City on Fire

This is a big, sprawling, complex, irresistible novel about New York in the 1970s, a period I well remember, though I believe the author was not yet born. I closed the book, which kept me such good company during a terrible bout with the flu, and immediately started to reread it. This is a tactic I would recommend to all who finish this long and wonderful saga....it's a little slow-going at first, and confusing, but soon picks up pace, and you will want to return to admire the the way the pieces and characters fit into place, like facets of a kaleidoscope. Plus the prose is often drop-dead amazing.

Disclaimer, I've just reached chapter 60 and officially decided I'm not going to continue. This review is of what I have read. I learned something about myself. 1,
I guess I'm a sucker for a media blitz. 2. I enjoy reading books that tell an absorbing story with characters I care about. After 59 chapters of this book there is only 1 character I sort of liked and he's dead.
Instead of picturing characters and the decaying city that the writer gets accolades for describing, I can't seem to stop imagining the writer sitting around with a thesaurus trying to find a synonym and forcing it to work. I can put this one down. Characters I bid you fare well, I just don't care about you.

This is a well-writen novel which makes excellent use of an innovative structure. And that last item is the problem with the Kindle edition: most of the story is told in documents - notes, journals, an underground 'zine, etc - WHICH THE KINDLE EDITION PRESENTS AS IMAGES, and postage stamp-sized ones at that.
It's a pity really, and annoying: each image must be zoomed, repositioned and scrolled, and when you finish one, you must close it, got to the next, and do the whole routine again. And, needless to say, no text links to Xray, Dictionary, all those wonderful Kindle features, are available, 'cause this ain't text. Bad job on a good book. Maybe someone should actually read, or at least look at these books before they're dumped into the (excellent, but only an app) kindle-izer software.

My book club picked this book - turns out everyone hated it. We all tried to finish it, but only one person actually made it. The rest of us put it down somewhere between pages 100 and 400. It's convoluted, lots of plots going on, and many of them not particularly interesting. Maybe there's some great twist at the end that makes it worthwhile but alas, I'll never know.

[actually, 2.5 stars]

Headline:
I truly believe there is a great book hiding in City on Fire‘s 944 pages, but it was unfortunately lost amidst pretentious language, an overreaching plot, and an ending that made me want to throw my Kindle across the room.

Major Themes:
Class, drugs, the punk scene, New York City, urban decay, family dynamics

What I Liked:
- Much of the writing is brilliant. Hallberg picks just the right words to describe something in a way that made me think “yes, that’s exactly how it is.”
"Success in America was like Method acting. You were given a single, defined problem to work through, and if you were good enough in your role, you managed to convince yourself of its – the problem’s – significance. Meanwhile, actors who hadn’t made the cut scurried around backstage, tugging at ropes, making sure that when you turned to address the moon, it would be there."
- The characters are representative of different walks of life (the punk scene, the wealthy corporate world, the media, and a couple regular Joes) and the story is told from these various perspectives, amplifying the tension between the classes in a way that’s reminiscent of The Bonfire of the Vanities.
- I was intrigued by the Hamilton-Sweeney family storyline, which was rife with upper-crust snobbery, family dysfunction, and sketchy business dealings, and how it would intersect with the Central Park shooting that occurs across the street from their massive apartment, during their annual New Year’s Eve party. This story, alone, could have made a fantastic book that truly is “the next The Bonfire of the Vanities.”
- For the first 75% of the book, I was all set to rate it 4 stars on Goodreads. Though the story was a bit slow, I enjoyed the (mostly) brilliant writing, was invested in the central plot, and reveled in learning about the characters’ backgrounds. After the halfway point, some of the extraneous plot fell away and the focus settled on the story I was truly interested in.

What I Didn’t Like:
- Though much of the writing was brilliant, Hallberg got pretentious at times…to the detriment of the writing’s flow. I had to use my Kindle dictionary far more than normal and, some teenager prepping for his/her SATs could probably just use this book to study for the verbal section! I don’t mind big vocabulary words, but some of Hallberg’s choices seemed out of place and unnecessary. “Husbanded his cash”…seriously?!
"For having so far husbanded his cash pretty well, Mercer rewarded himself with one of the eponymous beverages."
- Especially in the first half, Hallberg spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the downtown “punk scene”. Charlie and Sam, two otherwise normal Long Island teens, start hanging out in a shady squat with other punk derelicts doing drugs and listening to music. I frequently tuned out during these endless cycles of music, drugs, and indecipherable psycho-babble about the “movement” and I think they could have been drastically shortened while still setting the scene and connecting to the central plot.
- Oh, the ending (insert exasperated sigh and eye roll). It dragged on for close to 300 pages and still failed to satisfyingly wrap things up. It felt like Hallberg got so engrossed in all the psycho-babble that he forgot to finish telling the story. I don’t mind open-ended conclusions that make you think of all the possibilities, but this just felt lazy! I remember an old Top Ten Tuesday topic called “Books That You Wanted to Throw Across the Room” and City on Fire‘s ending would have put it firmly atop that list for me.

