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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every bit as entertaining as "The Alienist.",
This review is from: Dreamland (Library Binding)
After I had read "The American Century" and found that Kevin Baker was responsible for the bulk of the research on that fine book, I wanted to read his new work of historical fiction, "Dreamland." I'm glad I did. Not since I read Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" a few years ago, have I enjoyed a novel as much as this one. Baker is able to bring the reader nearly to tears as he details the travails of young women trying to make it from day to day in New York, either as workers in one of the sweatshops on the lower east side or, unfortunately as one of the prostitutes every night putting her life in jeapordy in the Tenderloin or on the other mean streets of that heartless, corrupt, and sad, very sad city. The section detailing the days spent in jail by the striking women is especially chilling. The inclusion of Freud and Jung is compelling not so much for the interpretation of their work, but rather for the hint of progress that would be made in the years to come in the field of psychoanalysis. Other critics have harped on their inclusion in this work, but I found their conversations stimulating. How they end up in Dreamland at the end of the book with the other colorful and larger than life characters in this inspired work-Kid Twist, Gyp The Blood, the Mad Carlotta, Esther, Trick the Dwarf, Tim Sullivan-is deliciously presented. I thought that the inclusion of Frances Perkins as the sole upper class liberal fighting vainly with limited success to stem the tide of worker abuse allowed the author to speak through her character and graphically describe the carnage enveloping the poor young ladies of that era. No wonder FDR made her his only Secretary of Labor. I thought it ironic that a scant thirty years after the time of this novel, this same age group of women, imprisoned in 1912 for having the gall to ask for a 54 hour work-week, formed the nucleus of the manufacturing force that produced all the armament that saved our world from tyranny and made it safe for democracy during World War II. It is never fair to give away the ending of a book, and I won't. But, trust me, you'll love it!
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dreamland is a fun and frightening novel,
By John DePaola (Fredericksburg, VA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dreamland (Library Binding)
With key characters named Trick the Dwarf, Kid Twist, Gyp the Blood and the Mad Carlotta, it is tough not to become enthralled by this book. The author does an outstanding job of placing you in New York at the turn of the last century and the sights, sounds, and smells of lower Manhattan, Coney Island, and the Bowery make this book come to life. Several key chapters are so compelling, I read them over and over to ensure I got every last nuance. The introduction of historical fact as part of the story is an interesting device that worked well and led me to do further reading on early theme parks, gangland life in New York, and the origins of the labor movement. This is one of the better works of fiction I have read lately and I am not the least bit disturbed that a film adaptation is already in the works.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
8 Months Later, I'm Still Thinking About It,
By
This review is from: Dreamland (Library Binding)
I haven't read much in the past ten years that stayed in my consciousness long after I read the last page. I found this an extremely compelling and well written fiction. My fondest hope is that it will be "discovered" in paper and reap the attention it deserves.
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