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A review by obscuredbyclouds
The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
4.0
My mother is a big fan of Dennis Lehane, and because she knows I'm really picky when it comes to crime, she gifted me two of his books that aren't crime. I really liked his short story collection and breezed through it. I took a lot longer with the second book, an epic historical novel.
I read the 700 pages over a period of 1,5 years, despite really liking it. It's easy to pick up again after months of not reading it. You're automatically thrown back into the world, which is one of the best things about this book: the world building is fantastic. Lehane really brings Boston in the late 1910s to life. I think I could have done without the Babe Ruth story. At times I felt like there was too much going on. The Coughlin family, the personal drama, the political, the race and class discussions and the police strike would have been enough for me. I almost feel like there was so much going on, that I would have needed more than 700 pages to get even closer to the story. I kept imagining this great HBO series bringing this book to life, page by page. Maybe this is because Dennis Lehane wrote for my favourite show ever (The Wire), but this read like a really good screenplay to me at times. I mean this in the best way possible, because I'm a sucker for direct writing and lots of dialogue.
There were, some parts, that didn't ring true to life for me. Some dialogue felt stiff and very much like a movie in a bad way, not a good way this time. So I can't give 5 stars. But I definitely want to read the sequel to this!
I read the 700 pages over a period of 1,5 years, despite really liking it. It's easy to pick up again after months of not reading it. You're automatically thrown back into the world, which is one of the best things about this book: the world building is fantastic. Lehane really brings Boston in the late 1910s to life. I think I could have done without the Babe Ruth story. At times I felt like there was too much going on. The Coughlin family, the personal drama, the political, the race and class discussions and the police strike would have been enough for me. I almost feel like there was so much going on, that I would have needed more than 700 pages to get even closer to the story. I kept imagining this great HBO series bringing this book to life, page by page. Maybe this is because Dennis Lehane wrote for my favourite show ever (The Wire), but this read like a really good screenplay to me at times. I mean this in the best way possible, because I'm a sucker for direct writing and lots of dialogue.
There were, some parts, that didn't ring true to life for me. Some dialogue felt stiff and very much like a movie in a bad way, not a good way this time. So I can't give 5 stars. But I definitely want to read the sequel to this!