A Defining Quote:
"According to the Arbitron ratings he’d last checked in ’73, Zig’s audience had lately more than doubled. Every morning, thens of thousands of masochistic tri-staters were tuning in to hear him rant about the shooting of the unnamed minor in Central Park. Or this other thing, some insider trading case. Or their symbolic link to entropy, to decay."

Check out my blog, Sarah's Book Shelves, for more reviews.

If you want to understand who Donald Trump is, read this book. It is a creatively drawn portrait of New York at the dawn of the "greed is good" era, when punk rock was still authentic. Real estate prices in the city were severely depressed but the only way for developers to get zoning changed, in order to plow city blocks under, was for properties to be condemned. And the only way to get many of these properties condemned was for a catastrophe (often of "unknown causes") to occur.

An innocent girl unknowingly gets ahold of information about who is behind the fires. A gay Black man from the south (he's hidden deep in the closet) falls in love with the scion of one of the families connected with the unscrupulous land-grabbers. He's an aspiring writer hired to teach at an elite private school. He is only there to prove that the school isn't racist in its hiring practices. His lover, the scion, is a drug-addicted artist whose step-mother has done her best to banish him from the family business in favor of her smarmy brother. The gay Black teacher tries to help the innocent girl after an assailant leaves her for dead and he becomes the prime suspect.

Lots relationships and beliefs within families unravel as the story unfolds. In the end the city is a very different place and shiny black and faux-gold towers will soon rise from the ashes.

The only other book I have read that gave me a deeper understanding of New York City is Joseph Mitchell's "Up In the Old Hotel", which is a masterpiece.

This novel will ultimately be designated " a masterpiece" by those that judge these things. I enjoyed the plot and the character development. But, it's too wordy and, more importantly, filled with words the author seems to use to impress the reader. A dictionary is necessary to understand his nuances. The novel is a major undertaking to read, but worth the effort.

Dreadfully long and convoluted. Absolutely swimming in obscure words: why settle for accessibility and comprehension when a few extra syllables per word can force the reader to consult a dictionary at every turn? Interesting premise and characters marred by artful pretensions that don't pay off.

As someone who lived through 70s NYC, I was disappointed by the characters, the fact that the book was over-long,
and the lack of editing. There are too many wrong details that did not and take place at the time. It's as if many of the words,
some events, and the characters thinking process was happening in the 80s, 90s and later , not in the 70s. It has been
compared with "Bonfire of the Vanities" and I will have to tell you "Bonfire" was a much more entertaining book, was better
written and was actually edited because I couldn't find any flaws. Mr. Hallberg is good writer. His descriptions mostly
ring true, and if the book was about 1/3 as long, and was edited bette,r the work may have been as good as "Bonfire". I'm wondering
why the publisher choose not to edit down the length or do any fact checking?

From the other reviews, people seem to love or hate this book. I'm in the first camp, so this is a positive review.

In this sequel to Metropolitan, Aiah has just entered Caraqui, right after Metropolitan left off. She finds a job with Constantine's section of the new government and slowly becomes more and more involved with political intrigue and concerned with questions of morality. As head of her own department, she finds herself starting to have her own side in the mass of intrigues and attacks. She and Sorya continue to be rivals for Constantine's affections. The grumpy Rohder is back too.

There's tons of intrigue and war in the book, which deals with it more at the bureaucratic level, behind the scenes. If you like the series Sandbaggers (The Sandbaggers Collection Set 1) you will probably like this book. Constantine's ultimate goal of going beyond the shield is pretty much just hinted at, but Aiah really comes into her own. This is a lovely Brazil/steampunk-type novel and is interesting to compare to the recent flock of fantasy about cities.

Overlong (600 paged!) period piece about NYC in the 70s. Written by a re-located southerner it is fairly accurate as to time, lace and the feel of the times. Sex, drugs and (punk) Rock and Roll were in their heyday? Especially moving were the chapters depicting the Blackout of 1977. Stay with it, it gets better as you go on.

Boy, does this author like words! But 900+ pages?! While the author writes in painstaking detail about the various characters in the book, I believe it could have been accomplished in half the length. It took me over 4 months to read this book and I usually read two books a month. i only stayed until the end because I wanted to know what happens to the characters and to know "who done it" in the mystery throughout. The setting is in NYC and the punk scene. Interesting but ponderous read.

