I am a sucker for a book about a group. What reminded me of this was Joanna Smith Rakoff's A Fortunate Age, her homage to Mary McCarthy's endlessly re-readable...
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Anderson's novel Heyday is reminiscent of John Jakes' Bicentennial Series from the 1970s. The story is set in 1848 and the characters are always running into famous people. Oh look who came to dinner! Charles Darwin! Let's buy some soap in Cincinnatti from Mr. Proctor's store! Guess who's law partner they meet in Springfield, Illinois? This was tedious to say the least and annoying after awhile. Although I appreciated that the author researched the era thoroughly, and I learned some new things (like the Croton system of water for NYC), it was just too clever by half.
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Heyday: A Novel by Kurt Andersen
CBensen, April 29, 2008
Anderson's novel Heyday is reminiscent of John Jakes' Bicentennial Series from the 1970s. The story is set in 1848 and the characters are always running into famous people. Oh look who came to dinner! Charles Darwin! Let's buy some soap in Cincinnatti from Mr. Proctor's store! Guess who's law partner they meet in Springfield, Illinois? This was tedious to say the least and annoying after awhile. Although I appreciated that the author researched the era thoroughly, and I learned some new things (like the Croton system of water for NYC), it was just too clever by half.(1 of 5 readers found this comment helpful)