Reviews

Dreamland by Kevin Baker

wendel's review against another edition

4.0

Lots of interesting characters. A bit hard to get into them and their interaction if you read in short spurts. Perhaps I have to read this book again sometime.

rdebner's review against another edition

4.0

Kevin Baker has written an in-depth, you-feel-like-you're-there story set in early 20th century New York. He ties in the heyday of Coney Island, Freud & Jung's visit to America, labor and ethnic issues, Tammany Hall, and the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire. At turns violent and grotesque, this may not be everyone's choice for reading; for those who have a love affair with New York and/or excellently researched and written historical fiction, I would recommend this book. Part of Baker's City of Fire trilogy.

kate_lynn's review against another edition

1.0

I could overlook the confusing story telling. I could even look past trying to find out what the long drawn out plot was for. What I couldn't get over was the inaccurate telling of historical events. The 1909 shirtwaist strike is told so blatantly wrong and over embellished that I wanted to scream. Read a book before writing about something, please.

The timeline presented in the book wasn't even clear. Were Freud and Jung necessary? All of the talk about sex sure wasn't. Nor was using rape as a plot device. I'm honestly surprised I even read the whole book. How can you write something like this and not mention dates. Was there a point to the story at all?

shickenbutt's review against another edition

2.0

I don't know why the hell I wasted my time on this book. Probably because, naively, I thought it would get better. It didn't, it was full of WAY too many characters, and honestly I couldn't figure out what was going on half the time with each of these 1,200 characters and why I should even care.

leialocks's review against another edition

5.0

Starts off slow but when the characters start to intertwine, it picks up for the climax at the setting that ties everyone together.

mavenbooks's review against another edition

5.0

The multiple plots were initially confusing, but they proved quite interesting once I sorted them out. The details and characters kept me going, though I was disappointed with the somewhat sudden ending that left some things very uncertain. What exactly happened to Esther and Kid Twist, I wanted to know? The suggested ending wasn't exactly satisfying or positive.

nateweida's review against another edition

2.0

This is a fascinating subject that doesn't require a love story tacked on. Oof, The characters were interesting but it was a weird mesh of events forcing them together. I liked them as portraits but not as a story that felt the need to connect them. Long live Coney Island!

abetterfate's review against another edition

5.0

Wonderful historical fiction. Evocative, emotional, and brilliantly paced -- all I could want from a book like this.

gnomepartay's review

4.0

One of the best historical fiction books I've read. I tend not to favor the genera but this book had my hooked. Boardwalk Empire meets Carosel

pyrrhicspondee's review

3.0

I really enjoyed the reading of this book. But once I was done I realized I didn't really care about anyone that much. Like, I cared about them while I was reading about them but they have no staying power in my heart. (Unlike say, Ruby Oliver or nearly any of the characters in Game of Thrones, which I also just finished.)

Also, why were Jung and Freud in this book? The last chapter is a few pages long and dedicated to the head-shrinkers. I had totally forgotten about them--again--and then the last pages of the book were dedicated to them. It was terribly tacked on. Why? Why? Dumb, that's why.