Review: Let the Great World Spin

There are books that tell a great story then there are book that function like a literary painting. They take a single snapshot of an event then paint with words with the event and the events around them. The effect if done correctly is beautiful. This is what Let the Great world spin is like.

On a  late summer morning in 1974 people on the island of Manhattan look up and saw a tightrope walker between the towers.

What transpires below is average people living average lives all converge as the author paints a portrait of each one.

They are from all walks of life. Hookers trying to make a living and a socialite trying to get over the death of her son in the war. Such disparate lives are all somehow linked to a tightrope walker.

I think McCann has done a fabulous job of taking one event and shown how a bunch of seemingly random life's are really at its heart interconnected. We often fail to think of the beauty that is inherent in these interconnected lives. If we stopped to think that one action can have so much negative effect then maybe we would be more aware in choosing our actions.

A problem can occur if a reader attempts to read this linearly. This is a novel that takes the reader around and around and up and down there is no straight line from point A to point B.  The beauty and the story is found in the circular ways and the what appears to be random interactions but really is not.

It is best to approach this work with as a literary painting rather than a novel with a nice arc in the plotline and a resolution at the end. In this novel there seems to be no beginning and end as the chapters weave in and out of charterers offering snapshots of what is happening right then,

Sunday Salon

Good Afternoon everyone! I have not been able to get a a lot of reading done this week because there has been a lot happening in life.For one thing my friend is moving so I helped or pretended to help while I considered which books to steal borrow. I cant help it it is a compulsion if there are book I think I have a hint of reading I must have it.This was a close friend so they was all to aware that the books was not exactly safe around me and caught me putting one in to my purse but they thought it was funny and let me borrow it.

I heard about the book the Artist Way on blogs and decided to check it out for myself. I have been making my way through the book. It is supposed to help you become unblocked as a writer and the two biggest things are to do morning pages which is three pages of writing anything that comes to mind. I have heard that three pages equal 750 words. I have been using Penzu (where I have a pro account) to do this. At first I couldn’t think of anything to say really but it is becoming easier and easier. The second big thing that they recommend is an Artist Date. I have never done one of those but it makes sense. Pick a time each week and do something u have always wanted to do that does not involve your art and let yourself be filled up with images. I am still trying to think of things to do.

Today I am going to finish reading The Artist Way then start on Dreadnought witch is a continuation of my exploration of the steam punk genre.

What are you reading for today?