Let The Great World Spin

I've written about some of my favorite and least favorite post-9/11 books and I'll admit it's hard to imagine writing a book about New York City that doesn't reference that defining generational moment.  But Colum McCann has done just that.  In Let The Great World Spin, McCann depicts the Twin Towers as the sturdy backdrop for 1974 New York City that was itself spinning out of control.

New York is a city of immigrants, so it is fitting that the opening chapters refer to the Corrigan brothers from Ireland.  The younger brother, known simply as Corrigan, is a heavy drinker but lives his life in service to others.  He prefers living with the down and out so his older brother is less than surprised to find him in America surrounded by a family of hookers in the Bronx. Claire and Lara are mid-west transplants, both living in New York, but very different universes; Claire mourns the death of her son, killed in Vietnam, while Lara mourns her own life, lost to drugs and alcohol.  Gloria meets Claire through a small group of mother's who have lost their sons and Claire's husband, Solomon, is the judge who sentences Tilly, one of the prostitutes befriended by Corrigan.

Each of these people could carry the book on their own and for awhile it's unclear if or how they are all connected.  And then McCann introduces Philippe Petit, a high wire artist who walked a tightrope between the Twin Towers in August of 1974.  Petit momentarily takes our minds off the every day.  As he performs, Gloria imagines he's her son, come back one more time, and Solomon gives thanks for being able to sentence the frivolous and Lara is relieved not to see the details of an auto accident in the paper.  Yet his walk unites all the characters.

From that moment and for a generation, the Twin Towers were powerful: Petit and millions of other's balanced, survived and even thrived.

Netflix stars: 5/5

Also recommended, Man on Wire, the documentary about Petit's famous walk.