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The Given Day (The Given Day #1)

by Dennis Lehane

3.92 · rating details · 5,303 ratings · 1,285 reviews

Set in Boston at the end of the First World War, bestselling author Dennis Lehane's extraordinary eighth novel unflinchingly captures the political and social unrest of a nation caught at the crossroads where past meets future. Filled with a cast of richly drawn, unforgettable characters, "The Given Day" tells the story of two families--one black, one white--swe

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Paperback, 704 pages

Published September 15th 2009 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2008)

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Aug 17, 2008

Dave rated it

· review of another edition

Lehane hasn't written a book in five years. The Given Day is his return to fiction.

It is a big book, both in length (700 pages) and scope. Set in late 1918-1919, the book follows two men, one Irish Boston cop Danny Coughlin and a black man from Tulsa Luther Laurence. The book explores race, baseball, the Boston Police Strike, terrorism, love, and a whole mess of other topics.

It is a huge book, and it is beautifully written. I could not put it down.

The major co...more

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Jun 14, 2008

Erik rated it

· review of another edition

Best damn book I've read in years. A bravura performance by a master storyteller. So many things to recommend about this book that I hardly know where to begin. I'm not going to give you a highly literate review with lots of detail. Just read it.

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Feb 09, 2009

Kathleen Gilroy rated it

· review of another edition

I awaited fervently for my turn at the library for this book and was pretty gravely disappointed. It begins with great promise -- the period in time in Boston's history where the end of WWI, the outbreak of the great influenza epidemic, violent terrorism, and the formation of labor unions all intersect to create huge social upheaval. But I just can't finish, despite how piqued my interest is about this period of history. The writing was often wooden; the characterizations are stock and flat; ...more

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Sep 15, 2008

Will rated it

· review of another edition

Lehane is a wonderful writer. Mystic River was his opus magnus, and his Boston hard-boileds are quite good. This novel is his attempt to break out into a larger literary world. Set in the period around World War I, Lehane offers us a sense of the times, and they are not pretty. The two primary characters are Danny Coughlin, a Boston cop in a long tradition, and Luther Laurence, a poor black. There is much in here about the condition of the working man, and it is startling, even to someone who ha...moreLehane is a wonderful writer. Mystic River was his opus magnus, and his Boston hard-boileds are quite good. This novel is his attempt to break out into a larger literary world. Set in the period around World War I, Lehane offers us a sense of the times, and they are not pretty. The two primary characters are Danny Coughlin, a Boston cop in a long tradition, and Luther Laurence, a poor black. There is much in here about the condition of the working man, and it is startling, even to someone who has read quite a bit about the struggle of labor for decent treatment. Things were much worse than I’d imagined. This is a sweeping effort, as Lehane projects himself through a Dickensian lens, covering geography from Boston to Ohio to Tulsa, from Babe Ruth to the governor of Massachusetts to the lowliest criminal element. Lehane has done his homework and offers considerable information about the time. Two incidents stand out. One was the collapse of a vast molasses container that resulted in a flood of the stuff with waves 15 feet high. The other, his burning of Atlanta scene, is how the citizens of Boston react to the police strike. He offers us as well a sense of the political turmoil of the time, the Palmer raids, the fear of Bolshevists, anarchists and immigrants, and how those fears were stoked for political gain. Sound familiar? Lehane is particularly eager not to present his book as being political, and there are many readers who will not see what is right in front of them, but this novel keeps a sharp eye on contemporary events.

This is not Lehane’ best book. That would be Mystic River. But it is an ambitious one. Coming in at slightly over 700 fast-reading pages, it is by far his largest. And he writes about a much wider swath of humanity than he has before. I would say that overall he succeeds in the attempt. This is a very good book, engaging, with believable, well-drawn characters, insight into the complexities of familial relationships, sensitivity to the cultural environment of that age, and with a critical, politically aware eye.

There are several scenes in which Babe Ruth figures. While these scenes are fine, with one being outstanding (the contract negotiation), they could have been omitted without damaging the overall story.

Lehane is an excellent story teller and he plies his trade here quite well. Where the book falls short of the rare air occupied by books like Serena is in his hesitation to incorporate grander imagery into his work. He tells his story, with many intense scenes, many interesting and memorable events, but not the metaphorical, mythological ear of a Ron Rash or a Michael Ondaatje. This keeps the reins on his work. I expect that in future the reins will be loosened and he will produce work in this new Dickensian vein that might be remembered as long as the work of his hero.

