About book City Of Glory: A Novel Of War And Desire In Old Manhattan (2007)
Beverly Swerling calls her latest epic about the early history of Manhattan "a novel of war and desire," but it contains a lot more desire than war. In fact, war is pretty far down its list of ingredients -- below pirates, prostitutes, runaway slaves, Chinese gangsters, man-eating rats, kidnappings, riots, rapes, amputations, secret engagements, financial panics, buried treasures and crotchless bloomers. Clearly, if Swerling had been my history teacher, I would have paid closer attention. Perhaps the only sign of restraint in this plot is that she doesn't have sharks swimming in the Hudson.City of Glory takes place some 35 years after the setting of her earlier novel about the American Revolution, City of Dreams. Now the young nation is facing its first international crisis: the War of 1812, a series of skirmishes with Britain and Canada that challenges the Republic's survival from within and without. In addition to being America's most poorly named conflict, the War of 1812 (which actually lasted until 1814) is also its most poorly remembered. Swerling will not do much to correct that problem. As she confesses in an afterword, "The history in this book is true -- except for the bit I made up." That "bit," as it turns out, is the central plot, but there's so much blood, sex and intrigue here that only the dustiest academics could object.Most of the book takes place in Manhattan during 10 days in the summer of 1814, while a British blockade creates "a frenzied storm of desire driving prices almost beyond reason." Brief, colorful scenes proceed almost hourly: "Chatham Street, 5:30 a.m.," "Maiden Lane, 10 a.m.," "A Meadow Just Below Canal Street, 11 a.m." This narrative tour-guiding allows us to hang on as Swerling races through the various schemes of two dozen outlandish characters (there's an annotated list at the front; keep it handy).Our hero is a dashing young doctor named Joyful Patrick Turner, who lost his left hand during a naval battle against the British on Lake Erie. Although he managed to sew up his own stump, carry injured sailors, and conduct life-saving operations as the cannonballs flew, he has returned to Manhattan convinced that there's no future for a one-handed surgeon. Instead, he throws himself into the lucrative China trade, but that puts him in direct competition with a ruthless businessman named Gornt Blakeman, who plans to corner the trade himself. In fact (cue the villain music), Blakeman's ambitions are even more sinister: Backed by a goon squad of Manhattan butchers, he plans to exploit widespread discontent with "Madison's war" and install himself as king of a secessionist government, a cure for "this madness called democracy."But wait, there's more: He's secretly acquired the largest diamond in the world, with which he can buy recognition from the emperor of Austria. All that stands between a Gornt dictatorship and the survival of these United States is the red, white and blue patriotism of a one-handed surgeon. But saving the Union isn't the only thing that makes Joyful joyful: He's also wooing the daughter of the city's best jeweler and sleeping with a prosperous madam named Delight Higgins. (You heard right: Joyful and Delight. In one particularly outrageous scene, they have sex on a balcony overlooking the gaming tables.)These private and national escapades play out in a great swirl of plots and counter-plots, with everyone spying on everyone else, crossing and double-crossing, gossiping and tattling. Several irresistible female characters struggle to survive and thrive with the meager tools at their disposal, while slaves and freed slaves (predictably noble and patient) negotiate the deadly terms of their existence as best they can. A few real-life characters make appearances, too, particularly a crafty millionaire named John Jacob Astor, who pulls the nation's purse strings from "a chair carved to look like a snarling tiger" in his imposing mansion, which is staffed by Manhattan's only Chinese residents.Periodically, the story breaks away to the British advance on the Federal District in the recently drained swamp we now call home. Just before the Redcoats burn the Executive Mansion to the ground, Dolley Madison retreats with the president's dishes and curtains with such dignity that you'll either laugh or start belting out "The Star-Spangled Banner." Which is pretty much the way you'll feel throughout this riotously entertaining novel. Joyful's old cousin reminds him, "It wasn't pretty getting to independency," but in Swerling's hands, it's awfully fun hanging on to it.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
This story was unfulfilling, though well researched. I was amazed at the depth of the author's historical information interwoven into the story from so many different cultures (pirates, cantonese, blacks, medical profession, boudoirs, trade and mercantile, to name a few. Despite the historical component, I was extremely repulsed by some of the graphic and gratuitous violence and sexual overtones, which I felt took away from the characters development and the story. It appeared that the author was trying way to hard to appeal to a common mass market instead of refining her characters to depths of feeling. I seldom would care to finish such a book. In this case,the history was what kept me reading. No surprise ending here but all wrapped up predictably tidy, with no moral afterthought of responsibility for the characters actions and the hurt that their selfishness had caused.
