Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 09, 2008

Mary rated it:

This book was not worth the 800+ pages and God knows how many hours I spent on reading it (I'm a masochist who has to finish a book, even if it's not enjoyable reading it). Anderson clearly hopes this is at the level of "Ragtime" or even "The Alienist," but it's neither as well written or entertaining to read as either of those books. At best it's like fan fiction written for history buffs, with his Mary Sue lead character bumping into the notable figures of that era. Also ma More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2007

Nori rated it:

Historical fiction is compelling to me, especially the more detail-oriented ones. This one is nowhere near the scope or success of a Neal Stephenson, but some would say that's a good thing. Still, though, it's a compelling read, thick with plot, taking place during 1848-49 between France, London, New York, across the nascent U.S., and to California. It's fascinating to see a meticulous author's take on what is, as the title of the book suggests, the heyday of many things: America, revolutions More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it

Kurt Andersen is best known for his previous novel (the irreverent, postmillennial Turn of the Century), his role as cofounder and editor of the now-defunct Spy magazine, and as host of public radio's Studio 360. Heyday, Andersen's second novel, recalls the work of Gore Vidal, T. C. Boyle, Thomas Mallon, and even Charles Dickens. Critics agree that while the author's vision is grand and his execution ambitious, Knowles's adventures too often get bogged down in the minutiae of the period at the e

More...

0 comments like

Jan 11, 2011

Nancy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jul 15, 2010

ICPL added it

Heyday, one of the best historical novels of the year, has at least three things going for it.

First, strong characters. Ben Knowles, having witnessed violence at the barricades in Paris, is swept up with revolutionary ideals. Only by emigrating to America can he live those ideals. Once in New York, he’s immediately enchanted by Polly Lucking, a freethinking actress, tho she discreetly puts in one night a week at a brothel. Her brother Duff fought in the Mexican War, bearing physical More...

0 comments like

Jul 06, 2009

Marley rated it:

I found Heyday remandered at Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago. I read the 600+ pages in 2 1/2 days and loved it. It could have gone on.

The book takes place in that most revolutionary year, 1848, when the great houses of Europe shook and trembled, and in some cases fell--at least for awhile. And in the US gold was discovered. The revolutionary year frames the narrative that takes our heroes from Paris to New York to the Utopian communes of the midwest to San Fransisco and the gol More...

0 comments like

Jul 12, 2007

ccccurt rated it:

It's everything I want from a novel: historical, sprawling, long, and very detailed. I love that Andersen goes out of his way to make note of historical details such as names of cocktails, menu items, technology, current events. Some people might think it's cheesy, but I love it. Context is cooler than character or plot.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Rowena rated it:

A great period novel based in 1840's Paris, London, New York City and California. The story tells of the adventures of 4 people, thrown together by circumstance, but bound by their love of freedom. From the French Revolution to the California Gold Rush, Heyday covers some of the most significant events that formulated the United States' beginnings.

I'm always one for a good, swashbuckling historical read and this novel didn't fail. It was so clearly well researched that style of dres More...

0 comments like

Feb 06, 2012

Frank rated it:

I thought this was a super epic that detailed some of the momentous events both in Europe and America from 1848-1850. It ranged from the revolution in Paris in 1848 to the California gold rush. It follows the life of Ben Knowles as he moves from Europe to America, falls in love, and journeys to the far west along with a few flawed friends he meets in New York. Along the way they encounter various religious groups living in “utopias” in the Midwest as well as the Mormons emigrating from Missouri More...

0 comments like

Aug 03, 2009

Marvin rated it:

This has the feel of an epic novel, though it only manages to span about a year-and-a-half in its 600 pages. It is a momentous year-and-a-half, though--1848-49--and it spans the Western world from the Continental revolutions of 1848 & their supression to the England of Charles Darwin, to New York City, to the utopian colonies on the midwestern frontier, to the California Gold Rush, with references to the 1846 war with Mexico. It's a page-turner of an adventure story, but it's also a novel of ide More...

0 comments like

Mar 22, 2010

April rated it:

Really not worth the time. I usually have this compulsion to finish any book I start, but I just couldn't make myself do it this time. With roughly 200 pages left to go, I found myself looking for any excuse not to pick it up. It's not so much that there's anything wrong with the writing, the story, or even the characters (although I did find the lead female character appallingly annoying), it's just that nothing happens. Four friends trek across the country and nothing happens! How are we More...

