Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: "Forever" has a fascination premise -- a man who is given the gift of living forever, as long as he does not leave Manhattan -- and much of the novel meets the reader's expectations. The first section when Cormac is growing up in Ireland is compelling and so is the last portion of the book, the modern-day era culiminating on 9-11. The book also has one of the best endings I have read -- so please readers, do not take an advance peek. This is the first book by Pete Hamill I have read and he is a first-rate writer.
However, the story drags in the middle when Cormac's endless personal reflections overshadow the interesting encounters he has, Forrest-Gump like, with such real-life historical characters as George Washington and Boss Tweed. The plight of the struggling Irish in early New York City and the injustices endured by enslaved African Americans are moving. The occupations he pursues in NYC (printing and journalism) play well with the plot and I liked the concept of "brain sludge" he builds up from living too long (how Cormac gets rid of the sludge is very clever and logical).
But I thought the pace and suspense would have improved if the book were 75-100 pages shorter. The way Cormac moves to a resolution of his essential conflicts (will he avenge his parents' deaths down to his enemy's last generation? will he tire of living centuries after everyone he knows and cares about is long dead?) would not have suffered with a slightly abbreviated story and less ruminating over his fate.
The only remaining questions are: Will "Forever" be a movie and will Tom Hanks again play the "time traveler"?
Rating: 
Summary: A "historical fantasy" that needs more history, less fantasy
Review: "Forever" is the story of an Irish immigrant on an Inigo Montoya-esque lifelong quest for vengeance, as he follows the murderer of his father and mother to America so he can tell the killer to "prepare to die". Upon arriving in a burgeoning little town called New York City, he befriends an African practitioner of black magic who grants him eternal life (so long as he never leaves Manhattan).
Thus, the story of our hero is also the story of New York City, from its humble roots as a tiny settlement nearly as savage as the wilderness around it to the modern day metropolis. He fights with the original George W(ashington), experiences the business practices of Boss Tweed and in a passage that would make George Constanza proud, enjoys reading Mike Lupica.
Meticulously researched, "Forever" realizes it is as much a history book as a testament to the characters in the story. Thus, admirable detail is given to all the worlds inhabited in the text, from the eternal fires built in the mud houses of 18th century Ireland to the role email plays in the lives of today's New Yorker.
But sadly, the novel is episodic. Rather than smoothly transitioning through nearly three centuries of the growing city, the chapters jump ahead (sometimes as many as a hundred years). I imagined this novel being similar to those stop-action nature films that show seeds becoming trees or a carcass slowly rotting away. But the growth of NYC is not a seamless tale in this book. A more tidy, efficient use of the material would have made this possible (the first third of the book is given to the 1740s and the last third is given to 2001).
And so with these choices, the author has decided that the story of the principle character is more important then the story of New York itself. He gets bogged down with whether our hero wants to live forever and quotes some very Braveheart-like philosophical nonsense about what it means to "truly live" rather than just existing. I would have liked to have had more of New York, like eating hot dogs and drinking beer with Babe Ruth or painting the town with Frank Sinatra. So much of this town's heritage is left out.
Rating: 
Summary: More episodic than epic.
Review: As many other reviewers have said, the idea is intriguing. Could have made for a great historical epic. I loved "Snow In August," a fantasy full of authenticity ... something about "Forever" didn't seem quite so authentic. I had doubts early on when Cormac's father suddenly told "Robert" that he was a Celt named Cormac O'Connor -- especially because what his father described sounded more like contemporary New Age 'Celtic paganism' (i.e. post-1950) than the multi-faceted warrior culture that Hamill seems to want it to be. A lot of things about the family seemed out-of-place in 18th Century Ireland. I also thought that it should have started with Cormac's desire for revenge, and that Hamill should have sent him to America right away.
"Snow In August" was a believable fantasy; this wasn't.
Rating:
Summary: A whirlwind historical tour of New York.
