the same function as "and then I woke up and it was all a dream." This object is one of many deus-ex-machinas in a plot that delivers whatever its characters need, exactly at the moment they need it: luck, money, skill at cards, prestigious newspaper jobs, disease-and-fertility-free sex partners, magical flying horses, the vocabulary of a PhD candidate in linguistics, mechanical engineering skills, romantic soulmates -- anything anyone might strive and work and pine for, these characters get, just in time, and then never use again. Helprin does all this knowingly; fate, luck, and the absence of consequence seems to be part of the point. But so what? I can't care about characters who are unchallenged and unchallenging, and who can't be harmed.
Mark Helprin deserves one star for gorgeous confectionary prose. There are acres of pretty passages, some truly lovely metaphors. The prose is at all times aware of its gorgeousness -- it's a shellacked, stage-directed supermodel, scrupulously careful of its costume. I kept wishing something with a soul could break out of there, but a character with real complications would leave muddy shoeprints all over, distracting readers from the so-beautiful descriptions of fantasy landscapes, non-beings and un-things.
What comes through most strongly to me is that this is the work of someone who wants to be known as a Great Prose Writer. Mark Helprin's prose begs to be petted, adored, admired -- and it really is worthy of admiration. But the story isn't. I'm left wondering what the story is even about. "Love"? "Redemption"? How can those concepts resonate in the absence of characters vulnerable enough to embody them? Unlike some of the truly great prose stylists (Nabokov, Martin Amis), Mark Helprin isn't challenging. At all. Because his characters are automatons; they do as they're told, patiently servicing once cliche after another in a plot that seems to exist only to convey Mark Helprin's prose.
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Since this doesn't hurt the story and I want to close the window, here is the review that is dead on in my opinion:
The moral and artistic equivalent of a Thomas Kincaide painting. A video game with very high production values, where you're forced to read long passages of turgid travel journaling before you can get to the next level and keep playing.
There's a convenient portable heaven that serves the same function as "and then I woke up and it was all a dream." This object is one of many deus-ex-machinas in a plot that delivers whatever its characters need, exactly at the moment they need it: luck, money, skill at cards, prestigious newspaper jobs, disease-and-fertility-free sex partners, magical flying horses, the vocabulary of a PhD candidate in linguistics, mechanical engineering skills, romantic soulmates -- anything anyone might strive and work and pine for, these characters get, just in time, and then never use again. Helprin does all this knowingly; fate, luck, and the absence of consequence seems to be part of the point. But so what? I can't care about characters who are unchallenged and unchallenging, and who can't be harmed.
Mark Helprin deserves one star for gorgeous confectionary prose. There are acres of pretty passages, some truly lovely metaphors. The prose is at all times aware of its gorgeousness -- it's a shellacked, stage-directed supermodel, scrupulously careful of its costume. I kept wishing something with a soul could break out of there, but a character with real complications would leave muddy shoeprints all over, distracting readers from the so-beautiful descriptions of fantasy landscapes, non-beings and un-things.
What comes through most strongly to me is that this is the work of someone who wants to be known as a Great Prose Writer. Mark Helprin's prose begs to be petted, adored, admired -- and it really is worthy of admiration. But the story isn't. I'm left wondering what the story is even about. "Love"? "Redemption"? How can those concepts resonate in the absence of characters vulnerable enough to embody them? Unlike some of the truly great prose stylists (Nabokov, Martin Amis), Mark Helprin isn't challenging. At all. Because his characters are automatons; they do as they're told, patiently servicing once cliche after another in a plot that seems to exist only to convey Mark Helprin's prose.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Curious story with detailed settings throughout history. A bit wordy at times.
I only read the first couple of chapters. I found it hard to get into.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated