Thanks to Goodreads for sending this First Reads book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

Interesting "gritty" writing style. I found the book a little slow moving at first. Fairly interesting as it went along. Overall well written, characters nicely developed, even though Helen seemed a tad one-dimensional. ( )

I admit defeat - I just don't have it in me to finish this book. I am not drawn to the main character, I am not at all intrigued by the stories of Seattle during the World's Fair...I just can't get into it. as a former Seattle resident, I was at least hoping for snippets of places around the city I loved...but I was disappointed there, too. Not bad writing - just not the book for me. ( )

This book probably has the most meaning for you if you are a true native of Seattle. If you're not, at best, it will give you the slimmest of glimpses into the Seattle of 1962 but it doesn't flesh out that story enough to ever give you a full picture of either the World's Fair or the graft and corruption scandals of the period.

The most disappointing thing for me was that it never adequately captured the feeling and spirit that native Seattlites had about their fair. I have slides and pictures and whole history gallery created by my grandfather of my families attendance at the fair. I also have many memories of going to the Seattle Center in the early 70's when the Center House still had many shops, booths, a much larger international food court than what it has now and the Bubbleator as well as a complete working fun fair outside. It was always more than the Space Needle and although the book attempts to center the action at the Needle and make it a focal point, it misses an opportunity to really show what the Seattle Center was in its heyday and beyond.

As for the premise of switching back to 2001 and a mayoral race, that was a weak premise to really discuss the newspaper wars with the dying local, the Post Intelligencer pitted against the Seattle Times and in fact, the death of the newspaper industry in the city.

Lynch missed an opportunity because I think he tried to tell too many stories instead of focusing on one good one. Perhaps he tried to cash in on the 50th anniversary bash of the world's fair. He would have done better to go and read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and realize that you can tell a great story that involves a small radius - in the case of this book, the Seattle Center grounds - people it with wonderful characters, and bring an interesting piece of history to life that occurred within a fascinating social context. Missed opportunity. ( )

This book has two plotlines: one takes places during the 1963 World's Fair in Seattle, and follows the fair's fictional creator, Roger Morgan. The other storyline is in 2003, when Roger Morgan, now in his 70s, decides to run for mayor, and focuses on the young journalist who writes stories about him.

The book focuses on corruption in the police department in the 1960s - Roger Morgan slowly discovers this corruption, and 40 years later the journalist tries to implicate him in the scandal. There is also a lot of attention paid to Seattle's growth - at the time of the world's fair, it was still a podunk town trying to prove its class. By 2003, it was still suffering from the dotcom bust, but had established itself as a big city to be taken seriously.

There's lots of interesting historical information scattered throughout the book, but as a reader it can be hard to sort the fact from the fiction, and the author offers no guidance about this whatsoever (I am always disappointed if there isn't an afterward telling me what to believe and what not to believe.)

Mostly, this is a story about journalism and journalistic integrity. The journalist has the power to make or break Roger Morgan, depending on the tone of her story. She comes across as rash and irresponsible, and it makes you think about how much you can trust "investigative journalism."

All in all, some decent food for thought here, but nothing tremendously compelling. If you don't know Seattle, there's probably no reason for you to read the book. ( )

Hot damn. I really liked this book. As a result I don't have a lot to say about it. It's so much easier to trash a bad book then to laud a good one.

So here's a sentence I quite liked from page 16:

Her eyes panned the glistening skyline as a cruise ship peeled away from the waterfront like an entire city block calving into the bay.

Pretty great, eh? I'd recommend this book to just about anyone, especially those with a fondness of Seattle. ( )