0 comments like

Nov 06, 2011

Ben rated it:

(4 ½ stars) Creation and destruction may be a recurring theme in Heyday, but the quest for personal freedom is what predominantly motivates the characters to detach from their past, and sometimes present, circumstances and pursue their dreams.

An almost tangible sense of anticipation and excitement buzzes throughout the book. The action takes place in the late 1840s, mostly in the young, ambitious, exuberant United States. Nothing about culture, society, or politics in America se More...

0 comments like

May 26, 2009

Mrine rated it:

Have you ever slogged through 600+ pages of a novel hoping that it might improve? Do you feel illogically driven to finish a book? We have a disease, you and I, possibly obsessive compulsive disorder, and as a fellow sufferer I mercifully suggest that you avoid this novel. The trouble is, the writing is not so bad as to drive a casual summer reader away. Maybe you find the protagonist, Ben Knowles, insufferably vanilla, or you can't see the appeal of his love interest Polly, but characters l More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2009

Beth Anne rated it:

i enjoyed reading this book. it was a great romp through the mid-nineteenth century....spanning across the US...from an up and coming NYC, to a newly established San Francisco during the Gold Rush, and various crazy "utopian" communities in between.

each and every character was well thought out, and had extremely real and relatable dreams, heartaches, and backgrounds. the love story between poppy and ben was second only to the wild adventures they both experienced in orde More...

3 comments like

Jun 22, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

It is supposed to convey the history of the period between 1845 - 1850.I didn't like any of the characters. The setting was London, Paris, New York and San Francisco with some mid-west thrown in. It took quite a while to get into and was hard to follow at first. I can't believe it was a bestseller. I am sure people bought it becaues of the reviews, but I would like to know how many actually read the entire thing.

I would not have except that I am so stubborn about finishing a boo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 26, 2011

Anya rated it:

As someone who majored in American Studies with an emphasis on manifest destiny and has a penchant for historical fiction, this book was like catnip for me. I had it drilled into me that 1848 was a Very Big Year in the world--the revolutions in Europe, the Mexican-American War, the Irish potato famine, the Oregon Trail, the start of the Gold Rush in California--and this book only emphasized that further. There's even a shout-out to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention.

While it becomes a li More...

0 comments like

Nov 16, 2009

Bibliophile rated it:

Kurt Andersen’s Heyday is part of a subgenre that I love – a giant “Victorian” novel (with slightly more independent women and much more sex and swearing than an actual Victoria novel – “Deadwood” Lite if you will.) A good third or so of the novel is set in New York in 1848-1849, and that was my favorite part, because it was fascinating to read about what New York was like at that period. (I do think, though, if you’re not as fascinated by Olde New Yorke as I am, this section might strike you More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Daniel rated it:

Chockfull of random tidbits of historical information are weaved into the plot, so it's interesting if you're into that sort of thing. But there's something about the language of this book that is not compelling. It's quite verbose and you have to reach for your dictionary every other paragraph, and it's frustratingly not very well-written on top of that. I had to try hard to care about these characters and most of the situations. The sheer amount of time I spent with the book ensured that I More...

0 comments like

Mar 26, 2008

Alspilsbury rated it:

In 1848 France is in Revolution and America is in transition. An Englishman named Benjamin Knowles is witness to both. Believing he has witnessed the death of his friend at the hand of gendarmes in the first night of the French Revolution, Knowles returns to England, only to feel like a misplaced person.

Catching the first ship to America, he eventually meets up with Skaggs, a "daguerreotypist" and journalist, Polly Lucking, a fetching actress and part-time prostitute, and h More...

0 comments like

Feb 21, 2008

JenKazoo rated it:

This book was at the top of my TBR list and once I finished the book I was not dissapointed. The story and characters were captivating all the way through and I actually learned quite a bit along the way. The author really gives you a feel for American life in the 1800's. As I read the book I would google images of things that were referred to in the book and events that took place to understand a little more about the references that were made. While America is the primary setting of the nove More...

