Heyday: A Novel [Hardcover]

 

 

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Heyday will remind you of many wonderful historical and literary novels from A Tale of Two Cities to Les Miserables to Ragtime to the Berrybender Narratives. Yet Heyday's concept and execution sweep vastly beyond its inspirations. Where many grandly conceived novels sound good in proposals, most lack the execution to keep your attention. That's not the case with Heyday. This novel is the real deal, undoubtedly one of the top 10 novels that you will have a chance to read in 2007. In the meantime I, for one, will wait with bated breath for Mr. Andersen's next book.

I've always been fascinated with 1848 and 1849, the time of Heyday's action. Why? Almost every large change that can possibly happen did at some time during those two years. Europe saw monarchy after monarchy fall to bloody street revolutions. Within a year, most of those revolutions were, in turn, toppled. The world economy was rapidly shifting away from Europe towards the United States, and immigrants wanted in. At the same time Marx and Engels were establishing Communism, and John Jacob Astor was dying. The Mother Lode country was opened up for gold mining in California. Kurt Andersen manages to capture the richness of that pivotal moment in Western civilization's history and tie the events all together through the actions of his intrepid characters. But unlike many historical novels that try to ignore history or treat it very reverently, Mr. Andersen approaches the subject with good-natured fun. You'll find yourself amused in new ways almost everywhere.

One of the most unexpected qualities of the book is that he has done an enormous amount of research to help put you into the shoes of ordinary people in those times. You'll learn how the sex trade operated, what contraceptive means were used, how volunteer fire companies fought fires in Manhattan, how street battles were conducted in Paris, how gold was mined in California, details of how the U.S. beat Mexico and created a generation of politicians and generals who would become prominent during the Civil War, and how various Utopian communities operated in those idealistic days.

Two characters span the action more than any other. The first is the younger son of a wealthy English banking family that recently became titled, Benjamin Knowles. While in Paris, a woman asks him to hold an object that he cannot identify. Since he's already occupied holding a stuffed penguin for his father, this is an imposition. From that simple exchange come a series of events that shake the world and dog his steps. The other continuing character is guardsman Gabriele Drumont, who wants to rid the world of revolutionaries.

After leaving Paris, Benjamin heads to New York where he can explore the possibilities that are offered to the new man in the wide open America. In New York, he finds love and two rather unusual and intriguing friends, Duff Lucking, a fireman with a troubled past and uncertain future, and Timothy Skaggs, a journalist who wants to photograph the heavens. Their many adventures will constantly surprise you.

Although it's tempting to tell you more, I'll stop here. You'll have more fun if you uncover all of the good-humored writing in this book for yourself.

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Wow! What can I say, 600 and some pages and I finished it in three days! When I first picked this book up I figured I'd be reading it for months. This is a hard book to sum up as there is a lot going on, but I'll try.

Its 1848 and humanity is about to be reborn into a new world. There is revolution in Europe; Inventions of all kinds appear daily railroads, steam boats, telegraph, and Photography; Modern culture is taking shape on Broadway and in newspapers, and traveling spectacles; the economy is awash with money and life is all sex, drugs and rock & roll (ok there was no rock roll). At this same time the Bear flag rebellion has taken place and California is now part of the United States, and wouldn't you know it, gold is discover a few months later! In the midst of all this we are introduced to Benjamin Knowles, a young aristocrat from England who, enchanted with the promise of a strange new wickedness in the United States, travels to America. He finds this promise in New York City in the form of Timothy Skaggs a hard drinking newspaper man, and Duff Lucking a photographer and sometimes arsonist/firefighter, and Duffs sister, Polly, an actress and prostitute. Benjamin falls Polly and their tumultuous relationship propels the entire group west to California. This is a large, raucous book, a true epic. The author has a satiric bent that is not spared on anyone or any convention of the time period. And as someone who is a student of history of the west, Andersen has done his research, this is a true historical novel in that it is true to the time period. I know I am not doing justice to this sweeping novel, but I'd say it is one of the more important fictional novels I have read in the past decade, and it is also a fun read!

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