This is a terrific book. Read it.
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Oct 06, 2008

Laurie rated it

· review of another edition

This book had so much going for it, I couldn't put it down...at least for the first 400 pages. But then I started to feel the characters were being manipulated from the outside, not operating from internal truths, and there were quite a few anachronistic conversations and unbelievavle relationships between African Americans and whites (given the time period, 1919).

I'd recommend it for the history and the exciting read, but in the end I think it couldn've been stronger. I think, secre...more

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Feb 27, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it

· review of another edition

I frequently experience a letdown after reading the choice new releases that publishers and literary critics push and bookstores parade as the greatest novel of the decade. So I was wary but seduced, anyway, to buy Lehane's book--by Boston, by the Red Sox, by themes of racial injustice and social unrest, by the parallels to contemporary issues, and by Lehane's accomplishment with Mystic River.

I was impressed by Lehane's ambitious genre-crossing. The quality of this book is sufficientl...moreI frequently experience a letdown after reading the choice new releases that publishers and literary critics push and bookstores parade as the greatest novel of the decade. So I was wary but seduced, anyway, to buy Lehane's book--by Boston, by the Red Sox, by themes of racial injustice and social unrest, by the parallels to contemporary issues, and by Lehane's accomplishment with Mystic River.

I was impressed by Lehane's ambitious genre-crossing. The quality of this book is sufficiently steep that the minor flaws are forgivable. This resonant story with memorable, marrow-deep characters did not fade away after the final page.

Amazon provides an exuberant introduction to this novel, so my desire is to share my response to reading it rather than retelling the events. And there are teeming, cataclysmic events that vitalize the story.

Danny Coughlin and Luther Laurence, the two main protagonists, are portrayed with virile consciousness and psychological intensity. I see them, feel them, hear them, smell them-- until I am breathing them. They are nervy and knuckled. They are not merely the broad strokes that you sometimes get in a period piece of sprawling, epic proportions (although there are a few Rocky-esque contours). They are not secondary to advancing the plot. Danny and Luther drive the story as the story also fuels them. And there is enough brio to keep them elastic and passionate. Danny's father, Thomas Coughlin (police captain), is especially interesting. He is a mixture of confident swagger, moral ambiguity, and tragedy--the closest of the characters to a literary one. He is the most unpredictable and enigmatic and keeps you changing your mind about him until the end of the novel.

Although there is some sentimentality to the story and main characters, I did not feel short-changed. Although the author is transparent about his political views, he makes them tactile and combative in detail and luster.

The background and landscape become character, also. It breathes and belches with dust, dirt, steel, mortar, sky, and water. The potent imagery adds dramatic tension and texture to the story without dragging it down. Individuals struggle to harness their environment and reconcile with its impersonal but cruel nature. Lehane intertwines the landscape as extended metaphor and foreshadowing as well as time, place, and temperament. His descriptions give a fierce undercurrent to a subdued atmosphere and tone--there is never just one sustained note (another problem with some period pieces).

Some reviewers cite stilted dialogue with too much exposition. I did not experience that to any significant extent. There were some moments near the beginning of the novel that were a bit awkward, but once the momentum got going and the characters were well-oiled, the story became fluid and powerful. There is a curve in historical fiction where readers adjust to the author's chosen prose style and narrative flow. This is not a perfect novel--some of the architecture of it can strain believability and it waxes sentimental. And yet it is exhilarating, consistently engrossing. It never got musty or flat--it remained plump and invigorating. Its visceral engagement kept it at a 5-star excellence. Like Steinbeck's East of Eden, it is flawed and overflowing and exciting.

This is an intelligent page-turner--also a thriller, a drama, a period piece, and family saga. It is fiery and wet, tempestuous and fierce. And a gift on any given day.(less)

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Oct 11, 2011

Marleen rated it

Shelves: from-library-dilbeek, favorites

The minute I read other reviews of this book, I couldn’t wait to read it. So after work I hurried to the local library. I knew I had to read it. And boy, am I thrilled I did!
This book is a dazzling historical read about what the city of Boston went through in 1918-1919: Spanish Influenza (the grippe), social unrest (anarchists, Bolsheviks...) and the horrible working conditions of so many laborers and workers, but especially of the Boston Police Department. Two young men are pivotal charac...moreThe minute I read other reviews of this book, I couldn’t wait to read it. So after work I hurried to the local library. I knew I had to read it. And boy, am I thrilled I did!
This book is a dazzling historical read about what the city of Boston went through in 1918-1919: Spanish Influenza (the grippe), social unrest (anarchists, Bolsheviks...) and the horrible working conditions of so many laborers and workers, but especially of the Boston Police Department. Two young men are pivotal characters: Danny, a beat cop, rebelling against his strong police captain father, and a young African-American, Luther, who hooks up with the wrong crowd in Tulsa, finds himself in quite a bit of trouble and ends up ‘in hiding” in Boston. I truly enjoyed Luther and Danny’s friendship that forms through the pages. There are around 20 other important characters, all multi-layered and craftily fleshed out, some so obviously mean and vicious (Eddie McKenna, commissioner Curtis, mayor Peeters to only name a few), and then some good-hearted and genuine people like the Giddreaux, and sweet young Joe. It’s sad to say that the scale of bad people tips the good one. Beyond any doubt, Luther was my favorite character; flawed, compassionate, strong, and loyal.

