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Electric City
Upstate New York, at the confluence of the great Hudson River and its mighty tributary the Mohawk —from this stunning landscape came the creation of a new world of science. In 1887, Thomas Edison moved his Edison Machine Works here and in 1892, it became the headquarters of a major manufacturing company, giving the town its Electric City.The peak of Autumn, 1919: The pull of scientific discovery brings Charles Proteus Steimetz, a brilliant mathematician and recent arrival from Ellis Island, to town. His ability to capture lightning in a bottle earns him the title "Wizard of Electric City." Barely four feet tall with a deeply curving spine, Steinmetz's physical deformity belies his great intellect. Allied with his Mohawk friend Joseph Longboat and his adopted eleven–year–old granddaughter Midget, the advancements he makes in Electric City will, quite simply, change the world.The peak of Autumn, 1965: Sophie Levine, the daughter of a company man, one of the many scientists working at The Company, whose electric logo can be seen from everywhere in town. Her family escaped Europe just before World War II, leaving behind a wake of annihilation and persecution. Ensconced in Electric City, Sophie is coming of age just as the town is gasping its last breaths. The town, and America as a whole, is on the cusp of great blackouts, social unrest over Vietnam, and soon the advent of the seventies. Into her orbit drifts Henry Van Curler, the favored son of one of Electric City's founding Dutch families, as well as Martin Longboat, grandson of Joseph Longboat. This new generation of Electric City will face both the history of their town and their own uncertain future, struggling to bridge the gap between the old world and the new.Electric City is a vital, pulsing, epic novel of America, of its great scientific ingenuity and its emotional ambition; one that frames the birth and evolution of its towns against the struggles of its indigenous tribes, the immigrant experience, a country divided, and the technological advancements that ushered in the modern world.
295 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 22, 2014
39 people are currently reading
755 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Rosner
16 books139 followersElizabeth's newest book, "THIRD EAR: Reflections on the Art and Science of Listening," will be published by Counterpoint on September 17, 2024. Like her previous book, it's a hybrid of memoir and interdisciplinary research. "SURVIVOR CAFE: The Legacy of Trauma and the Labyrinth of Memory" (Counterpoint 2017) features a compelling blend of personal narrative, interviews, and extensive research about the inter-generational aftermath of war, genocide, and violence. It was selected as a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award, and Rosner has been interviewed on NPR's "All Things Considered" as well as in The New York Times.
Her third novel ELECTRIC CITY was published by Counterpoint in October 2014, and named one of the best books of the year by National Public Radio. Her full-length poetry collection GRAVITY was published by Atelier26 Books in fall 2014.
Ms. Rosner is the award-winning author of two previous novels: THE SPEED OF LIGHT and BLUE NUDE. The Speed of Light was the recipient of numerous honors, including the Harold U. Ribalow Prize and the Prix France Bleu Gironde; it was short-listed for the prestigious Prix Femina and selected for the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award. The novel has been translated into nine languages. Blue Nude was named one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Elizabeth's writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Elle, The Forward, the Huffington Post, and several anthologies.
A full-time writer, Elizabeth taught literature and creative writing at the college level for 35 years, and continues to lead workshops and seminars at retreat centers and universities throughout the U.S. and internationally. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
Her third novel ELECTRIC CITY was published by Counterpoint in October 2014, and named one of the best books of the year by National Public Radio. Her full-length poetry collection GRAVITY was published by Atelier26 Books in fall 2014.
Ms. Rosner is the award-winning author of two previous novels: THE SPEED OF LIGHT and BLUE NUDE. The Speed of Light was the recipient of numerous honors, including the Harold U. Ribalow Prize and the Prix France Bleu Gironde; it was short-listed for the prestigious Prix Femina and selected for the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award. The novel has been translated into nine languages. Blue Nude was named one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle.
Elizabeth's writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Elle, The Forward, the Huffington Post, and several anthologies.
A full-time writer, Elizabeth taught literature and creative writing at the college level for 35 years, and continues to lead workshops and seminars at retreat centers and universities throughout the U.S. and internationally. She lives in Berkeley, CA.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
December 7, 2014
If you came of age in the 1960s, had immigrant parents who fled the Holocaust, grew up in a city with a predominant industry that went into painful decline, and have an ear for the echoes of native culture and history still detectable beneath the chaos of modernity, (and for good measure love the meeting of science and the natural world), Elizabeth Rosner’s Electric City will capture you. Ever the poet, Rosner’s language and descriptions of the natural world are simply beautiful. The ricochet between present and past, the external and internal, the technical and spiritual is anchored by a story of young love that flows through the book like the river Mohawk itself. Sadly, I had never heard of Charles Proteus Steinmetz, and his scientific discoveries and inventions. Happily, Rosner brings his fascinating life and mind to our attention, along with much history of the last century in Electric City. A complex story with well-drawn characters, Electric City is a wealth of pleasures.
