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World's End
American Literature
Hardcover
First published October 8, 1987
181 people are currently reading
7169 people want to read
About the author
T. Coraghessan Boyle
156 books2,993 followersT. Coraghessan Boyle (also known as T.C. Boyle, is a U.S. novelist and short story writer. Since the late 1970s, he has published eighteen novels and twleve collections of short stories. He won the PEN/Faulkner award in 1988 for his third novel, World's End, which recounts 300 years in upstate New York. He is married with three children. Boyle has been a
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.
He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.
Professor of English at the University of Southern California since 1978, when he founded the school's undergraduate creative writing program.
He grew up in the small town on the Hudson Valley that he regularly fictionalizes as Peterskill (as in widely anthologized short story Greasy Lake). Boyle changed his middle name when he was 17 and exclusively used Coraghessan for much of his career, but now also goes by T.C. Boyle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
December 6, 2020
Okay, so this is my first five-star rating (on Goodreads), & the last book I would have taken such liberties to rave about was the often-mentioned "Middlesex."
Omnipresent question: How the HELL did someone concoct such a wonder-full yarn?
Well, there is plenty to write about. About generations and about curses and about lives well lived and wasted away, lives separated from commonalities that should bring them together otherwise, about the culture particular to the towns upon the Hudson (of which I have read previously--in Allegra Goodman's "Kaaterskill Falls" & about the Jewish population in that village). There are Hamletesque ghosts here, and "collisions with history." The main character, who turns out to be just the person you thought he'd turn out to be (ahem--replica of the father), loses limbs essential to staying grounded (hint, hint), and he's indeed lost, floating away from strong associations to the land that the Dutch cultivated. He is one of the most un-complex, yet ambivalent, antiheroes read of late. That I cannot really retell his story, that it takes a few reels of memory to place exactly when I fell for this novel hard is incredible!
I cannot describe the feeling of the book. The novel is wisely readable, every character is placed with great care in the plot to do something. Everything in its place. T. C. Boyle pulls off something that could not be done. Boyle understands the American question (which is twofold--leave to embrace the ghosts of the past, or proceed unto the uncertain terrains of the future?); he gives himself fully to a story that occurs in the 1980's & concurrently three centuries before. This is a colonization story in more ways than one. This type of literature, whether American or Dutch, seems so vibrant with possibilities. This one is a must for those in desperate need of knowing that our generation's writers are not to be discounted nor even, for that matter, labeled. Here is an utterly amazing creation that can vouch for exactly that!
(2009)
Omnipresent question: How the HELL did someone concoct such a wonder-full yarn?
Well, there is plenty to write about. About generations and about curses and about lives well lived and wasted away, lives separated from commonalities that should bring them together otherwise, about the culture particular to the towns upon the Hudson (of which I have read previously--in Allegra Goodman's "Kaaterskill Falls" & about the Jewish population in that village). There are Hamletesque ghosts here, and "collisions with history." The main character, who turns out to be just the person you thought he'd turn out to be (ahem--replica of the father), loses limbs essential to staying grounded (hint, hint), and he's indeed lost, floating away from strong associations to the land that the Dutch cultivated. He is one of the most un-complex, yet ambivalent, antiheroes read of late. That I cannot really retell his story, that it takes a few reels of memory to place exactly when I fell for this novel hard is incredible!
I cannot describe the feeling of the book. The novel is wisely readable, every character is placed with great care in the plot to do something. Everything in its place. T. C. Boyle pulls off something that could not be done. Boyle understands the American question (which is twofold--leave to embrace the ghosts of the past, or proceed unto the uncertain terrains of the future?); he gives himself fully to a story that occurs in the 1980's & concurrently three centuries before. This is a colonization story in more ways than one. This type of literature, whether American or Dutch, seems so vibrant with possibilities. This one is a must for those in desperate need of knowing that our generation's writers are not to be discounted nor even, for that matter, labeled. Here is an utterly amazing creation that can vouch for exactly that!
(2009)
May 24, 2022
Nein mein bester Boyle war das nicht, aber er war gut. Typisch episch breit verwebt T.C. eine Familiengeschichte von der ersten Besiedlung des Staates New York im 17. Jahrhundert, damals noch Neuwe Amsterdam über das Geschehen in den 70er Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts bis in die Gegenwart Dabei spannt Boyle genial die Klammer zwischen Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, das Chaos der vielen Figuren lichtet sich aber schon zu Beginn sehr schnell, da es im Prinzip nur um eine Handvoll Familien geht, die bis ins Heute mit den Vorfahren verwandt und im Städtchen Peterskill picken geblieben sind. Im Prinzip wird hier nämlich ein sehr winziges Universum präsentiert, zumal nämlich die Archetypen und Charaktere der Familien sich in der Geschichte wiederholen und sogar die Schicksalsschläge sind ähnlich konzeptioniert. So verlieren die Van Brunts inflationär ihre Beine und neigen zum Verrätertum, die Van Warts werden von Ihren Weibern mit Indianern aus dem Hause Mohonk beschissen, was sich in den Schwarzen Haaren und manchmal auch in grünen Augen (von den Van Brunts in die Indianerlinie gebracht) über die Generationen manifestiert, die Cranes sind Aufwiegler, in der Vergangenheit gegen die Ordnung der Van Warts und in der Gegenwart gegen das Establishment. Bei so viel Duplizität in der Familienchronik kann man die Figuren sehr schnell einsortieren zu welcher Mischpoche sie gehören.
Das ganze Werk stellt eine Aufarbeitung der lokalen Geschichte der Region dar, aus der T.C. Boyle stammt, es liest sich sehr flüssig und die Seiten fliegen nur so dahin. Beim googeln fällt dann auch auf, dass hier bei weitem nicht alles Fiktion ist, denn die Peekskil Unruhen beim Konzert der Bürgerrechtler, als Nazis friedlich feiernde Menschen vor allem Frauen und Kinder aufklatschten und verprügelten haben auch in der Realität so stattgefunden.
Jetzt stellt sich aber die Frage, warum bei all dem Lob dies nicht mein bester Boyle sein soll. Zur Anmerkung, meine Lieblinge sind Wassermusik, America (The Tortilla Curtain), Grün ist die Hoffnung und Wenn das Schlachten vorbei ist.
Was mir in World‘s End tatsächlich abgeht, ist der bissige Humor, den ich sonst so von TC gewohnt bin. Dieser bitterpöhse Stil wenn er seine Figuren so richtig fertigmacht - und ich meine hier nicht die armen vom Schicksal gebeutelten Underdogs – die hier im World‘s End permanent nicht vom Fleck kommen, sondern jene, die es echt verdienen, weil sie so reich, so angesehen, so hochmütig sind und sich zudem auch mit moralischer Überlegenheit ausgestattet meinen. Diesen zahlt es Boyle normalerweise so richtig heim, wie Mungo Park, Ned Rise, Der Bobo in Tortilla Curtain, die Tierschützer und die Artenschützerin in Wenn das Schlachten vorbei ist …
In World‘s End prasseln die Schicksalsschläge vor allem im 17. Jahrhundert auf die armen unterprivilegierten Würmer ein. Was mir an Boyle immer gefallen hat, ist, dass er in seinen Romanen und Universen einen gerechten Gott namens Karma spielt, der mit denen, die in der realen Welt obenauf sind, gaaanz gnadenlos verfährt, weil sie es verdammt noch einmal so was von verdient haben. In diesem Roman ist er halt wie der echte Gott, der den Minderprivilegierten noch eins zur Zugabe reinwürgt. Das hat mich einfach nicht so erheitert wie in meinen Lieblingsromanen. Ich muss ja zugeben, auch die armen Schlucker erweisen sich letztendlich als Schuldige, Schurken und Unsympathler aber die Van Warts kommen hier einfach viel zu gut weg bei der Story – eine kleine Linie von Kuckuckskindern sind wirklich keine gerechte Strafe für Selbstgerechtigkeit, Überheblichkeit, Raffgier, Intriganz, sinnlose Grausamkeit und 1000 andere schlechte Eigenschaften.