When I start a new book I’m always looking to be fully immersed into a new world or to be swept away into a big new adventure, and certainly, that’s what I experienced here – Dennis Lehane is a good story-teller and writer – imagery of early 20th century metropolitan life are painted in a strong and bold language, and the meditation on the historical and cultural reality that is Boston it is absolutely superb. This is an exceptional book offering us a vivid tale of the struggle and the sacrifice of the generations that precede us in order to give us the good life we have today. My only minor point of criticism would be the length of the book. There’s so much information! And it’s absolutely very interesting. Still, trimming a few scenes here and there would’ve have made the reading experience even more blissful and enrapturing.
Overall a stunning read.

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Jan 30, 2009

Margaret rated it

· review of another edition

After five years’ silence, The Bard of South Boston swings for the fences with this sprawling, brawling entry in the Epic American Novel sweepstakes, and for me he hits a home run. Although it shares the same home turf as his earlier work (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), this novel is a period piece, set just after World War I in an America I hadn’t realized was so similar to the one we’ve been living in for the last few years: grappling with the effects of a devastating war, the exact reasons ...moreAfter five years’ silence, The Bard of South Boston swings for the fences with this sprawling, brawling entry in the Epic American Novel sweepstakes, and for me he hits a home run. Although it shares the same home turf as his earlier work (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone), this novel is a period piece, set just after World War I in an America I hadn’t realized was so similar to the one we’ve been living in for the last few years: grappling with the effects of a devastating war, the exact reasons for which had been forgotten, if indeed they’d ever really been known; terrified by the threat of foreign anarchists bombing public buildings and killing civilians, with the presumed aim of destroying democracy and the American Way Of Life; and mercilessly manipulated by corrupt and greedy politicians exploiting the country’s fear and xenophobia to preserve their own wealth and power. Sound familiar?

In Boston, half the city is struggling uneasily to evolve with the changing times, the other half fighting equally hard to maintain the status quo, and Lehane wraps his arms round it all, juggling three story lines that at first go forward separately, only occasionally kissing past each other like billiard balls, and then eventually sweep together in the rising tide of events. We follow the various journeys of Danny Coughlin, latest in a long line of Boston Irish cops, trying to reconcile family pride and public service with his personal ideals and deep sense of individual morality; African-American Luther Laurence, a gifted baseball player who’ll never be allowed to play the game because of his race, a good man who spends most of the novel trying to fight his way back from one devastating misjudgement; and, appearing at intervals in chapters that stand apart from the rest of the book and yet reflect on its main narrative action, Babe Ruth, an oversized innocent caring only for baseball and made immune somehow by his purity of purpose to the currents of change raging all around him.

The way that Lehane combines fictional characters with non-fictional ones (J Edgar Hoover, Jack Reed, W.E.B. DuBois) and imagined narrative with historical event (the flu epidemic of 1918, the Boston Policemen’s Strike, the Molasses Disaster) is reminiscent of Ragtime. But where Doctorow approaches his story in elegiac mood, as a kind of poet-academic, Lehane’s two-fisted, blood-in-the-eye prose pulses with passion and testosterone – although he can be poetic as well after his own fashion, especially when writing about baseball, as he does in the book’s almost painfully beautiful prologue about an unexpected pick-up game played in a field on a summer afternoon in Ohio. (A soundly hit ball “climbs the sky like it had hands and knees.”) Simply the best novel I’ve read in a long long time, with vivid, vital characters, a rich and immediate sense of place, and a raw, you-are-there energy that makes it a compulsive, compelling and absolutely satisfying read.

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Jul 29, 2008

Mike rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: most everyone....

7/26/08: I'm half-done, and half in love. Oh, it's a realistic love, of warts as well as wonders, but I admit: I'm a sucker for a book so fully invested in exploring the deep rifts and crimes of class and race in America.

