A review by p_t_b
The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

4.0

jess walter can write any book he wants, given his skill in getting inside scenes and imaginary people, so he went and wrote a bildungsroman about a teenage wobbly in 1910 spokane (you can tell that he LOVES in spokane in that family way - as the protagonist later says of his goldwater-voting son, you can love your family without always liking them). there's a lot of overt nods to tolstoy and specifically war and peace here -- about how history is like a parade. when you're inside the events that become "history", or watching them, it seems like the only thing happening in the whole world, but you can also just walk over a block and never know it was happening, because the world and the lives in it are big enough together to smother any parade. im paraphrasing somewhat elaborately. for a big period piece this works subtly, and for a book centered on the IWW, it wears its politics lightly - maybe that's because the IWW's politics weren't actually that radical, the idea of every person and job having a dignity worth protecting in a union. ANYWAY. there are a few jazzier bits where secondary characters get a chapter in their voice, which works more than it doesn't. the main plot needed like one more kink in it, and the women dont quite get enough to do, and quibble quibble - a polished and immersive chunk of historical-soft literary fiction that will distract you for a few days. like dos passos' USA trilogy cleaned up for normal people and like 15% as long. hopefully jess walter doesnt turn into a falangist or whatever