Dieser Kritikpunkt von mir hat auch noch einen Unterpunkt. Denn bissiger Humor und die Holländer passen halt auch nicht wirklich zusammen. Da entspricht das Ironieverständnis der Briten schon eher meiner Auffassung davon, was ich persönlich als witzig empfinde. Auch hier hat sich Boyle seinen Holländischen Figuren perfekt angepasst und fast ganz auf grotesk-witzige Szenen und Dialoge verzichtet. Mir ist also Summa summarum die Ironie zu subtil und Boyles Grausamkeit insbesondere mit den reichen Figuren zu wenig intensiv. Der Schöpfer schwächelt bei den Reichen.
Fazit: In der Endabrechnung gebe ich verdiente 4 Sterne, kann auch jede Begeisterung für dieses Werk verstehen. Ich mag halt andere Boyles lieber.
Das ganze Werk stellt eine Aufarbeitung der lokalen Geschichte der Region dar, aus der T.C. Boyle stammt, es liest sich sehr flüssig und die Seiten fliegen nur so dahin. Beim googeln fällt dann auch auf, dass hier bei weitem nicht alles Fiktion ist, denn die Peekskil Unruhen beim Konzert der Bürgerrechtler, als Nazis friedlich feiernde Menschen vor allem Frauen und Kinder aufklatschten und verprügelten haben auch in der Realität so stattgefunden.
Jetzt stellt sich aber die Frage, warum bei all dem Lob dies nicht mein bester Boyle sein soll. Zur Anmerkung, meine Lieblinge sind Wassermusik, America (The Tortilla Curtain), Grün ist die Hoffnung und Wenn das Schlachten vorbei ist.
Was mir in World‘s End tatsächlich abgeht, ist der bissige Humor, den ich sonst so von TC gewohnt bin. Dieser bitterpöhse Stil wenn er seine Figuren so richtig fertigmacht - und ich meine hier nicht die armen vom Schicksal gebeutelten Underdogs – die hier im World‘s End permanent nicht vom Fleck kommen, sondern jene, die es echt verdienen, weil sie so reich, so angesehen, so hochmütig sind und sich zudem auch mit moralischer Überlegenheit ausgestattet meinen. Diesen zahlt es Boyle normalerweise so richtig heim, wie Mungo Park, Ned Rise, Der Bobo in Tortilla Curtain, die Tierschützer und die Artenschützerin in Wenn das Schlachten vorbei ist …
In World‘s End prasseln die Schicksalsschläge vor allem im 17. Jahrhundert auf die armen unterprivilegierten Würmer ein. Was mir an Boyle immer gefallen hat, ist, dass er in seinen Romanen und Universen einen gerechten Gott namens Karma spielt, der mit denen, die in der realen Welt obenauf sind, gaaanz gnadenlos verfährt, weil sie es verdammt noch einmal so was von verdient haben. In diesem Roman ist er halt wie der echte Gott, der den Minderprivilegierten noch eins zur Zugabe reinwürgt. Das hat mich einfach nicht so erheitert wie in meinen Lieblingsromanen. Ich muss ja zugeben, auch die armen Schlucker erweisen sich letztendlich als Schuldige, Schurken und Unsympathler aber die Van Warts kommen hier einfach viel zu gut weg bei der Story – eine kleine Linie von Kuckuckskindern sind wirklich keine gerechte Strafe für Selbstgerechtigkeit, Überheblichkeit, Raffgier, Intriganz, sinnlose Grausamkeit und 1000 andere schlechte Eigenschaften.
Dieser Kritikpunkt von mir hat auch noch einen Unterpunkt. Denn bissiger Humor und die Holländer passen halt auch nicht wirklich zusammen. Da entspricht das Ironieverständnis der Briten schon eher meiner Auffassung davon, was ich persönlich als witzig empfinde. Auch hier hat sich Boyle seinen Holländischen Figuren perfekt angepasst und fast ganz auf grotesk-witzige Szenen und Dialoge verzichtet. Mir ist also Summa summarum die Ironie zu subtil und Boyles Grausamkeit insbesondere mit den reichen Figuren zu wenig intensiv. Der Schöpfer schwächelt bei den Reichen.
Fazit: In der Endabrechnung gebe ich verdiente 4 Sterne, kann auch jede Begeisterung für dieses Werk verstehen. Ich mag halt andere Boyles lieber.
March 21, 2017
I read this novel about a week ago, I'm just really bad with updating my reading progress on goodreads. However, in this case I have an excuse for being late. I tried to write this review sooner, but somehow it wasn't happening. Perhaps I needed some time to digest this novel. I had a feeling that I will like it more after I was done with the 'digestion' part. I was right. This is one of those novels that you don't fully enjoy reading but in the end you're glad to read them. Do you know what I mean?
World's End is beautifully written, crafted with much care and a great attention to detail. The writer is obviously talented. Nevertheless, it is not an easy book to read. This novel gave me nightmares. Literally. The night after I finished reading it- well, let's just say I didn't wake up feeling rested. At times, reading it was quite a challenge. It handles some difficult topics, from addiction to violence, from racism to modern politics. It is not a light read, that's for sure. At times I wondered wasn't the writer just making excuses for the brutish actions of his protagonists. I don't regret reading it, though. I'm glad that I didn't gave up on it, even if I was tempted to do so. This novel is well worth the trouble. One thing I'm sure of - T.C. Boyle is a writer I need to read more from. This was actually my first novel by this author, but it probably won't be my last. I'm really looking forward to reading more from him.
At the beginning of the book, there is a list of characters- and it exists with a good reason. There are many characters in this book. They are well placed within the story, but they're abundant. So, be glad that list of characters exists. I didn't need to check it, because I have a pretty good memory and I was really focusing on the reading. I had a feeling that if I let my mind slip, I would miss out on something important. I felt that the only way I could read this novel was by devoting my complete concentration to it. So, I did that. I really dived into this one and I have no regrets- even if the process of it was somewhat depressive. That would be the only downside to this book. It is a depressive read.
World's End tells the story of several generations of three families living in the Hudson valley area. If that makes you think Faulkner, you're on to something. There are definite similarities between this novel and those masterpieces of Faulkner's. World's End did make me think of Faulkner and his family sagas a number of times. The narrative is not written in the first person but you really get that sense you're inside of the head of each character. You follow them through their dreams and nightmares. You are privy to their most intimate thoughts- and at times those can be quite distributing. However, there was never a moment when I felt that some 'nightmare' or 'hallucination' was out of place nor did I feel that all the 'heavy stuff' was there only to achieve a shock effect. Everything seems to be there for a reason. For example, every thought and/or hallucination makes sense, at least in the head of the character. It is just that characters themselves are not exactly mentally stable. This perhaps gives this novel its 'nightmare' feel.
Now, let's get back to the good things about this book. I love how ambitious this novel is. Telling a story that spans generation is never an easy task. Telling that story from the perspective of different individuals makes it even more complex. When you add the complexity of the theme to the mixture, you can see how ambitious this novel is. It digs deep, both into individual and collective subconsciousness. Psychological characterization is very much the foundation of this novel. Genetics also play an important part, in the sense of inherited characteristics. There is a very tangible obsession with history in this novel. Historical is linked with psychological in an intimate way. As I said, World's End reminds me of Faulkner, both in the selection of its themes and in the writing style itself.
You can read the rest of my review here:
http://bookmagiclove.blogspot.ba/2017...