Lehane's novel opens with a baseball game, inviting comparisons to DeLillo, and his prior work in detective fiction clued us earlier to his fondness for Hammett and Chandler. But his real roots in this book run through the social realism of the early-twentieth-ce...more7/26/08: I'm half-done, and half in love. Oh, it's a realistic love, of warts as well as wonders, but I admit: I'm a sucker for a book so fully invested in exploring the deep rifts and crimes of class and race in America.

Lehane's novel opens with a baseball game, inviting comparisons to DeLillo, and his prior work in detective fiction clued us earlier to his fondness for Hammett and Chandler. But his real roots in this book run through the social realism of the early-twentieth-century. No postmodern games, no ironic detachment--no, Lehane, like Pietro di Donato and Michael Gold, wears his heart on his sleeve, has fire in his eye, is willing to embrace a cliche or a clumsy bit of exposition to see the story through. If the plotting gets a bit hamfisted, the footwork occasionally a little leaden, the characterization a bit too big-screen, reach back and embrace the pleasures of that genre -- these are tools more than symptoms, and the novel's punches still connect furiously and frequently: it moves and is moving in equal doses.

And now and again, besides his gift for ripping action sequences and sweeping social context, Lehane unleashes some fantastic, over-the-top lines that sweep me up again and again:

--a boxer watches an opponent on his last legs, "notic[ing] how childlike his expression had become, as if he'd just hatched."

--a baseball "soared straight at" a player "and then went lazy in the blue sky, like a duck deciding to swim the backstroke..."

Ah me. Really damn good stuff, so far, and I can't imagine it tanking.

FINISHED REVIEW:
It didn't tank. I think I hit above on most of the elements which worked throughout for me, so I'll just add a couple more thoughts:

--as with the social realist works referenced, there are moments that seem ham-handedly plotted, the kind of ex machina coincidences that make me cringe (literally a page or two after a character is mentioned for the first time, the secret of his existence revealed, he walks out of a storm to interrupt a dinner party). The sincerity, the melodrama of such moments -- the operatic over-the-top "sweep" of many instances will probably drive some readers crazy, and made even this reader slow down, fall out of the rush of plot and ideas and energy.

--But such moments are few, and as often as they put the brakes on, equally often they were bound up in the book's many, many pleasures. This book's just a hair over 700 pages long, yet I flew through it, and there's little empty padding--it's not big out of mere ambition to be big, but out of a real and achieved sense of historical, political, and familial sweep. I enjoyed the hell out of my read, despite those twinges.

I'll close with an admission of my shameless appreciation for the novel's politics, and of its aesthetic decisions: at times I kind of wish it were more like The Wire, more sophisticated in its sweep and detail, more grounded in more far-reaching social examination, more subtle in its depiction of character. But how many people saw that show? And, instead, we get a big, popular, page-turning, and populist fiction which defines the necessity of unions, which details the longstanding historical crimes of poverty and race? Which exploits the many, many associations between the anti-anarchist furor of 1918 and the current state of American politics (while carefully drawing the lines between capital and the politics of fear)? We should have more fiction like this. (less)

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Mar 04, 2009

Runakiko rated it

· review of another edition

I'm from Massachusetts so I expect I would like this book more than people who aren't from this neck of the woods. Lehane does a really good job of taking you back to 1918-19 so as to give you a very good sense of what it was like to live in those times. There is not a lot of action, but you become absorbed in the times as if you were there and could smell the smells, and feel the grimey environment of yesteryear.

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Jun 30, 2008

Sara rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Sara by: I picked it up at Book Expo

A masterful and sprawling epic, I found this novel to be extremely engaging and delicately crafted. Dennis Lehane was one of my favorite authors prior to reading this, so I might be a bit biased, but I believe it's his best work to date and, more importantly, a truly remarkable read. Lehane's breadth of knowledge on the subject (I'm being intentionally cryptic, I don't want to spoil anyone) is impressive, to say the least and you'll be hooked until the very last sentence.

