Writing is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. ( )

This is a wonderful book, but I enjoyed the music provided by the entertaining movie (which included "The Entertainer" ( )

3.75. Great to read if you love the musical. ( )

Did not finish ( )

I just finished this and liked it fairly well. Much of it, especially in the beginning, was not so much a story to follow---more like a list of everything the narrator could think of that went on during the time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, just lots of snippets of information without a lot of depth. By the middle of the story though, I began to see everything come together and the three families' stories ended predictably but satisfactorily entwined.

I love reading anything about this period of time. Many of my turn of the century favorites made cameos: Houdini, Emma Goldman, and Lavinia Warren, to name just a few.

So many times I found myself laying the book aside to Google a story and see if it was true. Turns out, much of this is fiction surrounded by lots of historical characters and settings. Some of my favorite parts included the story of Charles Victor Faust and the very violent baseball game, Evelyn Nesbit's generosity, and JP Morgan's crazy ideas about Egypt and the afterlife.

I probably won't read this one again, but I don't regret the time I gave to it. One more off my 1001 list! ( )