stephanie_di's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
juliaem's review against another edition
4.0
Got this from my mom - the verdict from her and one of her book clubs was a hearty thumbs up, and I agree! I will say that she and I are both predisposed to have liked it. The context of the novel is union activism in Spokane in the early 20th century: she's a labor lawyer, and I just relocated from there. Walter is very adept at blending facts about that history and geography with his fiction, and the details (some of which I knew, some of which I didn't) really resonated with my love-hate relationship with the locale (e.g., small details like the names of bars that have been reincarnated in recent years, a building I used to work in makes a cameo appearance, and how strange it is that the courthouse is across the river from other important municipal buildings, big chunks of history like George Wright's evil genocide of Spokane and local Indigenous people and their horses [a road named after him only got renamed in 2020 to honor Whist-alks, a Spokane woman who contributed to the resistance to his violent oppression], and things in between, like how a part of the country that created Taft, the wickedest city in all of America for a few short years before burning up in a literal ball of flames, shaped the region's culture [truly, the history of Taft is a wild ride I recommend]). Anyway! Enough about my feelings about the inland northwest. Walter is quoted in an interview as intentionally using the economic and social strife of this time as a commentary on our own, and to his credit, those echoes are loud and clear without feeling didactic. The threads from multiple narrators were skillfully interwoven, I appreciated that the characters were just people without either pure saints or sinners, and this is the sort of book that I read always feeling driven to know how the story ended.
nikkinmichaels's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
namaenani's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just...really depressing.
I understand that's part of the point, and the tone of the era and the labor movement.
It was just...so depressing.
Voice actors for the audiobook all did a good job though.
I understand that's part of the point, and the tone of the era and the labor movement.
It was just...so depressing.
Voice actors for the audiobook all did a good job though.
mytbrisendless's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
aestheticbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
thain's review against another edition
5.0
Sprawling saga of the working class set in Spokane during the 1909 IWW free speech fight. The story is told by a large cast of characters, both real and fictional, but is centered on a relatable young man caught up in events while following his revered older brother. A very fine work of realistic historical fiction.
halfcentreader's review
4.0
1909. Labor unions and itinerant workers. Corruption, greed and murder. I learned some history through this fictional account which is one of my favorite ways to learn things. And it quotes/references Tolstoy too. (Bonus!) Next to Amor Towles, Jess Walter is by far one of the best novelists of our time.