New York: The Novel
by Edward Rutherfurd
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Book Summary Information
Author: Edward RutherfurdEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-10
ISBN: 0385521383
Number of pages: 880
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of New York: The Novel
Book Review: "This was politics and reality was not the point."
Summary: 4 Stars
New York is ambitious, but then all of Rutherfurd's novels are broad in scope, the history of a place through time via the intimate details of individual lives. As in Sarum, London, The Princes of Ireland, Rutherfurd paints with a broad brush, but imbues his stories with the minutiae of details, in this case a tiny Indian village on Mannahata invaded by Dutch settlers with ambitions for great fortunes. Colonization, taxation, the arrogance of the conqueror- all meet with rebellion in the birth of a new country and the city at its very heart. The challenge, of course, is to capture three hundred and fifty years of New York's history in one great story. Just as in his other novels, the author again uses a number of families, the Van Dyck's, Masters', O'Donnell's, Keller's, etc., representing a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds, German, Irish, English, Dutch, Jewish, even the descendants of the slave, Quash, eventually the Rivers family. Rich and poor, black, white, native and immigrant, friends, neighbors and sometimes adversaries, these families become the changing face of New York.
Storytelling and research merge beautifully as, decade by decade, we encounter those who seek opportunity, suffer tragedy, yearn for better lives, harbor visions for the future- and make foolish, human mistakes. Rutherfurd has a talent for capturing the ordinary, the threads of family from one generation to the next as they marry, form political organizations, worship, bear children. New York teems with every kind of individual and the vices that accompany progress, from the kind to the greedy, the loyal to the opportunistic. More difficult perhaps is the choice of events as the great city evolves, the historical figures that define an era, from George Washington to W. Pierpoint Morgan to Babe Ruth, from the traders on the Hudson River to the politics of Tammany Hall, from the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire to the blizzard of 1888, Five Points to Ellis Island, events that shape the direction of the city, political, financial and personal.
It is the particular families, the Masters', Van Dyck's, the Rivers', who personify the evolution of this dynamic city, the individual and historic details that provide this story with a breadth of human experience. I particularly enjoyed the early years, the city expanding from the ambitions and conflicts of colonization. From New Amsterdam and the Dutch to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the roaring twenties, World War II, power politics, immigration... all through that terrible September day in 2001. It is easy to fill in the map of time as Rutherfurd's characters march across the landscape of years, the humble beginnings of a few families writ large as the world becomes more complicated. History comes to life through people and events. Just as I learned to appreciate the struggles in Ireland, so do I recognize the essence of New York, one era at a time, random events made more relevant- and memorable- from wars to personal dramas, politics and family dynamics, loves and betrayals, trials, challenges and spirit of this city. Luan Gaines/2009.
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