City on Fire
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By Garth Risk Hallberg
avg rating
3 reviews
‘The best book we’ve done on the Book Club this year’ – Simon Mayo Radio 2 Book Club
‘A novel of head-snapping ambition and heart-stopping power’ – Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
‘Love The Wire? Then read this’ – GQ
‘Extraordinary…dazzling… a sprawling, generous, warm-hearted epic of 1970s New York’ – Observer‘You’re soon zipping through Hallberg’s vividly realised New York like a child discovering Hogwarts for the first time’ – The Times
‘The kind of exuberant, zeitgeisty novel, like The Bonfire of the Vanities or The Goldfinch, that you’ll either love, hate or pretend to have read’ – Vogue
‘The hype is justified: this is the year’s must-read book’ – Shortlist
NEW YORK. 1977. BE THERE WHEN IT EXPLODES.
It’s New Year’s Eve, 1976, and New York is a city on the edge. As midnight approaches, a blizzard sets in – and amidst the fireworks, an unmistakable sound rings out across Central Park. Gunshots. Two of them. The search for the shooter will bring together a rich cast of New Yorkers. From the reluctant heirs to one of the city’s greatest fortunes, to a couple of Long Island kids drawn to the punk scene downtown. From the newly arrived and enchanted, to those so sick of the city they want to burn it to the ground. All these lives are connected to one another – and to the life that still clings to that body in the park. Whether they know it or not, they are bound up in the same story – a story where history and revolution, love and art, crime and conspiracy are all packed into a single shell, ready to explode. Then, on July 13th, 1977, the lights go out in New York City. TweetReviews
I thought this was a fantastic book, where the city of New York was as crucial a character as any other. I loved all the different voices and lives and how they intertwined. Yes, it could be shorter, but if you're not in a rush (and have strong arms) it's absolutely worth every page.
The New York Black out added to the intrest and the suspense. Unfortunately in places it was far too rambling. The discriptive passages particulary needed editing. It was however Inteligently written.
C.Pearson.
944 pages, a long and laboured read for me. clever use of characters that were all linked in some way to an unsolved New York shooting all based around the backdrop of 1976/1977 New York City. hard work to finish with long and sometimes over-elaborate sentences. This book should have been 300 pages shorter as towards the end I was willing myself to finish it.