World's End is beautifully written, crafted with much care and a great attention to detail. The writer is obviously talented. Nevertheless, it is not an easy book to read. This novel gave me nightmares. Literally. The night after I finished reading it- well, let's just say I didn't wake up feeling rested. At times, reading it was quite a challenge. It handles some difficult topics, from addiction to violence, from racism to modern politics. It is not a light read, that's for sure. At times I wondered wasn't the writer just making excuses for the brutish actions of his protagonists. I don't regret reading it, though. I'm glad that I didn't gave up on it, even if I was tempted to do so. This novel is well worth the trouble. One thing I'm sure of - T.C. Boyle is a writer I need to read more from. This was actually my first novel by this author, but it probably won't be my last. I'm really looking forward to reading more from him.
At the beginning of the book, there is a list of characters- and it exists with a good reason. There are many characters in this book. They are well placed within the story, but they're abundant. So, be glad that list of characters exists. I didn't need to check it, because I have a pretty good memory and I was really focusing on the reading. I had a feeling that if I let my mind slip, I would miss out on something important. I felt that the only way I could read this novel was by devoting my complete concentration to it. So, I did that. I really dived into this one and I have no regrets- even if the process of it was somewhat depressive. That would be the only downside to this book. It is a depressive read.
World's End tells the story of several generations of three families living in the Hudson valley area. If that makes you think Faulkner, you're on to something. There are definite similarities between this novel and those masterpieces of Faulkner's. World's End did make me think of Faulkner and his family sagas a number of times. The narrative is not written in the first person but you really get that sense you're inside of the head of each character. You follow them through their dreams and nightmares. You are privy to their most intimate thoughts- and at times those can be quite distributing. However, there was never a moment when I felt that some 'nightmare' or 'hallucination' was out of place nor did I feel that all the 'heavy stuff' was there only to achieve a shock effect. Everything seems to be there for a reason. For example, every thought and/or hallucination makes sense, at least in the head of the character. It is just that characters themselves are not exactly mentally stable. This perhaps gives this novel its 'nightmare' feel.
Now, let's get back to the good things about this book. I love how ambitious this novel is. Telling a story that spans generation is never an easy task. Telling that story from the perspective of different individuals makes it even more complex. When you add the complexity of the theme to the mixture, you can see how ambitious this novel is. It digs deep, both into individual and collective subconsciousness. Psychological characterization is very much the foundation of this novel. Genetics also play an important part, in the sense of inherited characteristics. There is a very tangible obsession with history in this novel. Historical is linked with psychological in an intimate way. As I said, World's End reminds me of Faulkner, both in the selection of its themes and in the writing style itself.
You can read the rest of my review here:
http://bookmagiclove.blogspot.ba/2017...
November 24, 2017
It's funny, I just looked back at my review for Drop City, and somehow I want to write almost an identical review for this book even though the story is totally different. For me, reading Boyle is really not so much about the quality of the story he tells, but rather the way he tells it like no one else. His prose reminds me of a powerful waterfall . . .it's just water flowing over a cliff right, but somehow it evokes a certain feeling of awe in you when you look at it. Even though water alone or a cliff alone doesn't do the same. That's how Boyle's writing hits me. It starts off a little slow, but builds this momentum to where I can't stop thinking about the story and don't want to stop reading it. His work is populated with creative, not terribly likable characters, but he comes up with all sorts of fresh situations for them.
This book is almost like a saga with generations of the same families being described in the 17th century and the 20th century. The big picture theme is how the characters can't seem to escape the destiny outlined for them in the 17th century no matter how hard they try. Arguably, some don't try very hard. It's hard to really describe what Boyle does with these folks, but in one family line the characters keep being stricken with a desire to eat everything in sight. Another character eats dirt from his cellar when he is stressed. These quirks and foibles are throughout the book and add so much interest. Motivations are revealed, but more slowly so you have a chance to bring your own opinion to the table only to find out you are wrong.
Really well written book that deserves its spot on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.
This book is almost like a saga with generations of the same families being described in the 17th century and the 20th century. The big picture theme is how the characters can't seem to escape the destiny outlined for them in the 17th century no matter how hard they try. Arguably, some don't try very hard. It's hard to really describe what Boyle does with these folks, but in one family line the characters keep being stricken with a desire to eat everything in sight. Another character eats dirt from his cellar when he is stressed. These quirks and foibles are throughout the book and add so much interest. Motivations are revealed, but more slowly so you have a chance to bring your own opinion to the table only to find out you are wrong.
Really well written book that deserves its spot on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.
June 10, 2022
Having read this novel long ago prevents me from producing a very Henry David thorough review. I will say that there is more tragedy here than even Shakespeare could work up.
The writing is enthusiastic: silky smooth at times, at others Faulkneresque. Portions are recondite--dreamy; others are lucid, harsh and brutal.
Boyle's vocabulary is large and he uses it wisely. His ability to describe scenery is only topped by his uncanny skill at shaping his prose to match the mind of whatever character he's writing about.
The writing is enthusiastic: silky smooth at times, at others Faulkneresque. Portions are recondite--dreamy; others are lucid, harsh and brutal.
Boyle's vocabulary is large and he uses it wisely. His ability to describe scenery is only topped by his uncanny skill at shaping his prose to match the mind of whatever character he's writing about.
December 12, 2011
TC Boyle is a very talented writer, without question. This is one of those books I wish I had picked up with a lot of time on my hands so that I could plow straight through it in just a few sittings. The plot jumps around across a 300+ year time-frame and has many (many) characters, which demands constantly referring back to the "List of Characters" at the beginning. Thankfully said "List of Characters" exists, or I think I might have become annoyed/lost. It is not a book you can read a little, put down for a week and pick back up. I found myself re-reading a few previous pages at each sitting.
That being said, Boyle is a writer that any and every reader should experience. His characters are so rich, life-like and believable. His storylines are incredible and he has an uncanny ability to carry the tale along and draw the reader into his well-crafted world. I really dislike when he uses un-necessary "big words" (I really dislike anybody who does this), which he seems to do a little more than normal in this book.
I love the unfolding plot of interconnected ideas, people, places and fates that Boyle lays out for the reader. Great interlocking story which had me thinking about "fate", the shaping of our personalities and characters, as well as "predestination" and a lot of other interesting ideas along those lines. Some parts of the story are better than others, for sure, but he draws it all together brilliantly. I found the Dutch names/surnames slightly annoying (and hard to remember)from a "readability" perspective, but it was somewhat necessary given the time-frame and location of the novel historically. There were definitely traces of "Drop City" in the main character of Walter Van Brunt and his unfolding fate - but I won't reveal them here to avoid spoilers.
Fans of Boyle will like this book. I don't recommend it for those looking to read Boyle for the first time (Try "Tortilla Curtain" or "Drop City"). The complexity of time-frames, plots and interlocked characters might be a bit much depending on how busy you are when you pick it up. As such, it would be a shame to deter somebody from this great writer.
It only gets 3-stars b/c of the fact that I think one really needs to be "in" to the book and in a proper setting (alone w/ a nice chunk of time) to enjoy it to its fullest. Read in-and-out of the daily routine we call "life" made it more difficult to enjoy. Glad I picked it up and read it, though. Boyle does not disappoint.
That being said, Boyle is a writer that any and every reader should experience. His characters are so rich, life-like and believable. His storylines are incredible and he has an uncanny ability to carry the tale along and draw the reader into his well-crafted world. I really dislike when he uses un-necessary "big words" (I really dislike anybody who does this), which he seems to do a little more than normal in this book.
I love the unfolding plot of interconnected ideas, people, places and fates that Boyle lays out for the reader. Great interlocking story which had me thinking about "fate", the shaping of our personalities and characters, as well as "predestination" and a lot of other interesting ideas along those lines. Some parts of the story are better than others, for sure, but he draws it all together brilliantly. I found the Dutch names/surnames slightly annoying (and hard to remember)from a "readability" perspective, but it was somewhat necessary given the time-frame and location of the novel historically. There were definitely traces of "Drop City" in the main character of Walter Van Brunt and his unfolding fate - but I won't reveal them here to avoid spoilers.
