Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

This book came highly recommended by two of my colleagues, and I liked McCann's Dancer and Zoli, but this book did not live up to my expectations. It might have been unfair to have read Ueland's book right before this one, but I felt that McCann could have been more economical in his use of language. Or at least, the language wasn't beautiful enough for me to be swept up by it and there wasn't enough time for the characters to be developed well. There were some scenes that were beautifully written - I particularly liked the Godfather-like juxtaposition of scenes that described Corrigan's death - but I was annoyed by one of the stories that seemed to be in the Junot Diaz style of writing. Indeed, despite the short length (370 pages), there were many times when I just wanted the book to end.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Dates: 7-19 Aug 2010