Let the Great World Spin

A Novel

By: Colum McCann

Narrated by: Richard Poe, Gerard Doyle, Carol Monda, Johanna Parker, Ramon De Ocampo

Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • Colum McCann’s beloved novel inspired by Philippe Petit’s daring high-wire stunt, which is also depicted in the film The Walk starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt

In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people.

Let the Great World Spin is the critically acclaimed author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s.

Corrigan, a radical young Irish monk, struggles with his own demons as he lives among the prostitutes in the middle of the burning Bronx. A group of mothers gather in a Park Avenue apartment to mourn their sons who died in Vietnam, only to discover just how much divides them even in grief. A young artist finds herself at the scene of a hit-and-run that sends her own life careening sideways. Tillie, a thirty-eight-year-old grandmother, turns tricks alongside her teenage daughter, determined not only to take care of her family but to prove her own worth. Elegantly weaving together these and other seemingly disparate lives, McCann’s powerful allegory comes alive in the unforgettable voices of the city’s people, unexpectedly drawn together by hope, beauty, and the “artistic crime of the century.”

A sweeping and radical social novel, Let the Great World Spin captures the spirit of America in a time of transition, extraordinary promise, and, in hindsight, heartbreaking innocence. Hailed as a “fiercely original talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), award-winning novelist McCann has delivered a triumphantly American masterpiece that awakens in us a sense of what the novel can achieve, confront, and even heal.

©2009 Colum McCann (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“This is a gorgeous book, multilayered and deeply felt, and it’s a damned lot of fun to read, too. Leave it to an Irishman to write one of the greatest-ever novels about New York. There’s so much passion and humor and pure lifeforce on every page of Let the Great World Spin that you’ll find yourself giddy, dizzy, overwhelmed.”—Dave Eggers

“In his own gritty and lyrical voice, Colum McCann has lifted up a handful of souls to the light in this big-hearted, adroit and probing novel, and brought forth a spectrum of the painful, the beautiful and the unexpected.”—Amy Bloom

“Every character grabs you by the throat and makes you care. McCann’s dazzling polyphony walks the high wire and succeeds triumphantly.”—Emma Donoghue, author of Room

A Masterpiece read by master story tellers...

I loved having this work of art read to me and relive it without straining my eyes..and realize the things I missed when I read it in 2009
it deserved The Pulitzer as we as the other awards it received that year.

This what a great novel feels like

I picked it up by chance and eventually decided to give it a chance, a New York novel by an Irish transplant that I never heard of before. it didn't take long before McCann had pulled me in, and there was no way to let go. It's pure magic, reminding me of Dickens and Tolstoy. I'm amazed and mystified by the author's emotional depth and broad experience and knowledge. How was it possible for him to enter so many lives in such different groups and across generations?

Expected better I guess

I guess I expected it to be more engrossing/interesting. Was a bit boring at parts and not all the characters intertwined (namely the Tagger), which is what I was waiting for the whole time. Some of the narrators were tough to listen to as well. Except Richard Poe- he is epic. I did not feel that the end pulled it all together.

Nnneeeww reviewwwee

Rrrrrr yyyyyy ooooo pppppp ttttt eeeee gggggg mmmmmmm nnnnnnnnn ssss www nnn ooo pppp ccc.

Wish I'd chosen the book, rather than audio.

Parts of this book I loved, and parts I just wanted to get through... but I suspect my troubles with it were due to the uneven (and sluggish) performances in the audiobook. I generally prefer narration that disappears, when a single reader just reads the book in a lively voice (and PLEASE--don't "do" voices). When that's the case, the narrator essentially becomes my own voice internal reading the book, rather than a "performance" by a "cast." This story switches the POV frequently, and each time a new actor comes on to read--and I just found it distracting and annoying. Also, the narration was mind-numbingly slow. It's beautiful prose, but it's supposed to be set in New York, and no New Yorker speaks that slowly. (I had to listen to much of it on 1.5x just to make it sound normal).

It's a lovely story, though, with a diverse array of characters--some I would have like to have heard less from, some I wanted to know more about. It's beautifully written and captures a New York that I remember seeing, mostly out of my peripheral vision, when I was growing up along the city's edge.

I'd recommend the book, but not the audiobook. I found myself regretting choosing Audible for this one; I think this is just one that was meant to be read.

wonderful book

read this book for a class. fascinating characters fascinating story that intertwines and eventually connects all characters together. will look four other books by same author

a wide ranging story of lfe

another tour de force by Colum McCann. often grittyn depicting experiences few of us have lived. a masterful weaving of stories.

Lushly written, intriguingly interwoven stories

I loved this book, and I am a picky listener. I loved the rich writing that made me stop occasionally to savor a turn of phrase. I loved the intertwined stories, although they did not go where I sometimes expected they would. The narration REALLY enhances the experience of the novel - hearing the various accents and voices really helped me see the kaleidoscopic nature of the story. Fabulous!

Beautiful Narration of a Great Story

What did you love best about Let the Great World Spin?

The structure of the storytelling.

What did you like best about this story?

The multi-dimensionality of the story, constructed as it is, makes the whole greater than the sum of its individually-compelling parts.

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The younger brother's unswerving compassion, throughout.

Any additional comments?

One of the few books that is better in audio form -- though I suspect it would be fantastic in print as well.

great story

A lovely story with vibrant characters and unexpected turns- it carries you along seamlessly though the narrative