Let the Great World Spin

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann is a series of short stories that come together in the end. The stories are about individuals living in New York City during the famous tight-walking episode in 1974. Each tale tells what people were doing while a man was doing interesting antics on a tight walk extended between the World Trade Center towers.

The individuals or group of people are from different walks of life – very different. From priest to prostitutes to poor Blacks to high society, each had his or her own story to tell. Their lives, amazingly, all overlap. However, the actual telling of the stories seemed a bit disjointed. This made the book less enjoyable to read as I would have liked.

Each entity is well written but the coincidence of how all touch each other is a bit coerced. Getting beyond that, it is interesting how McCann brings it all together in the end. Again, a bit coerced but doable. Although the tight-walking episode is fact, the rest of the book is fiction.

Let the Great World Spin would make a good book for a book group discussion – a where-were-you-when type of discussion.