Egan is author of the sprawling coming-of-age novel A Visit from the Goon Squad which won the Pulitzer Prize. She has written another epic genre-bending novel this time set during WW2 in New York City, it’s immersive, sparkling and exhilarating.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Fiction, Adventure, Thriller, Historical Fiction
Publisher: Corsair
Review in one word: Nostalgic
* Contains no spoilers
There is so much to say about this book and it spans across multiple genres with finesse and grace. There’s something in here for everyone, a bit of romance, a chequered family history, a dynamic backdrop of Manhattan during the bustling uncertainty of WW2, a struggling yet loving family, a bold and brave female lead character, gangsters, good girls, bad girls. It’s a real mash-up.
The prose in this novel is crisp and sublime in parts and immersed me deeply into the world of the heroine Anna Kerrigan a plucky and ambitious young woman who despite the prejudices against her gender, wants to become a diver using the arcane and dangerous equipment of the time to address problems on naval vessels.
Reading this novel is an exhilarating trip into a lost world of old naval vessels, analogue technology, letter writing and missed opportunities to connect. There is a deep and enjoyable nostalgia to the vibrant Manhattan setting, the lingo and slang of the era and even the proper and formal ways people address each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this!
Although the novel suffers a bit from its own ambition, there are too many narrative threads going on, too many superfluous characters and sometimes the loose ends of these narrative arcs don’t come together as smoothly you would have hoped. There is a hurried sense to the last third of the book to reach a denouement and various twists and turns in the suspenseful sub-plot could have been a bit less self-conscious and awkward.
Overall though, this is a wonderful, lush and expansive bit of escapism into a lost world and I heartily recommend this on a dark and stormy weekend or for some summer beach reading!
Have you read Manhattan Beach? if you have let me know what you think below…
Content Catnip 