Heyday: A Novel
by Kurt Andersen
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 472)
Read in March, 2007
Let me begin by saying that after I had read the first chapter or so, I thought "oh no! Is this what all of the noise about this book is about?" and nearly, yes, nearly put it down. But I was all alone and already curled up under the covers and didn't feel like getting up for another book, so I kept on. And I kept on, and I kept on, and soon it was 3 a.m and I was on page 489, with an alarm clock set to go off at 7 a.m. so I made myself put the book down & go to sleep. This morning...more
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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
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Read in July, 2007
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
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Read in February, 2008
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 sou...more
I think the writing just needed to be better to justify the scale of this book. Characters keep using words that sou...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in November, 2007
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
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Read in January, 2008
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
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Read in February, 2008
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 her broth...more
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 her broth...more
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Read in April, 2008
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
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Read in April, 2008
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 book drag...more
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 book drag...more
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Read in March, 2008
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
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
People who want to learn about history, but are too lazy to read an actual history book.
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 put on on...more
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 put on on...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
the where's waldo crowd
so here's the deal: kurt andersen has the idea of how a picaresque goes, and he has read ragtime and thought it was way awesome how real people would periodically show up. but that he is familiar with how these books and styles work doesn't mean he can write one of his own. it became almost a joke, as I was working through it. every few minutes I'd shout out to my folks (we were traveling together while I read this) "proctor and gamble!" or "walt whitman!" or, hell,...more
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Read in March, 2007
As a history nerd, I started off truly enjoying this fictional odyssey across late 19th century America, where the protagonists bump and interact with historical figures such as Scott Joplin and Abraham Lincoln. But when the narrative is twisted to facilitate coincidences and the good old standby deux es machina is brought in as closer, you sort of wished you had a porcelain spittoon for the bile foaming at the back of your throat.
To rant my grievances would be Spoiler City, but nothing is a...more
To rant my grievances would be Spoiler City, but nothing is a...more
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07/10/08
TITLE/AUTHOR: HEYDAY by Kurt Anderson
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Fiction/620 pgs/2007
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone
TIME/PLACE: 1848/New York
CHARACTERS: Benjamin Knowles/English aristocrat; Timothy Skaggs/muckraking journalist; Duff Lucking/Fireman; Polly Lucking/actress
FIRST LINES: Benjamin Knowles wobbled into the New World.
COMMENTS: rec from bookcrossing ring/ray. This seemed thoroughly researched w/ lots of interesting bits of information. The tim...more
TITLE/AUTHOR: HEYDAY by Kurt Anderson
RATING: 4.5/B+
GENRE/PUB DATE/# OF PGS: Fiction/620 pgs/2007
SERIES/STAND ALONE: Stand Alone
TIME/PLACE: 1848/New York
CHARACTERS: Benjamin Knowles/English aristocrat; Timothy Skaggs/muckraking journalist; Duff Lucking/Fireman; Polly Lucking/actress
FIRST LINES: Benjamin Knowles wobbled into the New World.
COMMENTS: rec from bookcrossing ring/ray. This seemed thoroughly researched w/ lots of interesting bits of information. The tim...more
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Read in June, 2007
hmm. this was surprisingly good by the end, given my initial scorning read of the first chapters. i thought it was annoyingly obvious that andersen sees himself as skaggs and therefore skaggs represents the epitome of ny, with all the cynicism and wit and attractiveness that true ny-ers Must Have. i thought he put way too much of a present day (his view) ny personality into the characters and the book. so with all that, i thought the book would suck.
but it was really well written -- of cou...more
but it was really well written -- of cou...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
historians who dream of being novelists
This book is basically a cautionary tale for any historian who wants to write a novel. The author COULD NOT RESIST jampacking in every damn notable figure and event from 1848. Somehow the main character had run-ins with every last one of them and visited every part of the country and managed to be at the revolutions in France AND the California gold rush. It was just a bit too much. I loved all the history in-jokes, of course, but really they were no substitute for a good plot and real chara...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Sara by:
Perhaps that was the problem. No one. recommends it for: bored people having an interest in the "Heydey" of American and European society - mid-1800's.
I spent over a month trudging through this one because I'm one of the tortured souls who MUST see a book through to its final word.
While certain chapters, events and historical nuggets (no pun intended) peppered throughout captured my interest at times, much of the writing I found to be lifeless and uninteresting. At several points, I managed to become distracted from the reading by my own thoughts while scanning the pages, absorbing nothing on the pages whatsoever.
At the end, however...more
While certain chapters, events and historical nuggets (no pun intended) peppered throughout captured my interest at times, much of the writing I found to be lifeless and uninteresting. At several points, I managed to become distracted from the reading by my own thoughts while scanning the pages, absorbing nothing on the pages whatsoever.
At the end, however...more
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Read in February, 2008
It took me AGES to read this book. It is not a difficult or overly long read, I just spent the last several months reading magazines or doing crossword puzzles instead of reading novels. Overall, it's a pretty good read. It frustrated and/or annoyed me several times, but in the end I have a bit of that finished-book-feeling of missing the characters a little. The most annoying thing is all of the mid-1800s name dropping! Somehow the characters know or at least cross paths with every famous perso...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommended to Steve by:
saw it in a bookstorerecommends it for: history readers
This big novel will satisfy those who are interested in Western culture as it existed in 1848, in the wake of French revolutions, before the US Civil War, at the first ripples of the California gold rush.
The author takes us from Paris to New York City to experimental communes in Ohio to San Francisco. The main characters are young, flawed, restless, and trying to escape from (or hide from) their pasts.
I very much enjoyed this mid-19th-century romp, and if you spend much time thinking a...more
The author takes us from Paris to New York City to experimental communes in Ohio to San Francisco. The main characters are young, flawed, restless, and trying to escape from (or hide from) their pasts.
I very much enjoyed this mid-19th-century romp, and if you spend much time thinking a...more
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Read in June, 2007
This novel follows an emigre from London and the characters he meets thru mid 19th century New York City. I wish I'd read Gangs of New York more recently, as I think I'd have gotten more out of the novel with the historical background more fresh in my mind.
There's a couple of semi-anachronistic sensibilities (or maybe it's just me) and a sprinkling of encounters/references to famous folks of the time. Most of the loose ends are wrapped up & in general, I was OK with the way it ended.
Rec...more
There's a couple of semi-anachronistic sensibilities (or maybe it's just me) and a sprinkling of encounters/references to famous folks of the time. Most of the loose ends are wrapped up & in general, I was OK with the way it ended.
Rec...more
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