Fans of Boyle will like this book. I don't recommend it for those looking to read Boyle for the first time (Try "Tortilla Curtain" or "Drop City"). The complexity of time-frames, plots and interlocked characters might be a bit much depending on how busy you are when you pick it up. As such, it would be a shame to deter somebody from this great writer.
It only gets 3-stars b/c of the fact that I think one really needs to be "in" to the book and in a proper setting (alone w/ a nice chunk of time) to enjoy it to its fullest. Read in-and-out of the daily routine we call "life" made it more difficult to enjoy. Glad I picked it up and read it, though. Boyle does not disappoint.
April 17, 2019
Wonderful book by one of my favorite authors. This is one of his first novels and won a PEN/Faulkner award upon its publication. The book deals with families in the upstate area of New York, an area that was primarily inhabited by the Dutch. The story ranges from the 1660's to the `1970's. Boyle weaves us back and forth through over 300 years but does not really cover anything from about 1680 until the present. We start in present day to set up the characters and families and then go back in time to find the same families and see what happened back then and all of which ties in with the present. A book you do not want to rush through. Wonderful vocabulary, great storytelling and some amazing twists and turns. I think I have read at least 5 of his novels and Boyle is certainly an author who can tell a story!
September 18, 2023
World’s End looks back at the histories of three families over a period of 300 years, although it really focuses on two generations in the second half of the 17th century and two generations in the first half of the 20th century. We are presented with what is happening with various members of these three families in the 20th century, and then periodically we reach back to the 17th century to gradually build an understanding of the families and their conflicts. The setting is the Hudson River valley, and the original settlers are Dutch. This is a yarn of great breadth, with regular doses of magic realism and some political philosophy and activism mixed in. At times the plot and characters border on the bizarre. All this variety, while a bit jarring at times, certainly keeps your attention; and you need focus all of your attention to keep everything straight as the plot develops. To make it all a bit more challenging, names are reused across the generations as they often are with families.
This was my first by T.C. Boyle and I was impressed with what he set out to accomplish, but the story felt too long. There were scenes, characters and even events that seemed unnecessary. I will admit that I am typically disenchanted with any use of magic realism (one of these days I am going to come across its use in a novel and I am just going to love it), and I was turned off by it in World’s End. And while I can love a great anti-hero, Walter van Brunt just didn’t have that appeal for me.
This was my first by T.C. Boyle and I was impressed with what he set out to accomplish, but the story felt too long. There were scenes, characters and even events that seemed unnecessary. I will admit that I am typically disenchanted with any use of magic realism (one of these days I am going to come across its use in a novel and I am just going to love it), and I was turned off by it in World’s End. And while I can love a great anti-hero, Walter van Brunt just didn’t have that appeal for me.
December 17, 2010
I am a huge TC Boyle fan. I read almost everything he writes. His vocabulary, plotting, sense of history and how it crashes into the living all make him extraordinary. World's End won the Pen/Faulkner Award for him early in his career. This book examines where we came from and how much it influences us. Are we trapped like Walter with ghosts that frame us inside a future we can't escape? He explains how brutal the wealthy Dutch settlers of the 17th c. were to their own kind, how mistreated the Indians were and how abusive the 60s could be a few centuries later, although my favorite for that topic is his Drop City. I think he's a genius for tying it all together. My favorite is still Tortilla Curtain (when is someone going to make a movie of it?!); however, World's End will stay with me for a long time. I will never visit NYC and its environs without thinking about it.
October 19, 2014
For some unknown reason award committees often seem to gravitate toward overblown works of fiction. And, thus, it seems with this work. But, don’t get me wrong. I like Boyle. His vocabulary and storytelling often blow me away. More than once in this book I caught myself totally engrossed in the book’s tales. But in this book, it seemed he was incapable of using the one little familiar word when three more unusual words suffice. I love that kind of stuff but enough is enough.
World’s End, set in the Hudson River valley, goes back and forth between the late-1600s and the mid-1900s to the 1960s covering generations of the same families. One powerful family, the Van Warts, feudal land-owners, first control the land and those who live on it, and later provide abysmal factory jobs. Yes, apparently there once was a feudal system in America. Free spirit, individualism, education, and other American ideals are oppressed and squashed. The times change, but the families do not. Even the names repeat, something that caused me much inability to keep everything straight. Walter/Woulter, Jeremy/Jeremias etc. It maid my head spin.
In short, this was not an easy read. It was a tough and violent book and I could not wait for it all to end. It just didn’t work for me. I really liked The Road to Wellvilleand loved The Women but this book just didn’t grab me.
World’s End, set in the Hudson River valley, goes back and forth between the late-1600s and the mid-1900s to the 1960s covering generations of the same families. One powerful family, the Van Warts, feudal land-owners, first control the land and those who live on it, and later provide abysmal factory jobs. Yes, apparently there once was a feudal system in America. Free spirit, individualism, education, and other American ideals are oppressed and squashed. The times change, but the families do not. Even the names repeat, something that caused me much inability to keep everything straight. Walter/Woulter, Jeremy/Jeremias etc. It maid my head spin.
In short, this was not an easy read. It was a tough and violent book and I could not wait for it all to end. It just didn’t work for me. I really liked The Road to Wellvilleand loved The Women but this book just didn’t grab me.
October 29, 2007
Dramatic, hilarious and harrowing tales of parallel fates of many generations of Dutch, English and Native Americans from colonial New Amsterdam/New York to 1960's Peterskill. TC Boyle mixes expert storytelling with fascinating accounts of the history of the Hudson River Valley. His accounts of daily life under Dutch feudalism in New Amsterdam (well before the arrival/rule of the English) are unforgettable. Boyle's writing is fantastic - juxtaposing grand, classical language with a hilarious sort of faux-nihilism that is particular to his protagonist, Walter. Overall, this book reminded me of a Hugo novel, with its grandiose effects, theatrical characters and loads of suspense that bring history to life.
April 10, 2023
There are few writers who consistently use original, intelligent verbal acrobatics the way TC Boyle does, and I normally love him for that. Unfortunately, this novel was an exception to that rule.
Yes, Boyle's manic literary style is still on full display here, though it became just too much for me. Combined with the novel's three families, 61 characters (I kid you not), and 300+ year time span, there was far too much information to track. That, and the never-ending verbal gymnastics just became overwhelming. I felt like a paper towel that couldn't hold any more water.
Boyle really is a uniquely gifted writer, though for the reasons stated above, I just couldn't wait for this book to end. I much prefer his short stories, where the lunacy is more contained.
Yes, Boyle's manic literary style is still on full display here, though it became just too much for me. Combined with the novel's three families, 61 characters (I kid you not), and 300+ year time span, there was far too much information to track. That, and the never-ending verbal gymnastics just became overwhelming. I felt like a paper towel that couldn't hold any more water.
Boyle really is a uniquely gifted writer, though for the reasons stated above, I just couldn't wait for this book to end. I much prefer his short stories, where the lunacy is more contained.
November 11, 2023
The story follows a family of Dutch descent in the Hudson Valley of New York over many generations from the original settlers to the 1960s. There are touches of magical realism and lots of buoyant prose. Both the characters' names and misbehavior are repeated from one generation to the next in a way that is slightly more mystical than simply underscoring universal human tendencies; reminded me of Madeleine L'Engle's "A Swiftly Tilting Planet."
February 6, 2020
Esta es una novela imperfecta. Pero es una muy buena. Como todo proyecto ambicioso que corre el riesgo de llevarse por delante todo lo que tiene a su paso, este bloque narrativo que es El fin del mundo tiene defectos. Y estos defectos pueden llegar a convertir la experiencia de lectura del libro a una experiencia de lectura muy densa, complicada, dura de roer. Fue una lectura muy lenta para mi, saca de ritmo, que no es lo mismo que no tenga ritmo. Quizá los saltos temporales de una historia a otra, cierta sensación de no saber hacia donde va el libro o algún apresuramiento al final con algunas historias podrían ser excusas para sacarle merito a la novela, pero no lo son. Lo que tiene de defectuoso este proyecto por un lado, lo tiene doble o triplemente de fascinante por otro, por su construcción de mundo, por la construcción de unos personajes tan reales oscuros y entrañables como no leía hace tiempo.