January 27, 2015
This was a beautifully written book that painted evocative word pictures. "Electric City" is the fictional name for Schenectady, New York, and the employer that looms over it, The Company, is General Electric. This is a decades-spanning and interwoven tale of Joseph Proteus Steinmetz, immigrant, mathematician and colleague of Thomas Edison, the Longboats, Mohawk Indians who inhabited the upstate New York region where the Mohawk and Hudson meet, the fictional founder family of The Company, the Van Curlers, and Sophie Levine's family.
There's history overlaid with a three-person friendship/romance between Sophie Levine, Martin Longboat and Henry Van Curler as well as the progression of Electric City and The Company from being local powerhouses at the beginning of the 20th Century to dwindling relics by the 1970s.
I thought the book was, as most are, stronger in the beginning chapters and weaker in the last quarter. Nonetheless, I'm glad I read it for the descriptions and beautiful language.
There's history overlaid with a three-person friendship/romance between Sophie Levine, Martin Longboat and Henry Van Curler as well as the progression of Electric City and The Company from being local powerhouses at the beginning of the 20th Century to dwindling relics by the 1970s.
I thought the book was, as most are, stronger in the beginning chapters and weaker in the last quarter. Nonetheless, I'm glad I read it for the descriptions and beautiful language.
November 25, 2014
As I happen to live in Electric City, i.e., Schenectady, NY, it was great fun to read about familiar places, historical events, and especially Charles Steinmetz, engineer and genius, who deserved but never achieved the international fame of the man who brought him to Schenectady, Thomas Edison.
But Elizabeth Rosner’s novel is more serious than fun. Sizable sections take place during the 1960s decline of a once-thriving city; these are shored up by brief looks at its past -- when the area was inhabited by the Mohawks and settled by the Dutch and then much later after it was chosen by Edison as the site of his Edison Machine Works, eventually General Electric.
In the 60s sections Rosner intertwines the experiences of adolescents Martin Longboat, a Mohawk; Henry Van Curler, descendant of a Dutch settler; and Sophie Levine, a Jewish girl whose parents emigrated from Holland in 1939 and who is loosely based on the author. The stories of these three characters consume the better part of the novel. Each has a strong heritage and struggles to find his/her own way in a world in upheaval (if you remember the 60s) and in a city that is deteriorating as long-dominant GE moves its business elsewhere piece by piece. But a romance that develops gave much of this portion a distinct “young adult” feel and detracted from other more engaging themes.
Randomly inserted into the above narrative are the few chapters on Electric City’s history. Those featuring Charles Steinmetz were so fascinating that I found myself wanting more of “Proteus”: more about his relationship with Martin’s grandfather, Joseph Longboat; more about his adopted family, the Haydens; and more about his experiments and work with Edison. To me he was given short shrift in favor of the teen characters, and I didn’t know why.
I will say that Rosner writes exquisitely. She has a magic touch whether she’s describing a handmade birch bark canoe, the wisdom of a Mohawk grandmother, a dying downtown, or swimming in Lake George. The chapter depicting Steinmetz‘ entrance into the country via Ellis Island is truly memorable. Also, I laughed out loud at the description of a library employee “with her hands on her hips, looking exactly like a head librarian in full armor.” Seems like I might’ve known a few of those.
And Rosner sure knows how to “light up” the imagery!
However, as pleasurable as it was to read “Electric City,” in the end I found the sum total confusing. Such vast potential, so elegantly written, but, unlike the gorgeously painted Mohawk River, for me it just didn’t flow.
But Elizabeth Rosner’s novel is more serious than fun. Sizable sections take place during the 1960s decline of a once-thriving city; these are shored up by brief looks at its past -- when the area was inhabited by the Mohawks and settled by the Dutch and then much later after it was chosen by Edison as the site of his Edison Machine Works, eventually General Electric.
In the 60s sections Rosner intertwines the experiences of adolescents Martin Longboat, a Mohawk; Henry Van Curler, descendant of a Dutch settler; and Sophie Levine, a Jewish girl whose parents emigrated from Holland in 1939 and who is loosely based on the author. The stories of these three characters consume the better part of the novel. Each has a strong heritage and struggles to find his/her own way in a world in upheaval (if you remember the 60s) and in a city that is deteriorating as long-dominant GE moves its business elsewhere piece by piece. But a romance that develops gave much of this portion a distinct “young adult” feel and detracted from other more engaging themes.
Randomly inserted into the above narrative are the few chapters on Electric City’s history. Those featuring Charles Steinmetz were so fascinating that I found myself wanting more of “Proteus”: more about his relationship with Martin’s grandfather, Joseph Longboat; more about his adopted family, the Haydens; and more about his experiments and work with Edison. To me he was given short shrift in favor of the teen characters, and I didn’t know why.
