In the Land of Dreams, by Lawrence Swaim. Top Hat Books, 2017

Protagonist #1 starts the story by telling us about his intake into a transitional residential facility in New York. He has knowingly made his way there (by talking about suicidal ideation at the emergency room) because he wants to be in the area when an ancestor of his comes to visit, an ancestor who is stalking him. This ancestor has knowledge of treasure of vast worth- and of a curse. When he shares this with the therapist and the other residents of the shelter, he is declared delusional. But it isn’t very long before the shelter has another new person: the ancestor, Barnt.

Most of the rest of the story is Barnt telling his story. Back when New York was barely New Amsterdam, his family was there. We learn about his business dealings, how he met his second wife- the most beautiful person on earth-, how they married, what happened after, and how the family came to be cursed by his actions. It is a very, very long story. He travels back and forth between New Amsterdam and his home in the wilds. He and his wife have sex constantly (no graphic sex, just saying it happened). We are left in the dark as to whether Barnt is a figment of the protagonist’s imagination, a ghost, or the person in the flesh, doomed to roam New York like some Ancient Mariner, telling his tale.

I have to say I had trouble sticking with this book. Every action Barnt took is told in great detail. In the end it is an unsubtle moralistic tale, which seemed like a very abrupt finish. I am afraid I can only give it three stars out of five. 

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The World of Tomorrow, by Brendan Mathews. Little, Brown and Co 2017

 The story starts with Scottish Sir Angus traveling from Great Britain to New York on the Britannic, first class, of course. With him is his grievously injured younger brother, Malcolm. The purpose of their trip is to seek medical care for Malcolm. His fellow travelers are very impressed with him, and plans are made to see him further after arrival in New York. The only problem is that he is Irish, his real name is Francis Dempsey, he is an escaped criminal (for selling French postcards and the like), and his money is stolen from an IRA safe house that he accidently blew up with their own explosives. He is on the run and doing it with style.

Michael (Malcolm) was caught in the explosion and has suffered hearing loss and a severe concussion. The only one he can hear now is the ghost of W.B. Yeats, who spends a lot of time with him.

Meanwhile, oldest brother Martin (he has no fake Scottish name) emigrated to the US years before and has been making a living (albeit a poor one) as a jazz musician. In the middle of preparing for his sister-in-law’s wedding, he is assembling an amazing jazz band that will cross color lines – something not yet done in 1939. He is also out of a job as a horn player, something which has upset his wife very badly. She’s taking care of two toddlers in a rundown apartment and wishing for something more than constant drudgery. So when Francis barges into their lives, with money and problems, she doesn’t know whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing- but it’s probably bad.

Nobody kills IRA operatives and steals their money and gets away with it, no matter how far they run. An Irish gangster in New York finds Francis and gives him an ultimatum: do what I ask- a job which will no doubt be fatal to Francis- or his family will all be killed. Oh, and Michael, unable to communicate, has wandered off.

It’s a big, sprawling, book with numerous narrative streams. The characters range from the very rich to the very poor. There are gangsters, people who want to be EX gangsters, royalty, extremely neurotic people, artists, and every other kind of person. I enjoyed the story, although sometimes I had trouble remembering the narrative stream of one character after reading about others for many pages. Part of the enjoyment I found was the descriptions of everything that was happening in NYC at the time: the World’s Fair, the receding Depression, the burgeoning jazz scene especially in Harlem- NYC was alive with change. Four and a half stars.

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This in no way influenced my review.  

Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney. St. Martin’s Press, 2016

It’s New Year’s Eve of 1984, and 85 year old Lillian Boxfish is taking one of her long walks through New York City. She hit New York young; she wanted out from under the thumb of her family in D.C., and she wanted the exciting life of the big city. She soon was hired by Macy’s, writing distinctive ad copy, as well as publishing books of poems. She made quite a lot of money, despite not being paid nearly as much as the male ad writers.

As Lillian walks, the cityscape brings back memories of her long life. Here was the tiny apartment she and her best friend shared, where they partied constantly. Here’s the ladies only hotel she lived in while saving up for said apartment. Here’s Macy’s, where she worked up until she became pregnant and became persona non grata. Here’s the park, the Hudson, the restaurants. The hospital where she was taken when she had a breakdown.

The story is not just an autobiography of Lillian, but a paean to the city and its evolution. I came to love “listening” to Lillian tell her story, like sitting down to tea or cocktails with a really tough but nice woman, who spans the time from Prohibition and speakeasies to the 80s AIDS epidemic. Lillian is witty and arch, as if sitting at the Algonquin Round Table. The only thing I found odd was that everyone was so friendly and accommodating; after hearing for decades how rough and gruff New Yorkers are, it was odd to find even the muggers being nice.

The above is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy something- anything- from Amazon, they will give me a few cents. 

I received this book free from the Amazon Vine program in return for a fair review. 

Neither of these things influenced my review.