Acá hay de todo, alucinaciones, visiones, nativos americanos, rock and roll, política, y por sobre todas las cosas, historia. La historia es el eje que contamina a todos los relatos que hay dentro y en como esta se repite y da lecciones todo el tiempo. Cómo, por ejemplo, el feudalismo en América previo al asentamiento inglés sigue soterradamente en la sociedad contemporánea, cómo la división política extrema sigue perpetuándose y el cómo esa historia viene a nosotros en forma de fantasmas, de recuerdos, de memoria, que está en nuestra sangre, ''está en los huesos''. Y estos fantasmas atormentan a los personajes, hacen que sus destinos sean miserables, nihilistas, los hace duros, pero también asimismo les abren puertas hacia estados de la experiencia donde nunca habían estado, los motivan a hacerse preguntas y a avanzar hacia algo, sea lo que sea, más adelante.
Acá hay de todo, alucinaciones, visiones, nativos americanos, rock and roll, política, y por sobre todas las cosas, historia. La historia es el eje que contamina a todos los relatos que hay dentro y en como esta se repite y da lecciones todo el tiempo. Cómo, por ejemplo, el feudalismo en América previo al asentamiento inglés sigue soterradamente en la sociedad contemporánea, cómo la división política extrema sigue perpetuándose y el cómo esa historia viene a nosotros en forma de fantasmas, de recuerdos, de memoria, que está en nuestra sangre, ''está en los huesos''. Y estos fantasmas atormentan a los personajes, hacen que sus destinos sean miserables, nihilistas, los hace duros, pero también asimismo les abren puertas hacia estados de la experiencia donde nunca habían estado, los motivan a hacerse preguntas y a avanzar hacia algo, sea lo que sea, más adelante.
May 23, 2022
Mein vierter Boyle, mein bislang bester?
Jein, kompositorisch ganz sicher, Wassermusik und Willkommen in Welville waren formal schwächer, Das wilde Kind, eher eine Erzählung.
Als Satire auf die amerikanische Erzähltradition des 20. Jahrhunderts könnte man durchaus fünf Sterne geben, von Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis bis zu den Zeitgenossen Michener und Robbins, TCB integriert und persifliert Motive und Konstellationen der Altmeister. Wenn man den Neu-England-Roman Die Bucht gelesen hat, Micheners bestes historisch-ökologisches Panorama, dann wirkt World's End schon wie eine rotzfreche Satire auf dergleichen ernsthafte altmeisterliche Kunst. In die eben das übersexte Robbins-Personal eingekreuzt wurde.
Die Wiederverwendung desselben Personals in unterschiedlichen Konstellationen erinnert mich an Chandler Brossards Wacht auf, wir sind gleich da. Unbedingt diese Rezi darüber lesen:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Der qualitative Unterschied zu den beiden oben erwähnten Meisterwerken beträgt eher anderthalb Sterne, zudem gibt es mehr Romane in meiner Lesebiographie, die ihre vier Sterne besser rechtfertigen. Es gibt hin und wieder Bücher, bei denen man während der Lektüre aufstöhnt, die aber zuletzt ein schlüssigen Gesamteindruck hinterlassen, Don DeLillo ist der Vertreter dieser Gattung, Underworld, gelegentlich eine ganz schöne Quälerei, aber künstlerisch wie intellektuell deutlich ausgereifter. DDL beschreibt jeden Abschnitt im Stil der jeweiligen Epoche, das führt beim 20. Jahrhundert sicherlich zu leichter lesbarer Prosa, als wenn die Barock-Partien von WE altertümlich einher stolziert wären, doch TCB wiederholt nur das Wassermusikverfahren und montiert oder amalgamiert vernutztes Erzählmaterial, so es sich nicht um seine spezielle Hassliebe zur Hippie-Szene handelt.
Um auf den Vergleich mit Underworld zurück zu kommen, es gab kaum Gründe, über irgend welche Zumutungen zu stöhnen, inhaltlich galt über weite Strecken das Motto: was wir wiedererkennen finden wir schön. Am Ende dieser überaus süffigen und leicht verdaulichen Lektüre bleibt aber in fader Nachgeschmack zurück.
Für mich eine gute Reiselektüre auf Flughäfen und in Überlandbussen durch Paraguay, aber alles andere als ein Meisterwerk, gefühlt näher bei Harold Robbins und Truman Capotes Erhörten Gebete(n) als an Brossard, DDL oder Michener, auch wenn Letzterer ganz nett persifliert wird.
In der TCB-Liga vier Sterne, ansonsten abgerundete dreieinhalb oder 7/10.
Jein, kompositorisch ganz sicher, Wassermusik und Willkommen in Welville waren formal schwächer, Das wilde Kind, eher eine Erzählung.
Als Satire auf die amerikanische Erzähltradition des 20. Jahrhunderts könnte man durchaus fünf Sterne geben, von Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis bis zu den Zeitgenossen Michener und Robbins, TCB integriert und persifliert Motive und Konstellationen der Altmeister. Wenn man den Neu-England-Roman Die Bucht gelesen hat, Micheners bestes historisch-ökologisches Panorama, dann wirkt World's End schon wie eine rotzfreche Satire auf dergleichen ernsthafte altmeisterliche Kunst. In die eben das übersexte Robbins-Personal eingekreuzt wurde.
Die Wiederverwendung desselben Personals in unterschiedlichen Konstellationen erinnert mich an Chandler Brossards Wacht auf, wir sind gleich da. Unbedingt diese Rezi darüber lesen:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Der qualitative Unterschied zu den beiden oben erwähnten Meisterwerken beträgt eher anderthalb Sterne, zudem gibt es mehr Romane in meiner Lesebiographie, die ihre vier Sterne besser rechtfertigen. Es gibt hin und wieder Bücher, bei denen man während der Lektüre aufstöhnt, die aber zuletzt ein schlüssigen Gesamteindruck hinterlassen, Don DeLillo ist der Vertreter dieser Gattung, Underworld, gelegentlich eine ganz schöne Quälerei, aber künstlerisch wie intellektuell deutlich ausgereifter. DDL beschreibt jeden Abschnitt im Stil der jeweiligen Epoche, das führt beim 20. Jahrhundert sicherlich zu leichter lesbarer Prosa, als wenn die Barock-Partien von WE altertümlich einher stolziert wären, doch TCB wiederholt nur das Wassermusikverfahren und montiert oder amalgamiert vernutztes Erzählmaterial, so es sich nicht um seine spezielle Hassliebe zur Hippie-Szene handelt.
Um auf den Vergleich mit Underworld zurück zu kommen, es gab kaum Gründe, über irgend welche Zumutungen zu stöhnen, inhaltlich galt über weite Strecken das Motto: was wir wiedererkennen finden wir schön. Am Ende dieser überaus süffigen und leicht verdaulichen Lektüre bleibt aber in fader Nachgeschmack zurück.
Für mich eine gute Reiselektüre auf Flughäfen und in Überlandbussen durch Paraguay, aber alles andere als ein Meisterwerk, gefühlt näher bei Harold Robbins und Truman Capotes Erhörten Gebete(n) als an Brossard, DDL oder Michener, auch wenn Letzterer ganz nett persifliert wird.
In der TCB-Liga vier Sterne, ansonsten abgerundete dreieinhalb oder 7/10.
