Goodreads is a free website for book lovers. Imagine it as a large library that you can wander through and see everyone's bookshelves, their reviews, and their book choices.(www.goodreads.com)
Recently Barbara A, a friend on Goodreads submitted a review about TRANSATLANTIC, Colum McCann's first novel following the breakout success of LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, and now long-listed for the Man Booker Prize.
Its subject is the the complex relationship between the US and Ireland. Through an ambitious structure, McCann shows how history binds the two countries tighter than any politically forced "special relationship", and the power of the past over the present.
Here are Barbara A's comments:
Perhaps not the great masterwork that is "Let the Great World Spin", but I adored it. The language, so pure and so plangent. The history, both headline-making and back story. The great and the everyday. The device of an undelivered, unmarked letter may be a bit clunky, but the section on George Mitchell's statesmanship and grace is so brilliant that, at the end of the day, I simply must say, "Bravo, Mr. McCann. Bravo."
Not sure how I missed this book before, sounds like a magnificent read.
ReplyDeleteDid you read Let the Great World Spin? He's a gifted author,,,This new one is a nominee for the Mann Booker Prize...Definitely worth reading.
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