Scan barcode
jlsjourneys's review
3.0
Maybe 3.5 stars. I ended up quite enjoying this, but it took me a WHILE to get into it.
beckyhill's review
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
pppaulaaa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
missyjohnson's review
3.0
It is 1909 in Spokane and Ryan Dolan and his brother Gig (Greg) are out-of-work tramps/vagrants who join the union cause. The story is about the union fights with the local police and others taking advantage of the poor and unskilled. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn is a voice for the oppressed and is a woman ahead of her time. She is a great speaker and organizer for the unions and does not adhere to the woman in the home and happy about it focus of the time. The focus of the story takes place over the years 1909-1911. Ryan gets caught up in the turmoil because of his brother Gig but then comes to fight in his own way for the union.
jstaton's review
3.0
Interesting look at what separates then. Some things do not change much. I like to view things as if they are getting better but it seems more difficult to see it that way.
g_newton98's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
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
3.75
katieinca's review
3.0
This is me trying to give literary fiction a try again, based on a hearty recommendation from my bookshop and the fact that this was literary fiction about people who actually have to worry about money and personal safety. Great for learning some history. Not so much for emotional impact.
Some really beautiful prose here and there, but the two characters who ought to be driving the book aren't the most interesting ones. Rye, who gets most POV chapters, is young, shy, and maybe meant to be a nice clean slate for the reader to identify with. But he's just not that interesting or compelling until very late in the book. And then there's Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who's supposed to be larger than life. She was a real person, and maybe that makes it hard to write her, but she didn't feel like flesh and blood.
And it's not that the writer can't do that. There's this schtick in the book where we get the occasional chapter from someone else (and you figure out early on that if the chapter title has a year with that character's name, it's a death scene). The chapters from Rye's brother Gig, the detective Del Dalveaux, and Rye and Gig's friend Jules the Salish Indian all had more life. I'd read a second book if one of those guys were the narrator, but not another one featuring Rye and Flynn.
Some really beautiful prose here and there, but the two characters who ought to be driving the book aren't the most interesting ones. Rye, who gets most POV chapters, is young, shy, and maybe meant to be a nice clean slate for the reader to identify with. But he's just not that interesting or compelling until very late in the book. And then there's Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, who's supposed to be larger than life. She was a real person, and maybe that makes it hard to write her, but she didn't feel like flesh and blood.
And it's not that the writer can't do that. There's this schtick in the book where we get the occasional chapter from someone else (and you figure out early on that if the chapter title has a year with that character's name, it's a death scene). The chapters from Rye's brother Gig, the detective Del Dalveaux, and Rye and Gig's friend Jules the Salish Indian all had more life. I'd read a second book if one of those guys were the narrator, but not another one featuring Rye and Flynn.
book_concierge's review
4.0
Digital audiobook performed by Edoardo Ballerini, Gary Farmer, Marin Ireland, Cassandra Campbell, MacLeod Andrews, Tim Gerard Reynolds, Mike Ortego, Rex Anderson, Charlie Thurston, and Frankie Corzo.
Set in the early twentieth century, this novel focuses on the two Dolan brothers: sixteen-year-old Rye and his older brother Gig. Rye just wants a steady job and a home. Gig is more idealistic, fighting along other men to form unions and demand fair wages and better working conditions. Together, they live by their wits – hopping freights and forming alliances with those they feel might be able to help them.
In addition to the two Dolan brothers, Walter populates the work with a wide variety of memorable characters, from Jules (a Native American from Coeur d’Alene) to Ursula the Great (a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar) to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (a nineteen-year-old feminist) to Lemuel Brand (a wealthy mining magnate). There are plots and subplots, twists and turns, allies who are really enemies, double and triple crosses, good guys who are really bad guys (and vice versa).
Based on actual events in 1909 Spokane, Washington (the Free Speech Fight and the formation of the International Workers of the World), at the novel’s core is a class struggle that is reminiscent of what America is undergoing now just over a hundred years later.
The story is told from multiple characters’ points of view, and some scenes are related more than once, giving the reader additional insight as the point of view changes in the same scenario. Walter has the ability to really put the reader right into the heart of the scene; I practically heard the sound of the train on the tracks, smelled the odor of unwashed bodies, felt the chill of a cold jail cell.
Walter is a masterful storyteller and I was engaged and interested from beginning to end.
I listened to the audio which was masterfully performed by a cast of talented voice artists. This really brought the characters to life for me and made it easier to discern the changes in point of view. However, I think the complexity of the story might be better appreciated if read in text first.
Set in the early twentieth century, this novel focuses on the two Dolan brothers: sixteen-year-old Rye and his older brother Gig. Rye just wants a steady job and a home. Gig is more idealistic, fighting along other men to form unions and demand fair wages and better working conditions. Together, they live by their wits – hopping freights and forming alliances with those they feel might be able to help them.
In addition to the two Dolan brothers, Walter populates the work with a wide variety of memorable characters, from Jules (a Native American from Coeur d’Alene) to Ursula the Great (a vaudeville singer who performs with a live cougar) to Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (a nineteen-year-old feminist) to Lemuel Brand (a wealthy mining magnate). There are plots and subplots, twists and turns, allies who are really enemies, double and triple crosses, good guys who are really bad guys (and vice versa).
Based on actual events in 1909 Spokane, Washington (the Free Speech Fight and the formation of the International Workers of the World), at the novel’s core is a class struggle that is reminiscent of what America is undergoing now just over a hundred years later.
The story is told from multiple characters’ points of view, and some scenes are related more than once, giving the reader additional insight as the point of view changes in the same scenario. Walter has the ability to really put the reader right into the heart of the scene; I practically heard the sound of the train on the tracks, smelled the odor of unwashed bodies, felt the chill of a cold jail cell.
Walter is a masterful storyteller and I was engaged and interested from beginning to end.
I listened to the audio which was masterfully performed by a cast of talented voice artists. This really brought the characters to life for me and made it easier to discern the changes in point of view. However, I think the complexity of the story might be better appreciated if read in text first.
teresaalice's review
3.0
3.5 stars.
I remember how much I loved the Beautiful Ruin, and although it was a long time ago, I hope I'd have the same bittersweet love for this book. It was good, but as I'm not a huge historical fiction fan and I overlooked the fact that it took place in the early 1900's, i just wasn't as captivated as I wanted to be.
Though, don't get me wrong, it was still a great story with memorable and captivating characters.
I remember how much I loved the Beautiful Ruin, and although it was a long time ago, I hope I'd have the same bittersweet love for this book. It was good, but as I'm not a huge historical fiction fan and I overlooked the fact that it took place in the early 1900's, i just wasn't as captivated as I wanted to be.
Though, don't get me wrong, it was still a great story with memorable and captivating characters.