It's a fami...more

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Mar 21, 2009

Tony rated it

· review of another edition

This sweeping historical novel covers a very particular time and place: Boston in the era just after World War I. The Irish are consolidating their power and taking control of the city, the Italian and Slavic immigrants are the new pariahs - and blacks, well, they are scorned by everyone. The great influenza epidemic of 1918, the Boston Police strike of 1919, "Boshevik" workers groups, and the resentment of the old guard Beacon Hill Brahmins toward the Irish ascendency - all combine to...more

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Feb 27, 2009

Tony rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

Lehane, Dennis. THE GIVEN DAY. (2008). *****. Be prepared to spend a few nights with this novel from Lehane. It is a long, long book. When you have finished it, however, you will realize that you have just read Lehane’s best bool. It is the story of an Irish policeman in Boston in the year 1919. It is also the story of a black man on the run from the law who ends up in Boston as a servant to the policeman’s family on Beacon Hill. 1919 was a turbulent year, and Lehane uses all of the his...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Lehane illustrates impressive versatility at crossing genres in this grand historical novel. Still, while the most enthusiastic reviewers compared Given Day to the best by Doctorow and Dreiser, more cited it as a sweeping��but at points horribly overstuffed��novel. Certainly, Lehane did extraordinary research on the xenophobia, racial tensions, and labor unions of the era for his compelling set pieces. However, some of his efforts at recreating that history��such as introducing figures like Emma

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Jan 11, 2009

Banafsheh Serov rated it

· review of another edition

The Given Day is in that class of books my husband affectionately refers to as ‘widow makers’. Once I started reading this book, I was quickly immersed in the story and the rest of the world simply dissolved. The Given Day documents a time of violence and struggle for workers rights which saw the birth of the union movement. Against this historical and political landscape, Lehane writes a powerful and moving family epic with sharp and well researched narrative and surprising cameo use of histori...moreThe Given Day is in that class of books my husband affectionately refers to as ‘widow makers’. Once I started reading this book, I was quickly immersed in the story and the rest of the world simply dissolved. The Given Day documents a time of violence and struggle for workers rights which saw the birth of the union movement. Against this historical and political landscape, Lehane writes a powerful and moving family epic with sharp and well researched narrative and surprising cameo use of historical figures such as Babe Ruth and J Edgar Hoover as pivotal character points.

Set in Boston in 1919, The Given Day follows the turmoil of events following the return of the WWI war veterans. During this time, the Spanish Influenza, escalating terrorism and the talk of prohibition plagued America. Danny Coughlin, a police officer and the eldest son of one of Boston’s legendary police captains, empathizes with the people’s grievances. Living and working in the predominantly Italian neighbourhoods of the North End, he is faced with the daily assault of the political dissent. He sees first hand the effect of poor working conditions have on those around him. In his own profession, Danny’s pay is below the poverty line and despite long shifts and often dangerous conditions; there is no compensation for his colleagues in the event of injury or disability. When he joins the union, he finds fierce opposition from his father who considers those who join unions as ‘Bolshevik’s and anarchists’ and the stage is set for a showdown between the two.

Another central character in the book is Luther Laurence, a coloured talented baseball player, on the run over a nightclub shooting in Oklahoma. Leaving his wife and unborn child, Luther flees to Boston where he finds employment in the Coughlin household. There he befriends Danny and the Coughlin Irish maid Nora. His troubles however are not far behind as he finds himself once again having to settle scores with old and new enemies.

Lehane’s style is impressive by the way the words leap out of the page with great energy and passion, bringing history alive in their punchy deliverance. I found myself savoring this book, not wanting it to end, and feeling a sharp edge of regret once the end finally came.
This book confirmed Lehane as one of my favourite authors. I can't wait to read more of his books.(less)

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Dec 16, 2008

Lori Eskridge rated it

· review of another edition

This is a book that is hard to put down. It is a historical fiction that takes place in 1918 and 1919 mostly in Boston, MA. There is a real person in history in it. Babe Ruth is featured. He played with the Boston Red Sox when they won the world series in 1918. The book deals with class warfare and prejudice. There is an African American man named Luther who first meets Babe Ruth and actually plays baseball with him and other players of the Red Sox. Babe Ruth treated him like an equal w...more

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Nov 20, 2011

Betsy rated it

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Shelves: audiobook, local, historical-fiction

Audiobook. Narrator: Michael Boatman (a good narrator, but his "Boston accent" is driving me up a wall. It's the combination of JFK & the Bronx that non-Bostonians seem to universally come up with for movies and audiobooks. And I know this is picky, but I'd never noticed how often Haverhill shows up in literature until I started listening to audiobooks. That's pronounced Haverull not Haverhill.) Unfortunately I got this from the library and I swear someone played frisbee with it, ...more