I will say that Rosner writes exquisitely. She has a magic touch whether she’s describing a handmade birch bark canoe, the wisdom of a Mohawk grandmother, a dying downtown, or swimming in Lake George. The chapter depicting Steinmetz‘ entrance into the country via Ellis Island is truly memorable. Also, I laughed out loud at the description of a library employee “with her hands on her hips, looking exactly like a head librarian in full armor.” Seems like I might’ve known a few of those.
And Rosner sure knows how to “light up” the imagery!
However, as pleasurable as it was to read “Electric City,” in the end I found the sum total confusing. Such vast potential, so elegantly written, but, unlike the gorgeously painted Mohawk River, for me it just didn’t flow.
December 28, 2014
I thought I'd like this book, with its promise of glimpses into the lives and work of Edison and Steinmetz, and their legacy on Schenectady.
I learned very little from the novel about Steinmetz, his insights, and his pioneering work, other than his physical challenges and socialist philosophy. Instead, this was primarily a YA book which did not seem very believable, especially the friendship between the three teenagers.the Some of their stories were interesting, particularly the Mohawk history and culture of one of the boys, but too much seemed unlikely to have happened as described to those people at that time. I'm a few years older than the characters were supposed to be, and am familiar with some of the events described, so I couldn't quite suspend my disbelief enough to not be annoyed with certain sections, especially the ending. Still, part of my annoyance comes from actually feeling involved with the characters, and wondering what really might have happened to them.
I'll try to give Ms. Rosner another chance with a different book.
I learned very little from the novel about Steinmetz, his insights, and his pioneering work, other than his physical challenges and socialist philosophy. Instead, this was primarily a YA book which did not seem very believable, especially the friendship between the three teenagers.the Some of their stories were interesting, particularly the Mohawk history and culture of one of the boys, but too much seemed unlikely to have happened as described to those people at that time. I'm a few years older than the characters were supposed to be, and am familiar with some of the events described, so I couldn't quite suspend my disbelief enough to not be annoyed with certain sections, especially the ending. Still, part of my annoyance comes from actually feeling involved with the characters, and wondering what really might have happened to them.
I'll try to give Ms. Rosner another chance with a different book.
March 6, 2016
I found this book really exciting -- I plowed through it, went driving on Wendell Street to try to find the imaginary house, visited Van Curler Ave, the Vale Cemetery, Central Park. This is where I live, where I teach! I cannot wait for Rosner to come to Union at the end of the term; I am looking forward to the Sorum students' reactions in the book club. Have read everything she has published so far -- easy to spot her tics, themes, and points of reference. For me, it's the familiarity and defamiliarization of Schenectady that's key.
March 11, 2015
I had read and enjoyed her two prior novels, but this one was disappointing. The characters always seemed remote, at a distance, almost abstract. The various narrative threads -- the immigrant experience, the Native American issues, a story of electricity, the life of a scientist living in a deformed and painful body -- all seemed disjointed and lacked integration with one another. Too bad. The prose is fine, the historical context interesting in principal, but none of it ever came alive, for this reader anyway.
January 25, 2018
Beautiful writing, interesting characters and setting, but for me it just didn't come together. The love/friendship triangle was sweet, and the point of view of a native living in a setting from which his culture and heritage has been erased worked well. The story-line about Charles P. Steinmetz just felt like it needed it's own book. His achievements and life story were barley skimmed and did not really tie into the other storyline.
October 31, 2014
I didn't want this story to end. More . . . I want more. I'd never heard of Elizabeth Rosner before reading this book. I wasn't surprised to learn that, in addition to writing novels, Rosner is a poet. There is poetry in her novel. Wonderful reading.
December 25, 2014
It Brings Good Things to Life!
I hadn’t intended to read this novel this week. I’ve got three other books I need to read or reread by the end of the year, or next week, but once I started this one, I couldn’t put it aside.
This is about Charles Steinmetz, whose name I know, (I live near-ish to Schenectady) but I knew nothing about him before reading this book, he was the Wizard of Electric City and his best friend, in this novel, was Joseph Longboat, a Mohawk. Then it’s about Joseph’s grandson Martin, who goes to Schenectady High and works at GE, Sophie Levine, a classmate of Martin's, whose father works at KAPL, her parents are Dutch- Jewish immigrants, and Henry Van Curler, who goes to Exeter in New Hampshire, whose family founded Schenectady, and funded GE.
"Picture the logo -- you can still see it anywhere. A monogram of curling letters meant to look like someone's handwriting, adorning some appliance or other, your fridge or your stove, maybe a washing machine, a dryer. Now picture it huge, glowing neon white above the factory headquarters whose dull red façade shadowed a stretch of the Mohawk River. You could see it from the bridge, driving away from or toward downtown, with the river flowing dirty and despondent below. You could see it from all over town, and even in your dreams, hovering with an incandescent power above elms and train platforms, above barns and telephone poles. Sometimes it seemed to cast a particular glow onto the mossy brick of the campus residence halls, the stately one bearing plaques engraved with the Van Curler name. And sometimes it left an eerie sheen on the gravestones in the Vale Cemetery, that place where the living and dead still met." (11)
I’m very glad I read this book. I borrowed this from my local public library.
