The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore is a fun, roller coaster ride of a book! It brings to light the history of the race to control the patents and marketing rights to the technology that would bring electricity into common, everyday use. This may not be how a history book would paint this picture, but it makes for a great story with a young, hardworking protagonist to cheer for.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/09/the-last-days-of-night.html.
Reviewed based on a publisher's galley received through NetGalley.
Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2016/09/the-last-days-of-night.html.
Reviewed based on a publisher's galley received through NetGalley.
I made it to page 100 before I admitted that I was struggled with this, and skimmed the rest. (#Life Is Too Short ...) This was done with honest disappointment: I thought it started well, and was very interesting (Illuminating!! Thank you, I'm here all week. There's a tip jar on the bar ...), but then, I realized that I was struggling, and picking it up every day was a bit of a penance. After that strong start, it seemed very one-note and plodding, with characters and storytelling.
A clue to why comes, I think, from the author's CV: this is going to make a fabulous movie or TV series. Talented actors will bring the characters to life, talented cinematographers and set-dressers will bring New York of the 1880s into vivid focus. The author doesn't have to do much with that: he just has to provide the dialogue and the bare bones of a plot, and the rest will be brought to life by a finishing process. Even the relatively short, choppy chapters feel like the scene cuts in a movie, rather than seriously developing the narrative ...
In the early chapters, when I still felt there were possibilities here, I thought Moore was cleverly playing with the idea that the 1880s were, in many ways, were similar to our own times, and it was all spookily familiar. I took that to explain why there was less in the way of establishing the time-period -- the styles and fashions, the feel and sounds and smells of the streets, the alien attitudes -- than you might expect. Look, it seemed to be saying, with their hipster beards, and driving entrepreneurism, they're just like us!
And perhaps that is what he had in mind -- my problem is that it was watered down by flat characterization and poor narrative.
A clue to why comes, I think, from the author's CV: this is going to make a fabulous movie or TV series. Talented actors will bring the characters to life, talented cinematographers and set-dressers will bring New York of the 1880s into vivid focus. The author doesn't have to do much with that: he just has to provide the dialogue and the bare bones of a plot, and the rest will be brought to life by a finishing process. Even the relatively short, choppy chapters feel like the scene cuts in a movie, rather than seriously developing the narrative ...
In the early chapters, when I still felt there were possibilities here, I thought Moore was cleverly playing with the idea that the 1880s were, in many ways, were similar to our own times, and it was all spookily familiar. I took that to explain why there was less in the way of establishing the time-period -- the styles and fashions, the feel and sounds and smells of the streets, the alien attitudes -- than you might expect. Look, it seemed to be saying, with their hipster beards, and driving entrepreneurism, they're just like us!
And perhaps that is what he had in mind -- my problem is that it was watered down by flat characterization and poor narrative.