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Aug 08, 2011

Keith rated it

· review of another edition

I’m really hesitant to use the tired phrase “Epic Novel” in referring to this book but I can’t think of anything that describes it better. This is a big, brawling dynamo of a story that fills the pages with the vision of a gigantic country exploding onto the world’s stage with all of the blood, pain and drama that the period provided. The story takes place during 1918 and 1919, a time of upheaval throughout the world. World War I is ending; the great flu pandemic is killing millions throughou...moreI’m really hesitant to use the tired phrase “Epic Novel” in referring to this book but I can’t think of anything that describes it better. This is a big, brawling dynamo of a story that fills the pages with the vision of a gigantic country exploding onto the world’s stage with all of the blood, pain and drama that the period provided. The story takes place during 1918 and 1919, a time of upheaval throughout the world. World War I is ending; the great flu pandemic is killing millions throughout the world; Jim Crow laws have become the unwritten---and sometimes written---law of the land and Boston, a city of immigrants long dominated by one singular immigrant group, finds its tenuous hold on its citizens questioned and threatened. Danny Coughlin is the policeman son a Boston police Captain who is well established in politics and the ward system. He has all of the advantages that the working system provides but much to the consternation of his father, he also questions the fairness of the arrangement and by following his own devices he may just rock the boat. Meanwhile, Luther Laurence is a black man working in a munitions plant in Columbus Ohio who is fired because his job is needed for the white soldiers that are beginning to return home. As anyone might predict, the paths of these two men cross but the outcome is surprising, to say the least. I have to mention that one of the most brilliant literary devices I’ve ever read is Lehane’s metaphoric use of Babe Ruth as an image of America itself. Ruth only appears a few times throughout the story but the events he participates in and witness make him the symbol of a raw, new America. An orphaned child, with little education or sophistication, he proves to have a skill far superior to any of his competitors but is amazed and sometimes perplexed at his success. He advances by sheer muscle and determination and although seeing the injustice of many of the events that are whirling around him, is afraid to challenge them. This is a wonderful novel of family, love, courage and life. I was moved by it and highly recommend it. (less)

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Apr 08, 2011

JoAnne Pulcino rated it

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Shelves: adult-fiction, adult-fiction-and-e-book, book-club-selection

Dennis Lehane has written several award winning novels which I have truly enjoyed. He even wrote Mystic River which became a movie and won Academy Awards for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in 2004. This time he has written a fantastic saga about Boston in 1919 during and after World War I. Danny Coughlin is the son of the police chief in the north end, and this is that family's story combined with the story of Luther Laurence, a black man who has killed a crime boss in Tulsa, and is working for the C...more

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Feb 19, 2011

Paul Pessolano rated it

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This story takes place in Boston around 1919 and it tells the story of two families, one white and one black. Lehane gives the reader an insight to what it was like to be of the priviledged class, the poor white class, and the poor black class. These people are caught up in turbulant times that are filled with revoluntionaries, anarchists, immigrants, and ward bosses.

The story is woven around such notables as Babe Ruth, W.E.B. Du Bois, J. Edgar Hoover, and Calvin Coolidge.

...more

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Feb 05, 2011

Paul rated it

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Shelves: fiction

This is a grand read, a sweeping novel covering a fascinating time in American history, with characters you care about to make that history real. Set primarily in Boston near the end of WWI, we experience (through a small but fascinating cast of well-placed characters) the start of Babe Ruth's meteoric career, the de facto Jim Crow era in northern and midwestern American cities, black inner-city crime, the great flu epidemic of 1918, the rise of the American labor movement, the beginnings of wh...more

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Jan 22, 2011

Hilary rated it

· review of another edition

I like Dennis Lehane a lot and can't believe I didn't get around to reading this sooner, though I admit that bypassing it probably had something to do with its length (700 pages) given that I usually go to him for a quick read. This does go surprisingly quickly, however, and is a really interesting account of a period of Boston history about which I knew absolutely nothing: the Boston police strike of 1919. The strike itself happens fairly late in the book, after a lot of very satisfying set-u...more

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Jan 04, 2011

Meegan McCorkle rated it

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I was fascinated by the social issues and history covered in this novel. Set in 1918-1919 Boston, it deals with the rise of anarchist terror, labor unions and the NAACP. Compelling writing about Irish immigrants who have built a life in America, new immigrants trying to establish their life, and the conflicts that resulted as African Americans moved north to start over. Enjoyed the inclusion of real life figures Calvin Coolidge, John Hoover (J. Edgar), John Reed, Eugene O'Neill and Babe Ruth. I...more

