major_sholto 's review for:

New York by Edward Rutherfurd

DID NOT FINISH

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I gave it my best effort, but after 300 pages, I couldn't take it anymore. I've enjoyed some of Rutherfurd's earlier books, including Russka and London. With New York I don't know whether my tastes have changed or if I am becoming more impatient as I get older. Life is too short to read crappy books. To call this historical fiction is a misnomer—it's more like an historical comic book. I laughed when I read someone else's review of this book and they referenced Forrest Gump and the uncanny parade of famous personages popping up. At one point, when I first thought about giving up, there was an eye-rolling passage where George Washington appears at the gate of the main character's home as a group of firewood-seeking soldiers chop down a...(wait for it)...cherry tree! Come to think of it, why didn't I stop after that? In summary, the writing is pedestrian, the characters are uninspiring and the plot lines are absurd with far too many historical coincidences. I couldn't fathom slogging through another 500 pages. Although I can only imagine Daniel Webster, Horace Greeley, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and John Lennon all make cameo appearances at one time or another. I will never know...and I'm okay with that. Onward and forward to the next book.