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patty_ann28's review against another edition
4.0
e-book off Overdrive from Montgomery public library
mrs_wheatfall's review
3.0
Am about 22% thru this book on Kindle. There are 3 main stories so far - not sure how they interconnect. The story is compelling and I am very addicted to it. It is not a light hearted tale, as so far, we are dealing with addiction and prostitutes and the projects of NY, but very very compelling. Definitely recommend it.
Update: having finished this book it was strange. Not sure of the point. Entertaining I guess. Can't highly recommend bc I didn't come away with any aha moment. Previous 2 books I read we're way better.
Update: having finished this book it was strange. Not sure of the point. Entertaining I guess. Can't highly recommend bc I didn't come away with any aha moment. Previous 2 books I read we're way better.
debhoseywhite's review against another edition
5.0
There are plenty of great stories in the marketplace these days. But only once in a while do I read a book and think: I've just read a brilliant piece of literature by someone destined to make the short list of great American 21st century authors. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann fits that definition. This is literature filled with heartbreaking characters living the best they know how in a tough world. If, like me, you find enjoyment reading authors who are more than just storytellers - who are wordsmiths and know how to craft language the way a good bartender knows how to mix the perfect cocktail - then McCann's literature will satisfy. Set in New York City decades before the World Trade Centers came down, this is the novel McCann wrote to express his feelings about his 9/11 experience.
annarosereads's review against another edition
3.0
[b:Let the Great World Spin|5941033|Let the Great World Spin|Colum McCann|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275935615s/5941033.jpg|6113503] is touted as a novel but it reads at times more like a series of short stories. Like the film Crash many of the stories overlap, entwine, and ricochet off each other. There were some stories that I founding moving and some that I found pointless. What loosely holds the tales together is the frame story of Philippe Petit's walk between the Twin Towers, which felt like a heavy handed metaphor to me. The lives of the people in the various stories are all about balance, some fall and some make it across their metaphorical wires. Juxtaposing these stories of the people struggling through life with a crazy stunt felt like a cheapening of the pain and struggles of the others in the novel.
infogdss29's review against another edition
4.0
Let the Great World Spin is the convergence of multiple stories pivoting around the day that Philippe Petit's performed his tight rope walk between New York's Twin Towers in 1974. The tightrope scene at the beginning, which is lovely, lyrical, and draws the reader in very quickly, is overshadowed by the minutiae of the lives of a variety of characters, including a religious Irishman who lives in a slum and offers he streetwalkers use of his restroom to freshen up between customers.
I skimmed ahead after page 69, got enough of the "everything's connected sense, and found a really long, interesting, stream of consciousness section in the 200s written in the point of view of the classic whore with a heart of gold, all about what it's like to "stroll."
I skimmed ahead after page 69, got enough of the "everything's connected sense, and found a really long, interesting, stream of consciousness section in the 200s written in the point of view of the classic whore with a heart of gold, all about what it's like to "stroll."
heidi_loves_to_read's review against another edition
4.0
Loved it all the way to the very last story...
juliehirt's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing book. The language, the intertwine-ness (best word I could think of) of events, the city - all so vivid and compelling. When I first started reading it - i read aloud to my husband. From the first page I was enthralled with how the writer used different words and a cadence to set the tone. And then into the first story - I connected with the characters and their passions.struggles. And what you thought you knew was never the whole story as the author constantly shows you one side and then flips it so show you another dimension or perspective of the story. Not only does he do this within one story - but he does it between the stories to demonstrate how all of us are connected to one another and to everything that happens in life, on this planet. It's one of those books that you are sad when it is over -because you rushed home each night after work to carve out just 5 or 10 or 30 minutes to read. You even stayed up too late on a 'school night' to read just one more page, one more story.
I highly recommend this to all - and I need to read his other work. I love writers like this - and they are rare - so when they are found - you must shout it from the rooftops!
I highly recommend this to all - and I need to read his other work. I love writers like this - and they are rare - so when they are found - you must shout it from the rooftops!
melissarochelle's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed the idea and the interconnectedness of the characters...but there was just something about it that I didn't love. Thus the 3-star rating.
bethanygladhill's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully threaded together, evocatively written, full of beauty.