Book #14: Let the Great World Spin

Title: Let the Great World Spin
Author: Colum McCann

I reserved Let the Great World Spin from the library three times before I actually got around to reading it. Over the last year, I also had it in my actual shopping cart at Target and in my virtual shopping cart at Amazon. I knew it was a book that I wanted to read in theory, but for some reason I really didn't want to sit down and open this book about New Yorkers in August of 1974, when Philippe Petit walked between the towers of the World Trade Center on a tightrope; New Yorkers whose lives became inextricably bound.

The first section of the book confirmed my suspicions-- it was a hard storyline, something that didn't resonate with me and something I really didn't want to know more about. But I persisted in reading the story of hard-edged prostitutes working in the South Bronx and the priest who watched out for them. The book is written as a series of stories about New Yorkers, and it's not until late in the book that the stories start to come together, that the "six degrees of separation" element starts to take shape. The later stories helped me understand and appreciate the earlier ones.

Let the Great World Spin isn't a book to read quickly, to rush through. The prose is beautiful, and I found myself consciously telling myself several times to slow down and savor it. I guess some readers may think that the interconnectedness of the characters is somewhat improbable, but I found the idea that there are binding ties and connections between people of widely varying backgrounds to be really comforting. The last chapter of the book is one of the most beautiful things I've ever read. Slowly.