July 21, 2015
Dies ist mein zweites Buch von T.C. Boyle nach Wassermusik und wieder bin ich völlig begeistert, obwohl World's End deutlich anstrengender zu lesen ist. Neinnein, keine Angst! Es geht nicht um Schachtel- oder Bandwurmsätze, überdurchschnittlich viele Fremdworte (obwohl, wenn ich so überlege... - naja, vielleicht doch ein bisschen) oder hochgeistige Gedankengänge. Die Sprache ist gut verständlich und überaus bildhaft, sodass bestimmte Szenen einem wohl für länger (wenn nicht sogar immer) im Gedächtnis bleiben werden. Was die Lektüre anstrengend macht, ist die Vielzahl von Personen und die steten Zeitsprünge.
Boyle beschreibt die Geschichte zweier Familien in einem Abstand von rund 300 Jahren, sodass es vier verschiedene Erzählstränge gibt, die sich jedoch immer wieder überschneiden. Dass die Personen teils über die Jahrhunderte hinweg die gleichen Namen aufweisen, erschwert das Ganze noch etwas. Doch das Alles ist so herrlich lebhaft und bunt erzählt, dass ich mir gerne die Mühe machte, wiederholt im Stammbaum nachzuschauen, der glücklicherweise im hinteren Teil abgedruckt ist. Da die Geschichte zudem immer wieder auf realen Begebenheiten beruht, die ich selbst aber nur unvollständig (oder kaum) kannte, habe ich mich auch wiederholt über die tatsächlichen Vorgänge informiert, da Manches schlicht kaum zu glauben ist. Somit ist die Lektüre dieses Buches nicht nur unterhaltsam, sondern ganz nebenbei erfährt man noch eine Menge über die Anfänge der Besiedlung in den USA ebenso wie über die Hippiezeit. Dennoch ist es kein wirklich realistisches Buch wie es auch schon 'Wassermusik' nicht war. Vieles ist stark überzeichnet und/oder ins Groteske gezogen, doch nie so, dass es unglaubwürdig wirkt. Boyle beherrscht es wie kein Zweiter, Dinge auf die Spitze zu treiben und sie dennoch überzeugend wirken zu lassen.
Wer lieber einer geradlinig verlaufenden Geschichte folgt, die nah an der Realität bleibt, wird sich mit diesem Buch wohl schwer tun. Allen Anderen aber kann ich dieses Buch nur empfehlen!
Boyle beschreibt die Geschichte zweier Familien in einem Abstand von rund 300 Jahren, sodass es vier verschiedene Erzählstränge gibt, die sich jedoch immer wieder überschneiden. Dass die Personen teils über die Jahrhunderte hinweg die gleichen Namen aufweisen, erschwert das Ganze noch etwas. Doch das Alles ist so herrlich lebhaft und bunt erzählt, dass ich mir gerne die Mühe machte, wiederholt im Stammbaum nachzuschauen, der glücklicherweise im hinteren Teil abgedruckt ist. Da die Geschichte zudem immer wieder auf realen Begebenheiten beruht, die ich selbst aber nur unvollständig (oder kaum) kannte, habe ich mich auch wiederholt über die tatsächlichen Vorgänge informiert, da Manches schlicht kaum zu glauben ist. Somit ist die Lektüre dieses Buches nicht nur unterhaltsam, sondern ganz nebenbei erfährt man noch eine Menge über die Anfänge der Besiedlung in den USA ebenso wie über die Hippiezeit. Dennoch ist es kein wirklich realistisches Buch wie es auch schon 'Wassermusik' nicht war. Vieles ist stark überzeichnet und/oder ins Groteske gezogen, doch nie so, dass es unglaubwürdig wirkt. Boyle beherrscht es wie kein Zweiter, Dinge auf die Spitze zu treiben und sie dennoch überzeugend wirken zu lassen.
Wer lieber einer geradlinig verlaufenden Geschichte folgt, die nah an der Realität bleibt, wird sich mit diesem Buch wohl schwer tun. Allen Anderen aber kann ich dieses Buch nur empfehlen!
April 21, 2013
I found this book on the bookshelf in the furnished house I'm renting in the Netherlands. The subject matter was of immediate interest being that I had just lived in upstate NY for 10 years and recently moved to the Netherlands. Reading about early Dutch settlers in the Hudson Valley was mind-bending, helped ease some of my ex-pat culture shock and made me smile every time I understood a Dutch word or phrase used in the book.
I just visited the Open Air Museum in Arnhem where fully furnished historical Dutch buildings all the way back to the 1600s are displayed along with traditional farming practices kind of like Colonial Williamsburg in the US. Reading this book and blending the engrossing story with the actual experience of modern Dutch country living, rumination on historical Dutch country living and a previous intimate connection with small scale farming in rural NY has lit several small fires in my brain.
I hadn't read any T.C. Boyle previously and I found the writing style a little hard to get into at first. This book has elements of semi-autobiographical multi-generational magical realism a la Gabriel Garcia Marquez with some of the irreverent tone and sensuality of Tom Robbins. Last summer I read Bleeding Kansas by Sarah Peretsky which has a similar theme of tracking different families throughout time in a small town while showing how traumatic historical events can continue to shape the future. I have to say T.C. Boyle did it better. The left vs. right politics in Bleeding Kansas were blunt, eventually exhausting and a little bit silly. While Boyle managed to place well-developed characters into a polarized political landscape, no one ever seemed like a cardboard cut out leftist or fascist. I'm looking forward to exploring more of T.C. Boyle's work.
I just visited the Open Air Museum in Arnhem where fully furnished historical Dutch buildings all the way back to the 1600s are displayed along with traditional farming practices kind of like Colonial Williamsburg in the US. Reading this book and blending the engrossing story with the actual experience of modern Dutch country living, rumination on historical Dutch country living and a previous intimate connection with small scale farming in rural NY has lit several small fires in my brain.
I hadn't read any T.C. Boyle previously and I found the writing style a little hard to get into at first. This book has elements of semi-autobiographical multi-generational magical realism a la Gabriel Garcia Marquez with some of the irreverent tone and sensuality of Tom Robbins. Last summer I read Bleeding Kansas by Sarah Peretsky which has a similar theme of tracking different families throughout time in a small town while showing how traumatic historical events can continue to shape the future. I have to say T.C. Boyle did it better. The left vs. right politics in Bleeding Kansas were blunt, eventually exhausting and a little bit silly. While Boyle managed to place well-developed characters into a polarized political landscape, no one ever seemed like a cardboard cut out leftist or fascist. I'm looking forward to exploring more of T.C. Boyle's work.
July 7, 2019
Es braucht schon Konzentration die vielen verschiedenen Charaktere dieses über 600 Seiten langen, beständig zwischen dem 17. und 20. Jahrhundert hin und her springenden Epos jederzeit verwechslungsfrei im Blick zu behalten; und allzu lange unterbrechen sollte man die Lektüre ebenfalls nicht. Aber es lohnt sich.
Dass T. C. Boyle auch schon in diesem Frühwerk von 1987 ganz hervorragend schreiben konnte, dass der Roman ebenso komplex wie unterhaltsam, oft ausgesprochen komisch, und jederzeit ein großes Lesevergnügen ist dürfte den Kenner anderer Werke dieses sehr bekannten amerikanischen Autoren nicht übermäßig überraschen. Auch die Genauigkeit mit der er sich in die Lebensumstände des frühen Amerika hineingearbeitet und in eine spannende Geschichte verwandelt hat sind nichts womit man nicht rechnen konnte. Die geradezu schicksalshafte Verknüpfung der diversen Hauptfiguren und ganzen Familien über einen Abgrund von rund 300 Jahren hinweg verwundert aber doch ein wenig. Nun sorgt eben dieser Aspekt, obgleich natürlich völlig unwahrscheinlich, einerseits für viele großartige Momente und Aha-Erlebnisse, und ist auch geradezu der Motor des ganzen Buches, führt aber andererseits auch zu einer gewissen Vorhersehbarkeit. Wodurch das Ende nicht ganz so spektakulär und fulminant ausfällt wie man das von Boyle gewohnt ist.