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Dec 16, 2010

Tidy_up rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I love Dennis Lehane. I find myself recommending him to strangers in bookshops. I think his other books, especially the Kenzie and Gennaro series, are excellent works of genre fiction. And that is where Lehane excels - working with well-established tropes to create tension and drama. The less rigid the generic parameters he has to work within, the more things seem to thin. Shutter Island, for example, which I would class as a thriller, has specific scenes which still remain highly dramatic, but ...moreI love Dennis Lehane. I find myself recommending him to strangers in bookshops. I think his other books, especially the Kenzie and Gennaro series, are excellent works of genre fiction. And that is where Lehane excels - working with well-established tropes to create tension and drama. The less rigid the generic parameters he has to work within, the more things seem to thin. Shutter Island, for example, which I would class as a thriller, has specific scenes which still remain highly dramatic, but there is less of a, gestalt I think is the word I'm looking for, to hold the drama together. The Given Day continues in this tradition; less generic rules, and more thinning of the whole work. He applies rules to the genre, but seems to miss how they work together to make the whole better than the sum of its parts.

The best way to explain how I feel is compare it to the book I read before this: Blood's A Rover by James Ellroy - in outline, similar: another epic historical fiction, with characters real and imagined (J. Edgar Hoover pops up in both - at the beginning and the end of his career, respectively), one of the interweaving plots involving infiltrating "subversive" groups, and lots of racial hatred. They are, however, in different leagues. Ellroy is a master of this genre, as Lehane is of detective / noir. And coming to this from that left me hungry. And disappointed.

The framing of the book by chapters involving Babe Ruth is strange. It doesn't really seem to fit - he isn't involved in any of the actual story (except for just being in the same place as the main characters) - in fact, most of the time spent with him involves him telling us he's rich and doesn't care what's happening in the rest of the book. All he wants to do is play baseball, drink and get laid. While that's great, it doesn't comment on the story, or help ground it in a time; it feels like padding to help the book seem more epic than it is. It feels like he's trying to follow genre rules (involve famous people, for example), but more to check the box, rather than use it to tell a story. The same can be said for J. Edgar Hoover. He's in two scenes, and doesn't do anything in the story. If fact, we are relied upon to apply our knowledge of how it turns out - he's not a character. He's a cameo. He's there, because that's what you do in these kind of books.

I think my favourite thing about Ellroy's historical books is the interplay between characterization and plot - both are exceptional. Things happen because characters want to do things, or want things to happen. It is explained why characters want to do things; and how things which have happened change the character's wishes or desires, or fears. In his books, events happen (both things which actually happened in real life and in the story setting) because characters act towards that goal - and we know why. In The Given Day, the events are destined to happen, and the characters fit in around that. it feels like Ellroy starts with the character and end with the event; Lehane starts with the event and works backwards, fitting in the characterizations to fit. Danny's turn into supporting the union didn't have any real reasoning behind it (at least not explained to us - it says he "got addicted to meetings" while undercover) - it happened because it had to happen for the story to continue. Indeed, the first time the tells his father about how he feels about them, doesn't ring true, and seems forced.

This, I think, is the main problem I had with the book. The character of Eddie McKenna - Why's he so racist? Such a bully? Because he's a bad guy. This works fine in detective / noir genre fiction, where the bad guy is allowed to be little more than a nasty, cruel macguffin who we want defeated because he does bad things. This works because within that genre the important part is working out whodunnit, and following clues. I am not criticizing this - it's just how it works. When this is transposed to a different genre, with different tropes at play, it feels forced and falls flat. Now, sure, he's a bad guy, but he needed more characterization than to just be Luther's foil. And what's going to happen to him? Why's Luther going to do that? Because it's what happens.

As a result of this, I ended up not really caring about the characters. And it's even worse for the female characters. Nora? Tessa? Even worse, Danny's mother? We don't know ANYTHING about what these characters are thinking. At all. They seem to merely propel the plot (Nora's past is there to tell us about the relationship between her and danny, not about her). Tessa, again, is a bad guy. She isn't a whole character. She facilitates a dramatic scene (Danny carrying her to hospital), becomes ammunition against Danny for his enemies, and helps frame a climax. That's all.

To sum up my ramblings...

I think Dennis Lehane is great when working within certain genres. Within others, I feel he follows the tropes of the genre, but without using them to create a whole, unified work. It doesn't fit together as his detective books did. It seems a bit loose. Characters change (or even exist) to make the plot happen, rather than the evolvement of plot occurring through characters' actions. This made it hard to care about the characters. And if you don't care for the characters, then bad times lie ahead.

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Sep 23, 2010

Elizabeth Taufa rated it

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It took me much longer to get through this book than I thought it would, through no fault of the author’s. I took time out to read “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh for my book club (which I didn’t review here because I went to book club and talked about it). But I feel like I’ve been living with this book and these characters for years.