Some reviewers describe this as a mess of a book, but I found it to be a orchestrated mess making it not a mess at all, more like a puzzle. The characters are imperfectly human, each in his own way. I am not a New Yorker, but was around in the 70's and recall the feeling of emptiness and confusion of those years. I found the book to be not an easy or quick read, one that captures the essence of human beings. Very moving all in all.

This is a very well written, well structured novel, i am ready to give it a 5. Unfortunately I bought it for my Kindle and I guess a novel of that size, 900+ pages are not well handled in Kindle. Book keeps on skipping to the end of the book and many times I had to manually use "go to..." to return to my place, having to remember the chapter. Do not buy a thick book on Kindle !

I hesitated a bit about reading this novel, concerned about its length, but from the very first page I was transported by the eloquence of Halberg's prose and riveted by his characters. While reading the novel I often would stop and reread a passage so as to completely immerse myself in the richness of his writing. The story is vast and yet, personal. It probably helped my understanding that I grew up in New York so that I could accurately picture the setting. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading this author again.

I desperately wanted to and tried to like this book. The era and place are right up my alley. I was hoping it had a little of " The Bronx is Burning" along with some Tom Wolfe thrown in. It was just a boring slog of uninspired, unlikeable characters. It always annoys me that the books that are lauded as the years best are so often, boring and close to unreadable. It's like a contrarian's delight. People tell you about the magical journey you are about to undertake and then you get overwritten drivel.

The writing is fresh and vivid throughout. Every paragraph has a turn of phrase that will make you smile. One problem is that the character we first meet and bond with, Mercer Goodman, soon disappears for many hundreds of pages. So we read most of the book impatient for his return. A second problem is that the long middle sections of the book provide backstory to characters we've already seen. Most of the book plays as a flashback, and we're eager to get back to the main story.

Everyone has commented on the sheer length. The beginning and ending are much stronger than a lot of what's in the middle. Recommended reading for those who enjoy good writing, and are willing to skim hundreds of well-written but uncompelling pages.

I lived in Hells Kitchen in the 70s -- atmosphere realistic, but characters all think and talk alike. Pace slow (which isn't appropriate for the warp-speed of life in 1970s NY), and book simply too long! Who was its editor?

Took months to finish reading (because of its sheer length, but also the complexities that necessitated a slower and more thoughtful read), but was so brilliantly composed that I couldn't help but see it through. Truly come of the most elegant and compelling prose I've read in years.

An ambitious, layered saga set during the blackout of '77 in New York City. Characters are real, their emotions complex and palpable. Their diverse personal journeys miraculously intertwine, yet in a believable way. Smart, confident writing. Don't let the length be a deterrent. It's worth it.

I wish would have read more of the reviews before I TRIED to read this.....I made it to 23% according to my kindle app---so many story lines going on, too many words that were obscure and unnecessary......some really interesting characters but I will never know what happens to them. I hate not finishing a book but......I just had to give up on this one.

At times, hard to follow, but always engaging. Excellent writing, well-defined characters but the shifting time sequences and character perspectives were sometimes challenging. I was a little disappointed that the story became do dark and the squalor some of them lived in was almost depressing, but all in all a good, if not challenging, read.

Stunk...really stunk...I was I had that reading time back. It starts out good...I liked the characters, then went spiraling off and was just not intelligent writing...It almost seemed like he wanted to imitate Marisha Pessl...but terribly...I couldnt stay with it--closed it and threw out at page 171...ICK!

This was touted as the next "Great American Novel", and it could have been, if the author had known when to quit! It just ran on and on, in different directions, then when I thought it was finally coming together, with a conclusion that would tie it all together, well it really didn't. The conclusion was a big letdown.

Amazing study of NYC of the 60s, an excellent depiction of the societal classes, activities, sections of town all braided by complex story.
Author has pitch perfect ear for the different dialogues.

Too many characters, too much filpping back and forth, and no empathy for the characters. Though I am only 1/3 into the book I am struggling with the length. I might end up feeling differently at the end. It's really too long. I doubt I would be reading it if weren't not for my book club.

Engrossing panoramic saga about the diverse inhabitants of NYC during the 60s and 70s. Captures vividly with all its ugliness this period. But, too long and overflowing with words which constantly needed dictionary searching and passages which seemed to get lost in themselves so that their impact is lost.

Over written, over blown, over rated. This is a very ambitious first novel. The writer has
immense talent but had a lousy editor. There is so much "fat" in this book, and so much
tedious description that goes on and on (Does anyone really care about this history and making
of firecrackers?) that after a while I just started skimming the pages. The book suffers from
repetition and the writer is somewhat pedantic, using words that are not common to daily
American usage. In the hands of a stricter editor, this could have been a good book. As is, it's a bore.