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This is a great historical novel. It's set in New York in 1817 or so, during the war between England and America. It involves jewels, pirates, trade with China, brothels, and so much more. This is a period I'm not very familiar with, so I appreciated the historical context. The author does a very good job of weaving historical facts in with a gripping plot and characters you'll care about. All the plot twists come together nicely at the end for a very satisfying finish. I definitely recommend this one for fans of historical novels.
—Alena
Genre: historische romanIn't kort: New York, 1812, tijdens de Britse blokkade. Joyful Patrick Turner, chirurg maar door een oorlogswond genoodzaakt zijn professionele bezigheden te verplaatsen naar een ander domein, waagt zich op de handelsmarkt, en krijgt stevige concurrentie van Gornt Blakeman. Onder hun tweetjes strijden ze om de macht in deze lucratieve branche, maar daarnaast ook om de hand van de beeldschone Manon Vionne. En om de grootste diamant van de wereld. En om de soevereiniteit van de USA...Mijn oordeel: op amazon.com las ik volgende recensie, en ik kan het eerlijk gezegd niet beter uidrukken, ik ben het volmondig eens met onderstaande:"Beverly Swerling's third novel continues the story of the Devrey and Turner family feud into the early 19th century, against the backdrop of the British Blockade of American ports and the attack on Washington DC toward the end of the war of 1812. This book is chock full of action - it is a wonder that Joyful Patrick Turner , the hero of her latest installment, was able to accomplish so much in these ten days during which he seemingly had so little sleep!The pluses: this book has all the ingredients for the making of a wonderful historic novel: pirates, political schemes, war, treason, brothels, slave trading, the largest diamond ever, true love, Irish gangs, the wealthiest man in America, and plenty of characters with missing limbs and digits.Despite these perks, the substories in this novel are a bit blurry, rushed and littered with extra characters who play insignificant roles. For instance, why the Chinese Opium side line ? It adds little other than to provide opportunities for Joyful to keep his Cantonese in use ! Politics, business, love, intrigue, war and lust are just thrown into the pot and brought to an immediate boil rather than added one by one and simmering until the perfect flavor is attained. This seems such a shame, since Swerlings first two books are magnificently written historical epics - perhaps their brilliance casts a bit of a shadow on this one.However, please do not let these flaws dissuade you from reading 'City of Glory'! It is a fun, fast-pacedbook full of well researched (and little known) history told through archetypal characters, and quite enjoyable!"Eindoordeel: ****
—Mighty_k24
This was one of the exceedingly rare cases where I read a sequel without reading the book that preceded it. Mainly it was because I wanted to read a book about NYC, which is dear to me, and it did seem like City of Dreams and City of Glory could stand alone.I didn't feel any the poorer for not having read the other book, so that's a plus. I like Swerling's writing, though as someone who overwhelmingly prefers children's and YA lit, I'm realizing there are certain commonalities with adult lit that I don't enjoy. The book was both a lot more violent and included a lot more sex than I am even remotely close to comfortable with. By the end of the book, I skipped all surgery/battle scenes. Also, I feel like I want to call this "A Novel of War and Exploitation in Old Manhattan." Every woman in this book is exploited a lot (which I know partially reflects the times and the reality), and many of the men, especially the poorer ones, are, too.Overall, it was readable and I enjoyed the ways that Swerling tied the lives of the characters together, though I didn't enjoy some of them. (Joyful is a hero, but (view spoiler)[he's still yet another man who uses Delight--and is unfaithful to Manon. (hide spoiler)]
—J.
