Customer Reviews

The Havana Room: A Novel

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

If you look at the reviews for this book, you will conclude that it must either be a masterpiece or a waste of paper. It is neither. Harrison has a lot of interesting ideas but does not, in my opinion, totally pull them off. The book is narrated by Bill Wyeth, whose rapid descent from a successful New York real estate lawyer to near bum is covered if the first chapter. Through a terrible mistake, for which he is not responsible, a child dies, and his powerful father uses his power to ruin Wyeth. In quick succession, he loses his job, his wife, and access to his son.

When he has reached the bottom, he wanders into a steak restaurant that seems to be an island of sanity in a world that has turned on him. He develops a crush on the woman who runs the restaurant, Allison Sparks. There is a mysterious room which is invitation-only that fascinates him but to which he cannot gain access. Then one night he is asked by Allison to help her boyfriend, Jay Rainey, close a real estate deal. He does, reluctantly, and as a result, (1) finds himself doing things that, while not clearly criminal, could be and (2) starts being threatened by a series of thugs for reasons he cannot understand. All of this leads him to uncover Jay Rainey's secrets as a way of saving himself.

The obvious influence on this book is the Great Gatsby. Rainey shares a first name (Jay) with Gatsby, an obsession with trying to reclaim the past, and a possibly criminal background. Indeed, Wyeth comes on a list of activities made by Rainey of what to do each day that is almost identical to a list made by Gatsby, although for different purposes. Of course, nothing is what it seems a first or even second glance.

By the end of the book, Harrison is tying up numerous plots, including Rainey's past and future, and the mysterious Havana Room. I found the resolution somewhat forced. Additionally, I often figured out what was happening well before the narrator, which is annoying. The secret of what goes on in the Havana Room was a let-down. And the ending was a little too hopeful for what had gone before.

Nevertheless, this book is not a waste. Harrison is trying to write more than a run of the mill thriller. The use of the Gatsby theme is effective, and the ultimate secrets about Rainey's past are moving. Violence plays a part in the book, but it seemed realistic in that it was not carefully thought out but almost accidental. While the book is not perfectly plotted, it offers the reader interesting characters who, like Gatsby, are pulled back into the past.

Is there a better novelist crafting well-written, utterly engaging stories about Manhattan than Colin Harrison? I doubt it. He locks you in from page one, dazzles you with superb writing, and fills the pages with daring plot twists. This is a story about a lawyer, who after an accidental mishap, loses his wife, child, career and dignity until he happens to stumble into a midtown steakhouse with a mysterious private room called...you guessed it. This is really a book about losing a child (either through death or divorce), but we're clearly not in Oprah-ville. Some things strain credibility (like how does an unemployed lawyer down on his luck afford lunch and dinner EVERY DAY in a steakhouse?) and the plot gets a little too tricky at times, but it's easy to ignore these faults because of Harrison's huge writing talent which breathes life into his characters and Manhattan. I, for one, couldn't put it down. I wish he would write faster...I can't wait for his next book.

For the first third of this book I thought I had found one of those magical times when I read slowly to savor the writing and the mood. The characters were mysterious and I could not wait see the unraveling. Unfortunately, things turned very ordinary, even pitiful. Stock character and stereotypes began to act in predictable ways. Ultimately so disappointing.

I read this book after reading Afterburn, which was stellar. Harrison constructs atypical, unpredictable plot movements with a very literate style. Good character development, nice prose, and unexpected twists and plot development. Havana Room is a ridiculous, implausible, poorly executed story. Worst of all, Harrison relies on the very sloppy, lazy literary technique of keeping the reader in the dark about essential elements of the plot until it is revealed all at once by a single character (read: the author) explaining it all in one fell swoop with a big long monologue. I have written better material than this myself and I am in no way a writer in Harrison's league. I don't know if he had to produce this piece of drivel to pay his taxes or fulfill a book contract but I say with confidence that he is a fine writer as evidenced by Afterburn and the outstanding review that I just read of his newest novel, released in April of 2008. So.....read Afterburn and I will check out the new one but this.....is a waste of time.

