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Title: Dreamland : A Novel by Kevin Baker ISBN: 0-06-093480-8 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.9 (52 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Very ambitious but ultimately disappointing.
Comment: I really wanted to like this book. I'm a glutton for information on old New York and have read a lot about the time period in question: early 20th century New York.
Don't get me wrong. There were some terrific plots evolving throughout this book. I loved the character of Esther, the labor organizer who turns her back on her father, a man who richly deserves her disdain. I enjoyed the love affair between Esther and Kid Twist and the fascinating scenes of Coney Island. I never understood before reading this book that the fascination with the jostling rides was the pleasure it gave men and women who were looking for any excuse to engage in inappropirate behavior. There is much to learn from this book which is exquisitly researched.
But for every enjoyment, there is a corresponding disappointment. The plot involving Freud and Jung was tedious and inconsequential, at least in my eyes. It could easily have been eliminated with no problem. I know the author would argue vociferously with that because he intended the book to be ambitious and filled with ideas and not just some setpiece full of fluff. Fair enough. But for me, his ambition did not pay off.
Sometimes, shorter is better and this book would have benefited with fewer characters. One more note: The author really copped out in the end on the romance between Kid Twist and Esther. Maybe nothing felt right when he was writing the ending but, to delve into every possible historical and emotional detail between these two characters and then to say, "Well, anything could have happened. I'm not sure what did" is one of the biggest copouts I've ever come across in a novel. The reader is very letdown. Given the dark material of this book, it's not like we were expecting a happy ending, just a definitive ending. We were invested .
Rating: 5
Summary: The Good Old days...They Were Terrible!
Comment: But, this book was great. Dreamland kept me in the story,in the era,from beginning to end. Even though it was interrupted by Dr.Sigmund Freud from time-to-time. This is one of those "can't put it down" books. But, you must. To savor the life and times of Esse, Gyp the Blood, Kid Twist, and,lest we forget the greatest storyteller...Trick the Dwarf. Kevin Baker puts these , and a large company of characters, some fictional, and some real onto the seedy canvas which was Turn of the Century New York City. It dosen't matter where you live , this is the kind of book that not only entertains, but teaches us about the living and working conditions during the early part of the 20th Century. Maybe too vividly. Even so...it is a MUST read.
Rating: 4
Summary: Dream a little Dream of....a plot.
Comment: Dreamland is a bit of a paradox for me...I liked it and didn't like it...was intrigued, and bored...so many contradictions, I don't know what to think....
Dreamland starts in a dark, hypnotic swirl of smoke, promising shadows and magic...and quickly becomes something else...something more...real. Kid Twist, immigrant and self-appointed savoir of children running free in the streets rescues a dwarf disguised as a newsboy and a a young man in danger of having his back broken by the dreadful Gyp the Blood, extortionist and pimp, by brandishing a shovel which he uses to knock Gyp out cold, and then runs, knowing he has incurred the wrath of a dangerous and powerful enemy.
His flight takes him into the arms of...Gyp's sister, Esther...a proud seamstress who is torn between duty to her family and a desire to stand up for herself. Her affair with Kid Twist; carried on in the hindquarters of a Tin Elephant hotel, quickly confirms for Esther her burgeoning womanhood, and the fact that it is time for her to start living as such, despite the protests of her father.
Add in an American visit by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, plenty of political intrigue, and numerous glimpses into the world of Coney Island at the turn of the 20th century...this novel is chock full of content.
So why only four starts? Because throughout the 500+ pages..I failed to find a centralized plot line, other than the danger of Esther and Kid Twist's affair being discovered by her brother.
Kevin Baker delivers a very well realized portrait of blue collar people, circus freaks, and Bowery Bullies, but fails to pull all of them together tightly enough to really wow me.
Worth the read to explore the world of Coney Island that will never be again....I hope that future novels of Kevin Baker will have a better realized plot.
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Title: Paradise Alley: A Novel (Today Show Book Club #6) by Kevin Baker ISBN: 0060195827 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: Sometimes You See It Coming : A Novel by Kevin Baker ISBN: 0060535970 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder ISBN: 0452283612 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Low Life : Lures and Snares of Old New York by Luc Sante ISBN: 0679738762 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld by Herbert Asbury, Jorge Luis Borges ISBN: 1560252758 Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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