Das stört aber kaum. Ich persönlich habe „World's End“ jedenfalls sehr gern und ohne die geringsten Ermüdungserscheinungen gelesen. Für jeden Boyle-Fan der möglicherweise nur die neuerer Bücher kennt unbedingt mehr als nur einen Blick wert.
4,5 Sterne
Dass T. C. Boyle auch schon in diesem Frühwerk von 1987 ganz hervorragend schreiben konnte, dass der Roman ebenso komplex wie unterhaltsam, oft ausgesprochen komisch, und jederzeit ein großes Lesevergnügen ist dürfte den Kenner anderer Werke dieses sehr bekannten amerikanischen Autoren nicht übermäßig überraschen. Auch die Genauigkeit mit der er sich in die Lebensumstände des frühen Amerika hineingearbeitet und in eine spannende Geschichte verwandelt hat sind nichts womit man nicht rechnen konnte. Die geradezu schicksalshafte Verknüpfung der diversen Hauptfiguren und ganzen Familien über einen Abgrund von rund 300 Jahren hinweg verwundert aber doch ein wenig. Nun sorgt eben dieser Aspekt, obgleich natürlich völlig unwahrscheinlich, einerseits für viele großartige Momente und Aha-Erlebnisse, und ist auch geradezu der Motor des ganzen Buches, führt aber andererseits auch zu einer gewissen Vorhersehbarkeit. Wodurch das Ende nicht ganz so spektakulär und fulminant ausfällt wie man das von Boyle gewohnt ist.
Das stört aber kaum. Ich persönlich habe „World's End“ jedenfalls sehr gern und ohne die geringsten Ermüdungserscheinungen gelesen. Für jeden Boyle-Fan der möglicherweise nur die neuerer Bücher kennt unbedingt mehr als nur einen Blick wert.
4,5 Sterne
December 1, 2009
Historical fiction with heft, trundling over more than three hundred years of Hudson River upper class oppression and, more importantly, individual acts of self-destruction. Van Wartville is kind of like a hybridization of Rensselaerswyck and Cortlandt Manor, of the Van Rensselaers and Van Cortlandts. The Arcadia and its folk singer champion are obvious foils of Pete Seeger and the Clearwater. One of the most gripping historical renderings is of the 1949 Peekskill riots, where the outpouring of violence, hatred, and fear is sickening yet absorbing.
June 1, 2024
Superb. Boyle’s prose is witty and dry, poetic and generous.
4 stories told at once; cutting back and forth between the Dutch settlers of America’s east coast; their lords and bosses; the native Americans; and how all their families fall intertwined in the modern age.
It is easy to lose track of the many threads of this story, but they all quickly bleed into one in a satisfying conclusion.
The protagonist was deeply flawed and hard to root for, but there are so many secondary characters driving the plot that it is not a drawback.
Will read more TC Boyle in the future.
4 stories told at once; cutting back and forth between the Dutch settlers of America’s east coast; their lords and bosses; the native Americans; and how all their families fall intertwined in the modern age.
It is easy to lose track of the many threads of this story, but they all quickly bleed into one in a satisfying conclusion.
The protagonist was deeply flawed and hard to root for, but there are so many secondary characters driving the plot that it is not a drawback.
Will read more TC Boyle in the future.
July 18, 2015
7 von 5 Punkten
welch ein Ritt
welch ein Ritt
November 18, 2024
this is a review done in post. but since i didn’t realize it would be put onto the feed, i feel obligated to add something as a review.
this one of my favorite novels. it was my first introduction to the endlessly interesting story of new york’s wonderful hudson river valley and new netherlands. i’ve read this book three times, the first in 2012, and the last in late 2019.
the story of the van brunt family is traced back over generations in a bold attempt to synthesize the experience of the iroquois league as its dutch colonial settlers, dutch farmers under the patroonship system, the anti communist movement in mid century, and disaffected and gloomy generation x into one narrative arc. this novel, while a little jarring at times, is a very, very slow burn. it incorporates an unthinkable amount of research of the patroonship period especially—one of my favorite details is a part of the hudson river between peekskill and garrison that in old maps is referred to as “martyr’s reach”, which is continually called back within the text as the van brunt family and descendants live their lives along the hudson. it’s this attention to detail that gives world’s end such an incredible texture i’ve rarely seen anywhere else.
while i’ve never liked another tc boyle book, this one to me is a huge achievement and the best PEN/faulkner winner i’ve laid my eyes on.
this one of my favorite novels. it was my first introduction to the endlessly interesting story of new york’s wonderful hudson river valley and new netherlands. i’ve read this book three times, the first in 2012, and the last in late 2019.
the story of the van brunt family is traced back over generations in a bold attempt to synthesize the experience of the iroquois league as its dutch colonial settlers, dutch farmers under the patroonship system, the anti communist movement in mid century, and disaffected and gloomy generation x into one narrative arc. this novel, while a little jarring at times, is a very, very slow burn. it incorporates an unthinkable amount of research of the patroonship period especially—one of my favorite details is a part of the hudson river between peekskill and garrison that in old maps is referred to as “martyr’s reach”, which is continually called back within the text as the van brunt family and descendants live their lives along the hudson. it’s this attention to detail that gives world’s end such an incredible texture i’ve rarely seen anywhere else.
while i’ve never liked another tc boyle book, this one to me is a huge achievement and the best PEN/faulkner winner i’ve laid my eyes on.
October 5, 2018
T.C. Boyle has read more books than you. He has also carried around a little notebook since the age of six, writing down metaphors and random bits that he will eventually put into his fiction. T.C. Boyle is brilliant, and his memory a wonder of nature. He puts it all down -- each of the 450 pages of this novel reads like a short story, with pauses for character development -- and observations that are always sharp.
This novel is about the Hudson Valley, and, although T.C. Boyle has a little bit of ironic distance between himself and his characters, it is clear that he loves the area and that he feels deeply the historic roots of the area -- how, at one time, it was the World's End. Hudson Valley folks should read this novel if inclined. The novel's clear shout-out to the sloop Clearwater and Pete Seeger is cool -- I grew up in the Hudson Valley in the 1980s, and I recognize the proud Hudson Valley hippy strain prevalent in several characters in this book.
I was able to read this book without taking long breaks from it, and that helped. This is an epic novel, and the list of characters that Boyle puts at the beginning is practical.
The last 50 pages of this novel are particularly satisfying. No spoilers.
This novel is about the Hudson Valley, and, although T.C. Boyle has a little bit of ironic distance between himself and his characters, it is clear that he loves the area and that he feels deeply the historic roots of the area -- how, at one time, it was the World's End. Hudson Valley folks should read this novel if inclined. The novel's clear shout-out to the sloop Clearwater and Pete Seeger is cool -- I grew up in the Hudson Valley in the 1980s, and I recognize the proud Hudson Valley hippy strain prevalent in several characters in this book.
I was able to read this book without taking long breaks from it, and that helped. This is an epic novel, and the list of characters that Boyle puts at the beginning is practical.
The last 50 pages of this novel are particularly satisfying. No spoilers.
September 2, 2007
Same Grecian vacation. I was on a T.C. Boyle kick. This one's an epic several hundred years of nastily entwined family history, plus a ghostly plague of hunger, and some tall tales. American mythology. While the last 100 or so pages got a bit muddled, it's still worth it, as Boyle always is. When people name the best writers working today, Boyle is on my list. High on it. I can't think of anyone else who reinvents himself so successfully from book to book and story to story. Each time, it's like reading a completely different writer - and they're all great writers. I don't even know what to compare him to. I'd recommend all his books, and I think I have read them all. But I wouldn't recommend them all to the same people.
July 19, 2012
So I thought the prose was quite well written and I enjoyed the story itself, but the characters seemed so flat. Every man was either a capitalist or a communist and every woman was either a madonna or a whore, and nothing more, no one seemed truly individual. Every character in the 1960s portion was simply an echo of someone from the 1600s section. I understand the theme is something like you can't escape history, but hardly any of these people even have believable motivations for their actions. Also, holy daddy issues, batman.
