Garth Risk Hallberg

The all-too-human individuals who live within this extraordinary first novel are: Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, estranged heirs to one of the city's biggest fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Sam, two Long Island teenagers seduced by downtown's nascent punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter; his spunky, West Coast-transplant neighbor; and the detective trying to figure out what they all have to do with a shooting in Central Park. From post-Vietnam youth culture to the fiscal crisis, from a lushly appointed townhouse on Sutton Place to a derelict squat on East 3rd Street, this city on fire is at once recognizable and completely unexpected. And when the infamous blackout of July 13th, 1977 plunges it into darkness, each of these entangled lives will be changed, irrevocably.

City on Fire

Maurice FitzGerald

** spoiler alert **
           -thus ends ends the longest police procedural ever
-The real evil person was a punk rocker anarchist
-the hero was a cop who was just about to retire, whose wife about to leave him because of the case. 
-You can guess what happened to him.
-way to go Hallberg

Julia A.

Escribir casi mil páginas cuando no eres un escritor ruso del XIX tiene sus peligros. Legible y disfrutable, aunque esperaba más retrato de la escena punk de los 70 en Nueva York y menos historia de una decena de insoportables personajes.

The New York Times bestseller 'Extraordinary...dazzling... a sprawling, generous, warm-hearted epic of 1970s New York' Observer Midnight, New Year's Eve, 1976. Nine lives are about to be changed forever. Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, heirs to one of New York's greatest fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by the punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbour - and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year's Eve. Then, on July 13th, 1977, the lights go out. 'Dazzling' Washington Post 'Heart-stopping' New York Times 'Addictive' Independent 'Extraordinary' Observer

Jade Flynn

City on Fire is literary fiction on steroids topped with more steroids served with a side of steroids finished off with just a pinch more on the side for good luck. Read as part of my own July tome topple readathon.

zilver 

“Sometimes you weren’t yet the person you needed to be to do the work you needed to do.” 

3.5 

This is a whale of a book, that's for sure. It's 900 pages of character explorations, the city of New York being a character in and of itself. Or, that's what it was supposed to be. It surely is an intriguing piece of non-linear narrative but despite having spent over 900 pages with these characters, I had a difficult time really caring about any of them. Or caring enough, at least. 

The underlying story felt a little too wobbly to keep the entire thing afloat. It felt just a little too set up for me to go along with it (though maybe I should have expected that set up, given the supposed but slightly unrealistic interconnectedness of all the characters). A girl gets shot on New Year's Eve and A Lot of Things Happen. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this was a good book. It was told in an interesting way (I really liked the way the interludes functioned as quick glimpses of sides of the story), surrounded a set of big events (the murder, the blackout of '77) and featured a wide range of characters (that still didn't really seem to be able to find their own voices) but it kept me too much at a distance to really get invested.

Rachel

Whew! What a long book. City on Fire involves a lot of characters in the mid 70s in New York and how their lives intertwine around a young woman's shooting on New Years before and after. I give it 3.5 stars, I liked a lot about this book, the plot is detailed and interesting, but it can be slow moving at times. The writing is well done but way too descriptive, everything gets a metaphor or a simile, it was exhausting. The character's are the best part of the book, they are well developed and complex. I enjoyed the book, but definitely could of been improved.

Kristina Bonitz

Robin Howie

lucinda ventimiglia

Klaus Eck

31 décembre 1976. New York se prépare pour le réveillon. Chez les Hamilton-Sweeney, Felicia accueille financiers et mondains tandis qu’à l’autre bout de la ville, dans le Lower East Side, Charlie, venu de Long Island, attend Sam pour assister à un concert punk. Mais Sam a un autre rendez-vous auquel elle tient plus que tout. Elle retrouvera Charlie dans quelques heures à la station de métro de la 72e Rue. A quelques encablures de là, dans Hell’s Kitchen, Mercer Goodman tourne et retourne un délicat carton d’invitation. Et s’il se rendait à la réception des Hamilton-Sweeney pour retrouver Regan, cette soeur que William, en rupture avec sa famille, lui a toujours cachée ? Pourquoi ne pas saisir l’occasion d’en apprendre plus sur William, son amant, l’ancien leader du groupe punk Ex Post Facto ? Bientôt, des coups de feu retentissent dans Central Park. Une ombre s’écroule dans la neige... Qu’est-ce qui peut bien unir ces êtres, qui n’auraient jamais dû être amenés à se rencontrer, à un meurtre commis au coeur de Central Park ? Au sein de ce roman choral, leurs histoires s’entremêlent et nous entraînent dans les recoins les plus infimes de la ville.

Sara Piteira 

City on fire

OLIVIER VALETTE

Michael W

The New York Times bestseller A Granta Best of Young American Novelists 2017 'Extraordinary...dazzling... a sprawling, generous, warm-hearted epic of 1970s New York' Observer Midnight, New Year’s Eve, 1976. Nine lives are about to be changed forever. Regan and William Hamilton-Sweeney, heirs to one of New York's greatest fortunes; Keith and Mercer, the men who, for better or worse, love them; Charlie and Samantha, two suburban teenagers seduced by the punk scene; an obsessive magazine reporter and his idealistic neighbour – and the detective trying to figure out what any of them have to do with a shooting in Central Park on New Year’s Eve. Then, on July 13th, 1977, the lights go out. 'Dazzling' Washington Post 'Heart-stopping' New York Times 'Addictive' Independent 'Extraordinary' Observer

City on Fire

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