This was an interesting book - it's told from multiple perspectives around the same time period; some intersperse with each other and some don't. It all revolves around a tightrope walker who walked between the twin towers back in the 70's - telling the stories of various people who saw the event happen or heard about it, etc.

Of course there are some major story arcs and some smaller ones, but I felt that because a new person was narrating each of the (fairly long) chapters that it was hard to get too close to any of the characters, for better or worse. The book deals with some fairly heavy subject matter - from the mothers of boys who had died in Vietnam, to ladies "strolling" the streets in the Bronx and a minor roadside scrape that turns fatal.

There were some things I really liked about this book - the writing itself was beautiful and very well done, but the format of the book kept me from loving it. There were parts of the story that I would have loved to have read more about and other parts that I felt were verging on pointless that never connected back to anything - those chapters could have been used to lengthen and develop the major stories. I'm sure this was the author's intention but that doesn't mean I have to like it!