"The Havana Room" features what I like to call an anonymous man -- successful, but not famously so; married to a wife who is pretty but not quite beautiful; rich but not a millionaire -- whose anonymity is shattered because of a tragic accident that leads to the death of his friend's son.

The death of this young boy causes his family's life to spiral downward, and he loses his job, his wife, his son, and his comfortable little existence. He escapes into a depressed funk.

Randomly, he enters a steakhouse one day. It is here where our story starts to spin.

Though he no longer practices law, the man, Bill Wyeth, is roped into helping with a real-estate deal. After the deal is made, Bill finds himself drawn to the man he helped, Jay Rainey, and ends up aiding him in a crime. The more Bill finds out about the deal, the more suspect it looks, and the more sinister Jay appears.

Colin Harrison is an absolute master at teasing his audience, sprinkling a little trail for them to follow, building suspense and anxiety to figure out the truth of the situation.

His prose is like bitter urban poetry. He completely exposes post-9/11 New York with sharp, accurate observations. Before Harrison gets to his story, he sits back and revels in his own prose ability, giving the city he lives in a light smack across the face.

Really the only flaw of this book is that, once Harrison points the way the story is actually going, it's obvious where it will end. It's hard not to be three or four steps ahead of our narrator, Bill. And the grand finale, which is played for awe and horror, shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Honestly, I wish the two revelations -- about Jay and his farm -- had not quite been so obvious. But it's hard to complain because this book is so addictively good leading up to it. You'll find yourself not wanting to put this book down, impatient to know what happens next.

Unlike others, I liked what happened in the Havana Room. It's not a cliche. It's absolutely nothing that you would expect -- an intriguing and creative stop-off in the book that makes for later fun.

While I admit I wish this book was as shrewd in the end as it was in the beginning, it doesn't detract from what was a really well-written and smart book. It took me quite a while to finally get around to reading Colin Harrison. But now, having read "The Havana Room," I won't be waiting long to read him again.

A terrifically entertaining and literary mystery.

This is a multi-layered urban thriller. The story is excellent and Mr. Harrison neatly ties up every loose thread, but what may be more interesting is the off beat commentary on life in the early 21st century. This book is for those who believe that "The wings of a butterfly can change the world." Highly recommended.

I am a writer and everyone is a critic so let's begin. When Colin Harrison wrote "Afterburn" he was criticized for being brutal (at least his characters were) so I believe that he dulled his edges with "The Havana Room" but that's alright.

Enough posters here get into the story so I won't but I will say this: it only takes a single mistake and suddenly your entire life falls out from under you. Period. Harrison does a great job of infusing this noir story with dread, surprise and suspense-yes, just like living in New York City. While Bill Wyeth might not be the tough guy we would all like him to be he is exceedingly decent. While parts of the story are predictable (and the author takes a little while to get there) that's okay. It is a satisfying read that kept me turning the page and I'd love to see Sidney Lumet (Q&A, Dog Day Afternoon, Night Falls on Manhattan) direct the filmed version.

If you want an interesting story that omits the pulp of other pandering authors on the best seller list who simply repeat themselves and are afraid of offending anyone read "The Havana Room."

I had never read any of Colin Harrison's prior New York-based novels, and I picked up The Havana Room after stumbling across some favorable reviews. I must say this was an impressive read, and his style is instantly catching. The book reminded me a little of Tom Wolfe (although about 300 pages lighter than a typical Wolfe tome), and maybe a better-written version of Jay McInerny.

The book starts out with a bang, as high-powewed Manhattan attorney Bill Wyeth comes home early from a trip, and unwittingly causes a tragedy involving a child sleeping over his house for his son's birthday. The fallout from the event is swift and extraordinary, (yet believable), and soon Wyeth is on his own, without a job, and with his high-brow society friends shunning him as if he had the plague. You can't help but think of Conrad from Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities.