May 14, 2018
Some people, a lot of people, clearly like this book and more power to them, but I'm most definitely not one of them.
I found this book agonizingly dull, full of boring, vaguely unpleasant people doing boring, vaguely unpleasant things to other people for boring, vaguely unpleasant reasons. Reading this book was like walking on a treadmill in a 90-degree gym with somebody hitting you in the face with a fresh catfish at random intervals - pointlessly unpleasant and justified only by a lingering sense that putting up with it all is somehow good for you.
I found this book agonizingly dull, full of boring, vaguely unpleasant people doing boring, vaguely unpleasant things to other people for boring, vaguely unpleasant reasons. Reading this book was like walking on a treadmill in a 90-degree gym with somebody hitting you in the face with a fresh catfish at random intervals - pointlessly unpleasant and justified only by a lingering sense that putting up with it all is somehow good for you.
October 23, 2018
Very disappointing. Straightly after finishing the fantastic Greasy Lake story collection, I was not expecting this. Read the first 100 pages and still have no clue what the book id about. So far a loose collection of anekdotes, unnecessary diversions, three different era's that are not (yet) related except for the genealogy. Too many metaphores. An omniscient narrator who clearly is very satisfied with himself. Not for me!
December 20, 2021
A satiric take on generations of Hudson Valley residents who appear doomed to make the same mistakes again and again. There are lots of bright spots but I struggled with the cuts back in time where characters with similar names did similar things with you guessed it similar outcomes.
I must confess that Gulliver’s Travels and Catch-22 aside i find satire ages about as well as teen pop bands with less humour to be had.
I must confess that Gulliver’s Travels and Catch-22 aside i find satire ages about as well as teen pop bands with less humour to be had.
July 21, 2020
Völlig zugedröhnt donnert Walter Van Brunt nach seiner eigenen Geburtstagsfeier mit dem Motorrad gegen eine Gedenktafel und erwacht im Krankenhaus, ohne seinen rechten Fuß. Nach diesem traumatischen Ereignis beginnt er, sich noch stärker mit seiner eigenen Familiengeschichte auseinandersetzen als bereits zuvor. Sein Vater verschwand, als Walter noch klein war, seine Mutter starb nicht viel später und er wuchs bei liebevollen Adoptiveltern auf, die sich jedoch stets bedeckt hielten, wenn es um die Vergangenheit und insbesondere Van Brunt senior ging. Während Walter versucht, sich mit seiner Behinderung abzufinden, fragt er sich gleichzeitig, ob sein Vater wirklich so ein Mistkerl war, wie immer zwischen den Zeilen anklingt, oder ob die Wahrheit vielleicht ganz anders aussieht.
Parallel erzählt Boyle die Geschichte, die zu der schicksalsträchtigen Gedenktafel am Straßenrand führte, die Geschichte der ersten Van Brunts, die sich im 17. Jahrhundert als holländische Einwanderer im heutigen Staat New York niederließen und in ärmlichen Verhältnissen lebten. Jeremias, der älteste Sohn, steht hier im Mittelpunkt, der sich unter widrigsten Umständen durchs Leben schlug und dabei kaum eine Auseinandersetzung scheute. Eng verflochten mit dem Schicksal der Van Brunts ist auch dasjenige der Mohonks, einer Kitchawanken-Indianerfamilie, deren letzter verbleibender Nachfahre wiederum plötzlich in Walters Leben auftaucht.
Boyle schreibt wie eine dreckigere, krassere Version von John Irving. Kein menschlicher Abgrund scheint ihm fremd zu sein, es geht ordentlich zur Sache in diesem Buch - Blut und andere Körpersäfte fließen reichlich, es wird gesoffen und gehurt und exzessiv gefressen, verraten, gekämpft und getötet. Einiges nimmt beinahe märchenhafte Züge an, manche Figuren wirken farcehaft überzeichnet, was ich eigentlich gar nicht so mag, und das Leid häuft sich insbesondere bei Jeremias schon in hiob-artiger Weise, aber Boyle hat es irgendwie hingekriegt, dass mich diese prallvolle Familiengeschichte auf zwei Zeitebenen nach leichten Anlaufschwierigkeiten ziemlich gepackt hat.
Es ist ein bissiges, böses Gesellschaftsporträt, das hier gezeichnet wird, mit zwei Hauptfiguren, Walter in der Gegenwart und Jeremias in der Vergangenheit, die beileibe nicht immer richtig handeln, in ihrer Menschlichkeit dabei aber nie unsympathisch werden. Grundthemen beider Handlungsstränge sind universelle Themen wie gesellschaftliche Abhängigkeiten und Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten, der Umgang mit der eigenen Familiengeschichte, Leben mit körperlichen Handicaps und natürlich auch die Liebe, auch wenn die bei Boyle natürlich nicht auf rosaroten Wölkchen dahergeschwebt kommt.
Sicherlich nicht jedermanns Sache, dieses Buch, aber mir hat es (im zweiten Anlauf nach 15 Jahren - ich glaube, beim ersten Durchgang war ich noch etwas zu jung) sehr gut gefallen, auch wenn es stellenweise zwischendurch ein wenig zäh wurde.
Parallel erzählt Boyle die Geschichte, die zu der schicksalsträchtigen Gedenktafel am Straßenrand führte, die Geschichte der ersten Van Brunts, die sich im 17. Jahrhundert als holländische Einwanderer im heutigen Staat New York niederließen und in ärmlichen Verhältnissen lebten. Jeremias, der älteste Sohn, steht hier im Mittelpunkt, der sich unter widrigsten Umständen durchs Leben schlug und dabei kaum eine Auseinandersetzung scheute. Eng verflochten mit dem Schicksal der Van Brunts ist auch dasjenige der Mohonks, einer Kitchawanken-Indianerfamilie, deren letzter verbleibender Nachfahre wiederum plötzlich in Walters Leben auftaucht.
Boyle schreibt wie eine dreckigere, krassere Version von John Irving. Kein menschlicher Abgrund scheint ihm fremd zu sein, es geht ordentlich zur Sache in diesem Buch - Blut und andere Körpersäfte fließen reichlich, es wird gesoffen und gehurt und exzessiv gefressen, verraten, gekämpft und getötet. Einiges nimmt beinahe märchenhafte Züge an, manche Figuren wirken farcehaft überzeichnet, was ich eigentlich gar nicht so mag, und das Leid häuft sich insbesondere bei Jeremias schon in hiob-artiger Weise, aber Boyle hat es irgendwie hingekriegt, dass mich diese prallvolle Familiengeschichte auf zwei Zeitebenen nach leichten Anlaufschwierigkeiten ziemlich gepackt hat.
Es ist ein bissiges, böses Gesellschaftsporträt, das hier gezeichnet wird, mit zwei Hauptfiguren, Walter in der Gegenwart und Jeremias in der Vergangenheit, die beileibe nicht immer richtig handeln, in ihrer Menschlichkeit dabei aber nie unsympathisch werden. Grundthemen beider Handlungsstränge sind universelle Themen wie gesellschaftliche Abhängigkeiten und Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten, der Umgang mit der eigenen Familiengeschichte, Leben mit körperlichen Handicaps und natürlich auch die Liebe, auch wenn die bei Boyle natürlich nicht auf rosaroten Wölkchen dahergeschwebt kommt.
Sicherlich nicht jedermanns Sache, dieses Buch, aber mir hat es (im zweiten Anlauf nach 15 Jahren - ich glaube, beim ersten Durchgang war ich noch etwas zu jung) sehr gut gefallen, auch wenn es stellenweise zwischendurch ein wenig zäh wurde.
June 24, 2023
A work of sheer genius that has lived in my memory in the decades since I read it. In fact, I think it’s time for a reread!
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