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Indlæser... Empire Risingaf Thomas Kelly
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Bliv medlem af LibraryThing for at finde ud af, om du vil kunne lide denne bog. Der er ingen diskussionstråde på Snak om denne bog. An evocative, well written and accurate historical novel. I happened to stumble across this novel in the library. The first thing that attracted me to it was the cover, and then I found out that it is historical fiction and I knew I had to read it. This novel is about the building of the Empire State Building. Briody, an ironworker working on the Empire State Building, also helps run arms, explosives, and other things back to Ireland to help the Irish republican cause. His world gets turned upside down when he meets Grace Masterson, who happens to be the mistress of Johnny Farrell a crooked man of New York politics. The two fall in love and become in danger of Farrell finding out about their romance. I loved that the book showed glimpses of what it was like for the workers who built the Empire State Building. I loved the romance between Briody and Grace. I have to say that I wasn't fond of the ending but I understand why it was the way it was. I would recommend this novel to historical fiction lovers, and people interested in New York. On a flight to Portland, OR a little over 10 years ago I read Payback a novel by Irish-American writer Thomas Kelly. It told the story set in the mid-1980's about Sandhogs, construction workers who build tunnels, with a mix union-management strife, corrupt politicians, Irish gangsters, and family squabbles turned violent. It was a breezy read full of violence and machismo, but intelligent as well. Now I've listened to Empire Rising (2005) read by Michael Deehy, which is a similar story but set in 1930, at the start of the Great Depression, amid Prohibition, with the construction of the Empire State Building at it's centerpiece. Michael Briody - a recent emigrant from Ireland. Fought with the British in WWI, against the British in the Anglo-Irish War, and against the Free State in the Irish Civil War. Briody lives in the Bronx, works on a team of iron workers on the Empire State Building, and is an amature boxer. Also he continues to do jobs for the IRA and for Tommy Twohey. Oh yeah, and he also wins the heart of Grace in this novel's central romance. Grace Masterson - an Irish woman with a troubled past who settles on a house boat in Brooklyn. She visits construction sites to sketch and paint the workers. As Lewis Hine's assistant she's able to enter the ESB site. She's also the paramour for Johnny Farrell who has her "deliver money" to banks around town. Scarred by life, she's surprised that Briody wins her heart despite everything. Johnny Farrell - the head honcho of Tammany Hall behind the Walker administration. A finger in every pot, whether legal or illegal. Not too pleased to learn that Grace is having liasions with Briody. Tom Twohey - a boyhood friend of Farrell's who is the chief gangster in their Bronx neighborhood. Also runs guns for the IRA. Finds himself making an uneasy allliance with the Italian mob. Kelly's fictional characters mix with real-life historical figures such as Mayor Jimmy Walker, Governor Franklin Roosevelt, photographer Lewis Hine, failed presidential candidate Al Smith (also head of the Empire State Building project) and Judge Joseph Crater (working in an answer to Crater's mysterious disappearance). For the most part this is an entertaining book weaving together New York City history, the Irish-American experience, and the romance of the era. Towards the end it gets over the top as seemingly everyone wants to kill Briody, and for good reasons too as he's got himself mixed up in everything. ingen anmeldelser | tilføj en anmeldelse
It is 1930 -- the Depression -- and ground has just been broken for the Empire State Building. One of the thousands of men erecting the building hight above the sky is Michael Briody, an Irish immigrant torn between his desire to make a new life in American and his pledge to gather money and arms for the Irish republican cause. When he meets Grace Masterson, an alluring artist who is depicting the great skyscraper's ascent from her houseboat on the East River, Briody's life turns exhilarating -- and dangerous, for Grace is also a paramour of Johnny Farrell, Mayor Jimmy Walker's liaison with Tammany Hall and the underworld. Their heartbreaking love story is also a chronicle of the city's rough passage from a working-class enclave to a world-class metropolis -- Back cover. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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