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A review by grassyplato
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
5.0
If you enjoyed watching HBO's The Gilded Age, delving into The Alienist will resonate with you. The show's focus on affluent families such as the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Asters, and the historical rivalry between The Academy and The Metropolitan for opera box supremacy, serves to emphasize the distinct contrast presented in The Alienist, which also explores the same era. This contrast illustrates the extravagance and madness of the wealthy, echoing perfectly a Chinese poem: "Crimson gates reek with meat and ale, while on the streets are bones of the frozen dead. (朱門酒肉臭，路有凍死骨)"
In The Gilded Age, as robber barons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, and Charles Michael Schwab hosted lavish social gatherings in their magnificent mansions on Upper 5th Ave in Manhattan, some poor underage boys from impoverished immigrant neighborhoods in the Lower East Side were forced into male prostitution to survive, leading to horrifying incidents and gruesome violence.
While The Alienist pays close attention to the immense wealth gap, rampant political corruption, and societal apathy characteristic of The Gilded Age, the ending might feel sudden and lacking in hints and red herrings, but overall, it's a great read. Highly recommended, for sure!
In The Gilded Age, as robber barons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan, and Charles Michael Schwab hosted lavish social gatherings in their magnificent mansions on Upper 5th Ave in Manhattan, some poor underage boys from impoverished immigrant neighborhoods in the Lower East Side were forced into male prostitution to survive, leading to horrifying incidents and gruesome violence.
While The Alienist pays close attention to the immense wealth gap, rampant political corruption, and societal apathy characteristic of The Gilded Age, the ending might feel sudden and lacking in hints and red herrings, but overall, it's a great read. Highly recommended, for sure!