- Paperback: 640 pages
- Publisher: Back Bay Books UK (Nov 3 2003)
- ISBN-10: 0316735698
- ASIN: B000ESSSHK
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (111 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,027,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This novel demands that the reader immediately suspend disbelief, but if this summons is heeded the reward will be a superior tale told by Hamill (Snow in August; A Drinking Life) in the cadence of the master storyteller. The year is 1741 and this is the story of Cormac O'Connor-"Irish, and a Jew"-who grows up in Ireland under English Protestant rule and is secretly schooled in Gaelic religion, myth and language. Seeking to avenge the murder of his father by the Earl of Warren, he follows the trail of the earl to New York City. On board ship, Cormac befriends African slave Kongo, and once in New York, the two join a rebellion against the British. After the rising is quelled, mobs take to the streets and Kongo is seized. Cormac saves Kongo from death, but is shot in the process. His recovery takes a miraculous turn when Kongo's dead priestess, Tomora, appears and grants Cormac eternal life and youth-so long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan, thus the "Forever" of the title. What follows is a portrait of the "city of memory of which Cormac was the only citizen." Cormac fights in the American Revolution, sups with Boss Tweed (in a very sympathetic portrait) and lives into the New York of 2001. In that year he warily falls in love with Delfina, a streetwise Dominican ("That was the curse attached to the gift: You buried everyone you loved"), and comes into contact with a descendant of the Earl of Warren, the newspaper publisher Willie Warren. His love, his drive for revenge and his very desire to exist are fatefully challenged on the eve and the day of September 11. This rousing, ambitious work is beautifully woven around historical events and characters, but it is Hamill's passionate pursuit of justice and compassion-Celtic in foundation-that distinguishes this tale of New York City and its myriad peoples.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Cormac O'Connor arrived in New York in 1741-and he's still there, having been granted immortality as long as he remains on the island of Manhattan.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ambitious,
This review is from: Forever: A Novel (Hardcover)
3.5 StarsAuthor Pete Hamill has proven more than once he is an extremely talented writer. This book may appeal more to native New Yorkers than those of us who just very much enjoy the city. However, as a book, "Forever", attempts far too much even though it uses over 600 pages to tell its tale. The author mentions some books that he used as references for this work. One of them is part one of a multi-volume history of NYC and it does not even reach the 20th Century. This book attempts to cover far more history with broad strokes and shallow descriptions. It may be fiction but it is historical fiction and must be held to a higher standard. If the book is broken in to thirds the first of the three is completed before Comic receives his "gift". The second part covers years measured in triple digits, and by the beginning of the third and final section you know the event that will end the book. And I did not read the review that gave the ending event away. The author mentions the subject so many times, the final event is impossible to misjudge. The actual ending of the book I found to be poor and in contradiction to everything the author had lead the reader to believe was important to Cormac. The main character fails to do much of what the centuries of confinement in Manhattan are intended to provide for him. After over 600 pages I like a resolution of some sort as opposed to perhaps there will be a sequel, or perhaps there will not. If there is a part two I will not read it. To be fair part of the frustration I felt with this book was the familiarity I felt as I had seen the film, "Gangs of New York", recently. I think the film mentioned The Dead Rabbits and The Five Points less than this book did. I was also annoyed by the gentle portrayal of historical figures like Boss Tweed. To suggest this person was a jolly old soused soul who deserved pity at the end of his life is simply absurd. And do not expect to experience NYC as Cormac is alleged to have experienced it for much of what the author will give you are short memories of working steel on the Woolworth Building, laying track, or blasting for subways. The detail is little and far too infrequent. There is no question that the event the author chose as the culminating point for his book was as large as any in NYC's history, but unlike many of the book's events this final one has repercussions far wider than that of NYC. It actually renders the city a player in larger events, as opposed to the center of history that the author reserves for it throughout the vast majority of the book. This novel was heavily promoted and created very high expectations. And that may have been the problem. Had the book come out and been left alone it may have had many more reviews and readers that thought much more highly of it. But the reality is this book does not live up to its sweeping premise of a two and one half century epic. And I found the final great event, placed the close of this book in to the category of cliché, for Pete Hamill is far too good a writer to use what he did to close out his book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Ending,
By
This review is from: Forever: A Novel (Paperback)
I must say I really enjoyed this book. There are some slower parts, as one would expect in a 600 page book, but all in all, a very satisfying enjoyable story.I wonder about the caption on the back cover though: "If you've recently read Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter, read this book" - Forever is nothing like either series, it's not a good comparision.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good summer read for lovers of Big Apple,
By Dangle's girl (Astoria, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Forever: A Novel (Paperback)
For a writer like Hamill whose best work is centered on New York, it's a shame that "Forever" seems to lose a bit of steam as soon as the main character sets foot on Manhattan island. The first chapters set in a devastated and demon-haunted Ireland are beautifully written and compelling. But Cormac's adventures in the New World take on a high school history class slideshow-like quality as the novel skips from period to period. And as much as I admire Hamill's multiculturalism, by about the fourth dusky femme fatale that Cormac conquers it started to curdle into a kind of condescending exoticism. Hamill can still write the pants off most authors out there, however, and glimpses of some lesser-known periods of New York history are fascinating. Altogether well worth a look.
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