A review by erinmully
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

5.0

I picked this book up off a bargain table, and really didn't know anything about it, other than being familiar with Dennis Lehane, from reading Mystic River over the summer. I was immediately drawn into it the night I started reading. Maybe it is because a few of his novels have become movies, but it seems like Lehane writes for the screen. The Given Day is sweeping, grand, and unfolds almost like you are watching the movie. The setting is a perfect storm for such an engaging and dramatic story to unfold - Boston at the end of World War 1, racial and immigrant tensions overflowing, and labor struggles starting to become a serious issue in the United States. This is the kind of book I'm sad over when I finish reading.