0 comments like

Feb 15, 2008

Marjorie rated it:

I wanted to read something really good, and I'd found this book on a best-of-2007 list. I kinda wish I remembered which list it was, so that I could proceed to mistrust that critic's judgment. The writing here isn't bad, and the characters are plausible. I was really into things for a one or two hundred pages. But there's not a whole lot that's remarkably good about it.

I think the writing just needed to be better to justify the scale of this book. Characters keep using words that so More...

0 comments like

Apr 10, 2008

planetkimi rated it:

Andersen's characterization of the cast of Heyday is enviable. It's amazing how he constructs such realistic characters from deftly revealed snippets of their pasts without interrupting the flow of the present-time narration.

Interestingly, he fits concerns we think of as "modern" seamlessly into the context of American life 150 years ago, especially the relationship between time and communication across distances, aided by technology.

The last quarter of the More...

0 comments like

Jan 21, 2008

Len rated it:

Despite the promise of a cross-country adventure and an eventual landing in California at the time of the Gold Rush, the clear strength of this book is its depiction of the City of New York at an explosive time in American political, cultural and military history. After the Mexican War was won, Americans (including immigrants who had arrived merely 10 minutes before) experienced the thrills of "modern" life. They drank, visited Barnum's, read "penny" newspapers, gawked at m More...

0 comments like

Aug 09, 2008

Tracy rated it:

From the first line, the sights, sounds and smells of 1848 New York jump off the page. I've never read anything quite like this. Anderson has clearly researched every little detail of life in 1848 New York, but also London, Paris, San Francisco and other locations, pulling together the utopian movement, the Gold Rush, the rise of Marxism, and much more, giving the reader a chance to consider them side by side, right down to what songs and performances were popular. The day-to-day details were pa More...

0 comments like

Aug 07, 2007

jillian rated it:

I thought this book was wonderful (if a bit cliched in places). In 1848, the West is changing, from the riots in Paris that lead to a dozen revolutions across Europe, to the San Francisco Gold Rush. And Andersen manages to capture it all, from the February Revolution in Paris, to the American frontier. In it, we follow Ben Knowles as he travels from France back to his native England, and then to New York. Ben has always dreamed of being an American, and we see New York through his eyes, in a More...

0 comments like

Aug 13, 2008

Karen rated it:

The novel is set in 1848 and aims to capture the zeitgeist of the era, which it seems to do well. Following several characters throughout the course of 1848 and into 1849, the reader is taken from revolutions in Europe to the ever Westward expanding United States right through to California during the Gold Rush.
Anderson can be an interesting writer at times but seems like one of those people who probably likes the sound of his own voice too much. He goes on and on for ages telling details More...

0 comments like

Mar 11, 2010

Jan rated it:

It took me awhile to really get into this book (although, admittedly, my reading has been "on hold" for a while...). It didn't grab me like a lot of "historical" type books do. There was a lot more fiction than history. The characters lacked vibrance. The story jumped around a lot. And, in the end, it was predictable. There were a few interesting story lines, but, kind of a yawn overall. At least I stuck with this 600+ page tome, that says something for it. But, I'm ready to

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2008

Jessica rated it:

With everything the author tried to discuss in this book, it HAD to be this long! The French Revolution, the Mexico-American War, the bustling, growing and slightly corrupt beginnings of New York City, the California Gold Rush, love, lust, prostitution, tormented thoughts in a do-gooder's body...it just couldn't have been covered in a shorter book.
That being said, it really could have been a little shorter. The fact that the main characters were able to traipse all over the continent witho More...

0 comments like

Feb 11, 2012

Edward rated it:

It's been a while since I've read a novel, and I enjoyed this one. It's set in the late 1840s, mostly in New York City and Gold Rush California, with shorter sections in Paris, London, and the characters' various routes to California. Kurt Andersen has a good deal of research with details making the mid-19th century more immediate - technology, employment, politics, abolitionism vs. pro-slavery, etc. Although over 600 pages, the 75 chapters go quickly.

0 comments like

Mar 10, 2008

Ross rated it:

I do not ordinarily like historical fiction. I would much rather read a book from the 1840s than a modern book that takes place in the 1840s, but a local visit by the author brought this book to my attention.

As of today, I have been reading this book for approximately a month and half, and all I can say is, "Dear God, please make this book end soon." I have about 30 pages left, and yeah, I'm one of those psychos who has to finish a book. This condition is bad enough to p More...

1 comment like