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Summary: Past and Present
Review: This book was a honey!! Pete Hamill's writing has fueled the curiosity bug in me regarding New York's history and the citizens who peopled it, yesterday and today. I know I will want to learn more and this, to me, is the essence of a story. Does it make one want to learn? If it does, it is more than well worth the read. As Yoda would say, "A Pete Hamill fan now I am."Elaine Suhre
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Summary: Great Book
Review: This is the first book I have read by Pete Hamill. I am a History teacher and loved the way he explained New York's history in the book. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.
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Summary: An Epic Delight
Review: As with "Snow in August," I struggled early on to get into this novel. Indeed, the first 30 pages seemed to slog along, but it was well worth it. For the following 570+ pages take the reader on a magical ride through the streets of New York's history. Prior to this novel, I had no interest in New York or it's history (other than an E.L. Doctorow novel), but Pete Hamill has changed that. This story, the protagonist, the city as a central character, beautiful prose...all combine for what is an epic adventure. It is a novel that may rank in the top 10 of my personal favorites.
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Summary: It takes "Forever "to read.
Review: Interesting from a historical point of view, but tedious to wade through.The concept of multi-generational revenge doesn't make sense.
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Summary: Gripping, thought-provoking epic
Review: If you've read other reviews or the back cover of this book, you already know the basic outline of this story so I will not repeat it here. I just want to say that I read this book weeks ago and am already reading another one, but Forever is still buzzing around in my brain. I can't stop thinking about it, which in itself is evidence that this is a book worth reading. I chose this book because I read a review that favorably compared it to Harry Potter. I think that's misleading. This book is definitely a winner, like HP, but for different reasons. I think it's more accurate to compare Forever to Forrest Gump. The difference is Gump is a historical accounting of modern America while Forever is limited to NY and covers a much longer time span. Having been granted eternal life (with conditions) Cormac has the unique opportunity to describe the development and growth of New York from 1741 to 2001. Though the book concentrates on this span of time in Manhattan, the introduction of Cormac as a wee lad in Ireland and the events that lead him to New York are equally as fascinating and magical. As an animal-lover, I found the story to be even more compelling and endearing with the added characters of Thunder the horse and Bran the dog. The biggest complaint I've heard about this book is the jump from circa 1900 to 2000. Granted, that's a lot of lost time. Certain events during the century are described as a series of flashbacks, but it's not as thorough as earlier accounts. My defense is that today's reader is probably familiar enough with American history of the 20th century and how it may have impacted NY that it was unnecessary to devote numerous chapters to it. Also, if the author included everything that happened during this time the book would have lasted, well, forever. I believe the book is just fine as it is. One aspect of this story that keeps returning to my thoughts even after finishing it is how much we, as modern Americans, take for granted everything we have, from running water to our very freedom. Cormac comments on a young man's disproportionate reaction to a mild inconvenience as if it's the end of the world. Cormac's observation is that the young man has never and most likely will never experience true hardship or disaster and has no idea how fortunate he is to be alive today. The truth of that has made such an impact on me and I am trying to be more appreciative of the things I have and less affected by daily events that, when compared to facing a bayonet in a battle of the Revolutionary War or having no supply of fresh water, seem quite inconsequential. Don't get me wrong. This book is not preachy at all. I just felt it important to mention the impression this book has had on me. My husband and I actually spent several minutes in deep discussion about the novel while attending a Red Wings game. As dorky as that sounds, our conversation honestly distracted us from the excitement of the game, which only further illustrates what a great book this is. I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone, especially if your family contains Irish or African ancestry.
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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!
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Summary: Struggled To Finish
Review: This book had so much potential and really held me in thrall for the first 200 or so pages but after that I began to feel as if I was going to be reading it forever with no end in sight. The premise of a young Irish boy loosing his family at an early age (due to the same person) and then following the Celtic tradition of revenge was a good one. His course had been set and he followed the murder of his family to the New World and the growing city of New York. Mr. Hamill was very descriptive on his narrative regarding Ireland, the ocean crossing, and the politcal as well as religious issues that colored the day. He lost me though soon after setting foot in New York. The idea of slave, indentured servants, and Spaniards uniting to fight totally overshadowed the reason why Cormac left his native Ireland for New York. Occassionally we would re-visit the oath he had sworn by coming to the new world but again our author would soon loose sight of this due to some other issue that seemed to catch his fancy. In the end Cormac never managed to wipe the Warren clan off the face of the earth. Again this book had so much potential but I feel that the author may have lost track of the direction he truly wished to go in. So much was left out (much of New York history) with only brief glimps at what it was like to watch New York grow from a small city to the thriving metropolis that it is today. Do yourself a favor borrow the book from a friend (as I did) or visit your local library.
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Summary: Often quite good, yet frustrating
Review: A young 18th-century Irishman goes to New York in pursuit of the heartless nobleman responsible for the death of his parents, and is granted eternal life by an enslaved African shaman--on the one condition that he never set foot off the island of Manhattan. From this intriguing premise comes a novel that alternately flies and stumbles, as our hero Cormac lives through more than 200 years of New York's history, seeing the tidal pulse of life in the world's greatest city, loving and unavoidably leaving various women and friends to death while he lives on, and never losing sight of his vendetta against the bloodline of the Warren clan. There's a lot going on in this book, and Hamill has his work cut out for him to carry it off. Parts of the novel kept me glued to the pages, while others were flat and unconvincing. Some dramatic scenes are weakened when characters utter the kind of overbaked dialogue one hears in a musical, just before a song. Here's Cormac speaking to George Washington: "They want to be free, General...that's why they won't disappear when times get hard. They want to be free, sir. Free." (Ugh.) Also, as I read I was reminded--often--of a wonderful book written some 20 years ago by Mark Helprin, WINTER'S TALE, which also features New York as its stage and an immortal Irish hero with a magic horse. (Cormac has one of those, too.)The two books are vastly different in other ways, but the similarities are distractingly striking. I can recommend "Forever"--despite its unevenness there's some stirring drama, a good (but necessarily very abridged) historical perspective, and a well-conveyed feeling of melancholy as the book enters the modern era. Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Anne Rice's Lestat--or, in this case, Cormac O'Connor.
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Summary: Good, but disappointing
Review: If you allow yourself to believe in the world the author has placed his main character in, the first half of the book is excellent. There is a lot of emphasis on the man's life when he is in Ireland, and the story is so vivid. Then he moves to New York, and the story is good, but it skips a lot of New York's "growing up" years. Also, this is a fairly long novel, and when you invest the time in these characters, it is a little disappointing when the book ends as it does. In fact, you suspend disbelief to enjoy the book, you invest in and believe in the main character, then the last page totally turns the story 180 degrees, and leaves you asking "What just happened?" Everything you are believing in to make the book work gets totally thrown away with the character's last actions. This book was good, but don't invest the time in it if you don't have a lot to spare.
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Summary: A poor man's version of Helprins' "Winter's Tale"
Review: In fact, did Hamill take Helprins outline and just change things around?
Here are the similarities: 1) An epic told over several centuries 2) based in New York 3) with weather as a key 'character' 4) with young male immigrant protagonist 5) who is orphaned except 6) has a relationship with a magical flying horse which appears in desperate times of need.7) Protagonist also is saved from the brink of death ,8) is given immortality 9) learns many languages and trades- 10) oh did i mention that he was also a newspaper man??? 11) In the end finds himself "actualized" through the predetermined love of woman.I'm sure i could go on but it's been two years since I read the much more rewarding "Winters Tale". 12)I should mention that both Hamill and Helprin are journalists and novelists.
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