This is the first book I’ve read by Dennis Lehane, but I have seen (and loved) “Mystic River,” “Gone, Baby, Gone,” and “Shutter Island.” I’...more

It took me much longer to get through this book than I thought it would, through no fault of the author’s. I took time out to read “Sea of Poppies” by Amitav Ghosh for my book club (which I didn’t review here because I went to book club and talked about it). But I feel like I’ve been living with this book and these characters for years.

This is the first book I’ve read by Dennis Lehane, but I have seen (and loved) “Mystic River,” “Gone, Baby, Gone,” and “Shutter Island.” I’m always fascinated by his sense of morality in its purest form vs. morality for the common good. How do you decide what’s right and what’s wrong in a situation that doesn’t belong entirely to you? Do you go after what’s best for you personally or what’s good for a larger group no matter the cost to you? Or do you do what’s best for you without worrying about anyone else? Or do you just search for the venue that will afford the smallest impact? All of these questions run deep in “The Given Day” and one of the things I liked was, after finishing, I still don’t know what’s right, but I’m still asking myself what I would have done in Danny Coughlin’s shoes.

That’s what I think Lehane did well in this book (and maybe the rest of his books, I don’t know, but I will find out). I cared, from the very beginning, about these characters and where their stories were going. I don’t imagine it’s easy to make complete strangers care about a story that you may care a great deal about, but Lehane was able to hook me from the first page and I was able to get lost in this story, which is not an easy feat for me.

I’m lukewarm at best on historical fiction, particularly when it gets too detailed (I’m looking at you, “Manhunt”) but this felt like a story first and the history was a secondary element that made it all the more interesting. I also loved the tie-in with Babe Ruth which is a tribute to Lehane’s creativity.

While by no means great and complicated literature, I really enjoyed myself with this book. It was an easy read – albeit long, though it didn’t feel long – but I always found myself wishing my subway commute were longer while I was reading it, even when I was on my way home from work. Now that’s the mark of good read.
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Jul 20, 2010

Carmen rated it

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Shelves: favorites

I'm a sucker for epics, especially family-dramas that come with "cast of characters" or "family tree" sections, so I was bound to love this 700-page tome.

The Given Day completely immerses you in a pivotal moment in history, giving you the sights, sounds, and tensions of early-1900's Boston, a city struggling to recover from World War I and all of its residual effects. The characters are richly drawn out and their struggles are very human. The historical details we...more

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Jul 01, 2010

Doctor Nurenberg rated it

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A time of rapid, unsettling social and technological change, an increasingly global worldview provoking reactionary prejudice, an unpopular war, bad economy, terrorism and corporate oppression...yep, it's 1919. Lehane's greatest achievement in this book is using these thematic links to make 1919 feel "real" and believable, and although he forces the parallels sometimes, it still works for the most part. While the characters often feel more like archetypes than real people, they are s...more

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Apr 26, 2010

Kathleen rated it

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Fr.Neenan,an institution of warmth,friendship,caring,and literary acumen at Boston college, publishes a reading list from which I chose to read this book. It is set in Boston where I am spending a good deal of time this year as a Granny Nanny for my Granddaughter,Mairead. My history with Boston goes back to 1994 when my daughter moved there to study and continued through her college career, my son's, their spouses,both children's graduate studies, and finally my SIL's Masters' degrees and their ...more

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Jan 10, 2010

Terry rated it

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This is an historic novel mostly set in Boston around the time of World War I with an array of engaging characters (a little like an E.L. Doctorow novel), some fictional and some historic. A lot of the action centers around unionizing the police of Boston and a potential strike -- an important historic event and also a topic (unions) I'm always interested in. Other elements include immigration and race relations (one of the most interesting characters is black, gets involved with the then-emer...more

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Nov 02, 2009

A. Barsell rated it

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I'm a big fan of Lehane, and enjoyed his previous books greatly - and the brief quotes on the book front and back cover touted this novel as being far and away his best, putting him squarely in the big leagues. Imagine my (continuing) disappointment when, as I got further along in the book, it devolved into just another character-family based soap opera of an "historical novel".
While Lehane was crafty enough to choose an era with more social, political, and ethnic uphe...more

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About Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane (born Aug 4th, 1966) is an American author. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Mystic River, which was later made into an Academy Award winning film, also called Mystic River, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (Lehane can be briefly seen waving from a car in the parade scene at the end of the film). The...more

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A Drink Before the War (Kenzie & Gennaro, #1)

Darkness, Take My Hand (Kenzie & Gennaro, #2)

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