From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
I've read a few books by Dennis Lehane, but stopped reading his work a few years back after a book about a child's kidnapping that was just too much for me to bear. I decided to read this book because it was a departure from his modern-day Boston series. The story in The Given Day takes place in a few locations, but Boston is the center of the action. Set just after WWI, it was thought provoking in many ways.
While thought-provoking, it is not an uplifting book. I found myself wondering whether o ...more
While thought-provoking, it is not an uplifting book. I found myself wondering whether o ...more
Strong historical fiction that blends major historical events (the Influenza Pandemic, the Boston Police Strike) with fictional characters representing the Black and the Irish American experience. There is a fair amount of violence and the characters are well-drawn and sympathetic. I read this after a vacation in Boston and found the book to have a strong sense of place, which I wanted. Sadly there were many parallels to today's world - a pandemic, racist violence, inflation.
I listened to the au ...more
I listened to the au ...more
This is a book you need to give a couple of chapters to get going but it is SO worth it. I haven't read a lot about this time period (early 1900's) so I was interested from that perspective but also because I've never read a bad book by Dennis Lehane.
This is a big, fat epic novel that fully explores the characters--I thoroughly enjoyed it! ...more
This is a big, fat epic novel that fully explores the characters--I thoroughly enjoyed it! ...more
This book covers only 2 years of post WWI Boston life, but it feels like an epic Saga. So much happens between 1918 and 1920 - Babe Ruth starts hitting home runs like no one has ever seen, workers begin to organize, anarchists attack the City, and the Spanish influenza epidemic infects masses. And all of that is just the backdrop to the drama of two families - one white, and one black - and their internal struggles as well as their modern fears.
A very good historical fiction novel based in Boston in 1919. Lehane's characters are always so well-thought out though his stories get a little overdrawn.
...more
Sep 27, 2008
Maria
marked it as to-read
Oct 22, 2008
Julia
marked it as to-read
Oct 30, 2008
Jenny
marked it as to-read
Feb 24, 2009
Joseph
added it
May 05, 2009
Rebecca
marked it as to-read
Jul 15, 2009
Shannon
marked it as to-read
Dec 01, 2010
Amy
marked it as to-read
Aug 02, 2011
Tiffany
marked it as to-read
Dec 06, 2012
Christine
marked it as to-read
Dec 20, 2012
Arianna
marked it as to-read
Feb 14, 2014
Alissa
marked it as to-read
May 28, 2015
Martha
marked it as to-read
Aug 09, 2015
Isabel
marked it as to-read
Dec 15, 2015
Laura
marked it as to-read
Aug 31, 2016
Laine
marked it as to-read
Oct 06, 2016
Sarah
marked it as to-read
Feb 12, 2017
Tanya
marked it as to-read
May 17, 2017
Terri FL
marked it as to-read
