Rate this book

The Rise & Fall Of Great Powers (2014)

by Tom Rachman(Favorite Author)

3.66 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0679643656 (ISBN13: 9780679643654)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

The Dial Press

review 1: Picked this up in a recommendation from dad, who said he needed someone else to read it so he could discuss it. The book kept me engaged for almost the whole duration, even though the jumps between time periods were sometimes jarring. I guess what puts this book squarely on the 'meh' shelf is what to me comes down to the lack of a point. I was left with what I think of as "Castaway syndrome" where the emotional investment in the characters doesn't pay off with a good catharsis. Was Tooly interesting? Not really. Were the people around her interesting? Mostly. And that was as close to a point as I got.
review 2: I liked The Imperfectionists but started out feeling uninspired by this one. I almost put it down but after giving it one more shot ended up enjoy... moreing it. Rachman's social commentary isn't as sharp here as in The Imperfectionists (everyone has smartphones, NYC is full of cupcakes shops etc) and Tooley is a hard character to put your finger on. What the book ends up doing very well (and this is not fully clear until the end) is tell a touching story of how the way we see the world as children and young adults shapes our adult identity. Moving through time, Rachman shows how Tooley is defined by her truth. When the flaws and gaps in that truth are slowly exposed, it's both a tragedy and an opportunity. Rachman capitalizes on the fact that many of us were raised on tales of children who go off and have wild adventures instead of normal childhoods and uses it to paint a funny, sad, and touching picture of what it means to grow up. less

Download links for: The Rise & Fall of Great Powers

Advertising