Review: Cormac O'Connor lives to be over 200 years old but does not age. He leaves besieged Ireland as a young boy after both his parents are killed. The Earl of Warren is the territorial dictator and the lives of those in his environs are expendable. For example, when his horse-drawn carriage runs down Cormac's mother and kills her, the Earl sends a paltry amount of money to cover funeral expenses.There is the magic of the ancient Celtic beliefs and ceremonies and one must suspend logic and disbelief for what follows when Cormac kills the Earl and flees to the United States. In New York he meets as many historical ills as there were in Ireland. It is still the moneyed who rule the world and men's (and women's) lives. Cormac is sworn to kill the whole of the Earl's line in order to destroy, I presume, the possibility of the Earl's "issue" continuing his injustices. As a reader, I wondered many things. Once Cormac destroys the line, would there have been other Warrens he just didn't know about and, therefore, his sworn oath would not have been really fulfilled? The story is interesting, to a point, then it becomes tedious...even when suspending logic and disbelief. The history is the interesting part and to tell it over a 200+-year period, culminating with the destruction of New York's Twin Towers is an awesome task. Cormac and his vendetta are the vehicles. Cormac literally drifts through history, tires of living so long while awaiting his destiny. The reader sees little character growth as he passes through many decades. He is a voice, a guide, a translator of politics, art, architecture, religion, music, human failings and foibles. It is only at the end that he finds love, a reason to live and we see a desperate Cormac searching for the woman who is carrying his child and who most probably has perished in one of the Twin Towers. The finale resembles a badly written romance novel!
Rating:
Summary: almost great
Review: fine story - loved the main character...too bad that he was burdened with the stupidest, most hole-filled, hurried, ridiculous ending ever. it's a heck of a tale, but "happily ever after?" come on, we're all adults here, what really happens to Cormac O'Connor?
Rating:
Summary: Good summer read for lovers of Big Apple
Review: For a writer like Hamill whose best work is centered on New York, it's a shame that "Forever" seems to lose a bit of steam as soon as the main character sets foot on Manhattan island. The first chapters set in a devastated and demon-haunted Ireland are beautifully written and compelling. But Cormac's adventures in the New World take on a high school history class slideshow-like quality as the novel skips from period to period. And as much as I admire Hamill's multiculturalism, by about the fourth dusky femme fatale that Cormac conquers it started to curdle into a kind of condescending exoticism. Hamill can still write the pants off most authors out there, however, and glimpses of some lesser-known periods of New York history are fascinating. Altogether well worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking
Review: Forever is finely-written. Its the story of Cormac O'Connor, born Robert Carson in Ireland, who witnesses the death of both his mother and father before sailing to America to avenge their deaths on the man who was responsible for them.
On the way over, Cormac, travelling under the name of Martin O'Donovan, meets Mr Partridge, a printer with whom he strikes up an immediate friendship, and with whom he serves as an apprentice to on arrival in New York. He is then introduced to all the wonders of Manhattan as it was in the 1740s.
During the riots of the 1740's, a fatal bullet wound almost kills Cormac; nearly sent to the Otherworld of Irish and African tradition, he is offered the chance to live immortally. The only catch is, he has to live on the island of Manhattan; if he leaves, Cormac will die. This thought-provoking book takes a look at all levels of New York society, as it was through the years. We see New York as it was during the American Revolution; during the endemic that swept the town in 1833-34; during the Victorian period of the 1890's; and on into the twentienth century up to the present time.
Cormac is a tender-hearted man, feeling pity for the slaves who are brought en masse to New York to be sold. He gets to know New York intimately; all its secrets and hidden places, all that appears on the outside as well as what is not seen.
Rating:
Summary: Ok... but very uneven
Review: I must admit this is a hard book to rate. Parts I enjoyed as much as any book that I have ever read (The images of Ireland in the 1700s). Then there are other parts that left me disgusted ... such as the year that was spent at a brothel painting VERY initimate portraits of the "workers".
The story as a whole is a great one. One man living nearly 300 years who has the oppurtunity to see the city of New York grow. Some have called it an ambitious task- but I don't quite see it that way... in fact I wish that Hamill had spent more time on the "details" of the development of New York and less time on trying to paint the "good" side of Boss Tweed. Instead what we get is a bit of a rollercoaster ride of the good and the bad with very little connecting either. So in the end I give "Forever" an A+ for concept but only about a C or its execution.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful novel
Review: I received this book as a gift for Christmas, but finally got around to reading it this summer. For the first hundred pages or so, I was not sure I was going to enjoy the book and wondered if I should continue reading. Thankfully I did, as 'Forever' turned out to be one of the best books I have read in quite a while. Although it is over 600 pages, once you are drawn into the story, it flows effortlessly through the years of Cormac's life on Manhattan (Although I was a bit frustrated at some of the jumps in time, but they serve their purpose and Hamill knows what he is doing). The conclusion is incredibly powerful and well worth the reading one must do to reach it. I highly recommmend 'Forever' as a great read this summer. Someone who does not have interest in American history, however, may not enjoy the novel as much as I did.
Rating: 
Summary: A Rare Book I Threw Out
Review: I went into this book looking forward to something great from Pete Hamill. Uunfortunately I was severly disappointed. The main character is someone you grow to be indifferent about and the story is predictable, too long and boring. Mr. Hamill is obsessed with certain topics and that is clearly apparent. Don't waste your time on this one.
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