I thought the book would then disintegrate into a tale of a plucky lawyer forced to start over again and pull himself together when everything has been taken from him, and frankly wasn't looking forward to the rest. What a pleasant surprise. Instead the book got much more interesting, as Wyeth gets entangled in the lives of Jay Rainey and Allison Sparks (who he meets at a swank Manhattan steakhouse where he finds comfort in a routine of daily visits). Allison asks Bill to help her boyfriend Jay Rainey close a mysterious business deal, involving Jay's hasty purchase of a run down office building in exchange for some prime waterfront farmland on the North Fork of Long Island.

The more he learns about Allison, Jay, and both properties, the more Wyeth realizes he doesn't know, and the rest of the novel involves him peeling back the layers of mystery that surround the secrets buried at the farm, the curious interest Jay had in the office building, the secret passages in Jay's diary and his bizarre mood swings, and the ultra-confidential monthly gatherings in the restaurant's top-secret, invitation only "Havana Room."

I must confess that I was a little underwhelmed with the sercrets of the Havana Room when those mysteries were ultimately revealed, but the actions in the room ultimately were crucial to the plot, and so I wasn't too disappointed. Ultimately Harrison wraps things up rather nicely, tying up loose ends and revealing most of the secrets of the book. While the novel worked on many levels, (some reviewers mentioned it as some kind of fable regarding the excesses of our society), I thought ultimately the over-riding theme of the novel involved the special, enduring bond that a parent has for his/her children. I couldn't wait to get to it every night, and blew through it in very short order. You will be hooked by page 25.

One day Bill Wyeth is an upscale Manhattan lawyer with the requisite beautiful wife, eight-year-old son, oversized apartment and a bright financial future. When Wyeth falls asleep at night he may be a bit bored with the predictability of his world, but contentedly falls into dreams knowing he is safe. Wife Judith is already planning for a vacation home, Timothy hosting a birthday-slumber party for eight friends, a few of them sons of influential men his father wants to impress. On the night of the party, when Bill assumes he is performing a good deed, a tragic accident occurs and a boy lies dead. Suddenly the world drops away as the grieving father takes revenge the only way he can, destroying Wyeth's carefully constructed career. Judith panics, files for divorce and moves with their son from the east coast to the west. Wyeth learns how quickly a fall from grace can alter the direction of his life from an upward trajectory to a slippery slope that seems to have no bottom, left with little cash and a few nice suits in a third floor walkup.

Harrison's talent shines in this dense novel, a happy man's descent into the darker corners of the city that wealth and privilege avoid, where crime is rampant and the struggle to survive is ferocious. Wandering the chaotic streets of his new neighborhood, Wyeth discovers a popular steakhouse that has been a staple in the area for generations. He makes himself a regular, ensconced at table 17, even beginning a long flirtation with the attractive manager, Allison Sparks. Allison is a bit dangerous, but this appeals to Bill, who has little left to lose. He doesn't realize he has farther to fall, but of course, Bill is a naïf in this world, still nursing predictable hopes with marginal success, measuring all by what he knows; he is fascinated by a closed, invitation only room at the steakhouse, the Havana Room, deeply curious about what happens there and the fact that only Allison can issue invitations. When Allison asks a legal favor from Bill for her current flame, he reluctantly agrees; it concerns a multi-million dollar transaction that will take place in the Havana Room.

Allison's friend, Jay Rainey, appears an intelligent, straight-forward client, but Wyeth advises Rainey under duress and a time constraint that makes him uncomfortable as the attorney of record. And Wyeth has reason for concern- soon enough he is embroiled in an increasingly suspect business deal that has troubling ramifications. Every favor he does for Rainey pulls Bill deeper into a morass from which he is unable to extricate himself, pursued and kidnapped by thugs, pressured for information by the new owner of the property and searching for his suddenly unavailable client, a man with a tragic past and hopeless future. Harrison delves into the murkiest corners of the human heart, the small cruelties families inflict on one another and the greed of the powerful in a complicated tale that ends one violent night in the Havana Room, the mendacity of others exposed: "Like insect colonies and creeping plants, these intrigues need a bit of moisture and darkness to thrive. " Luan Gaines/ 2008.

I came across this in the local bookstore, on the bargain table, I could not put it down, very well written! The story is full of intrigue and unexpected twists and turns, worth reading!