I hadn’t intended to read this novel this week. I’ve got three other books I need to read or reread by the end of the year, or next week, but once I started this one, I couldn’t put it aside.
This is about Charles Steinmetz, whose name I know, (I live near-ish to Schenectady) but I knew nothing about him before reading this book, he was the Wizard of Electric City and his best friend, in this novel, was Joseph Longboat, a Mohawk. Then it’s about Joseph’s grandson Martin, who goes to Schenectady High and works at GE, Sophie Levine, a classmate of Martin's, whose father works at KAPL, her parents are Dutch- Jewish immigrants, and Henry Van Curler, who goes to Exeter in New Hampshire, whose family founded Schenectady, and funded GE.
"Picture the logo -- you can still see it anywhere. A monogram of curling letters meant to look like someone's handwriting, adorning some appliance or other, your fridge or your stove, maybe a washing machine, a dryer. Now picture it huge, glowing neon white above the factory headquarters whose dull red façade shadowed a stretch of the Mohawk River. You could see it from the bridge, driving away from or toward downtown, with the river flowing dirty and despondent below. You could see it from all over town, and even in your dreams, hovering with an incandescent power above elms and train platforms, above barns and telephone poles. Sometimes it seemed to cast a particular glow onto the mossy brick of the campus residence halls, the stately one bearing plaques engraved with the Van Curler name. And sometimes it left an eerie sheen on the gravestones in the Vale Cemetery, that place where the living and dead still met." (11)
I’m very glad I read this book. I borrowed this from my local public library.
September 8, 2015
I lived in Schenectady New York and started my career with the company with the monogram in 1971. By 2006 I retired from that same company from the GE Lynn River Works in Massachusetts. I hesitated to buy this book. Not sure what the pages would deliver. What I received was a book filled with pages of memories. The street names, the names of some of the early settlers and of course mention of Mr. Edison and equally well known to Schenectady folk the name of Charles P Steinmetz. I found the descriptions to be accurate as of the last time went through the Electric City. The flashing sign long inactive as energy conservation became the fashion. Rather than boring statistics of the company’s progress there was instead a great story of the lives of immigrant families and friendships formed and lost. Of worthy note are the references to the Native Americans of the area and their impact and influence in their relations with the early settlers. I lived on a hill overlooking the Mohawk River/Erie Canal between lock 8 and lock 9 and can attest to the writer’s descriptions of the river, the winters and the city in general. KAPL still stands as best I know as well as Ellis Hospital. So not to show bias I will mention that I have travelled to many parts of the country and the world and their familiarity in any book I read stands only as something I can relate to and appreciate. It does not detract from a great story nor does it lend gloss to a mediocre story. It serves to allow me a greater appreciation for well-crafted tale and recognize an author who has done the time and research necessary to make a good story a great story. This is a five star book I would recommend to any acquaintance without hesitation. The bits of history are a bonus.
March 4, 2015
I really enjoyed this novel. It is the story of Schenectady, NY in it's early days of the 19th century when Steinmetz and Edison were equal collaborators in what would become General Electric. It's also the story of three very different young people (and their families) who meet in 1965.
I grew up in Schenectady and enjoyed the place names and scenes set in familiar areas both in the early days of the city and in the 1960's when the company town was diminishing. I enjoyed the reminders of the place that was part of my formation.
If you lived in Schenectady in November 1965, you'll remember the Great Blackout. Do you remember where you were? I do!
I worked at one branch of the Schenectady County Public Library and at the Central location (the building at Seward & Union) which has reverted back to Union College. These scenes made me smile...I knew the place well.
This story is a bit of Schenectady and GE history, it's a little socio-economic reminder of how the world was in the 1960's and it's a coming-of-age tale.
This story is tender, sad and revealing.
The author did a fine job on this novel; I recommend it.
I grew up in Schenectady and enjoyed the place names and scenes set in familiar areas both in the early days of the city and in the 1960's when the company town was diminishing. I enjoyed the reminders of the place that was part of my formation.
If you lived in Schenectady in November 1965, you'll remember the Great Blackout. Do you remember where you were? I do!
I worked at one branch of the Schenectady County Public Library and at the Central location (the building at Seward & Union) which has reverted back to Union College. These scenes made me smile...I knew the place well.
This story is a bit of Schenectady and GE history, it's a little socio-economic reminder of how the world was in the 1960's and it's a coming-of-age tale.
This story is tender, sad and revealing.
The author did a fine job on this novel; I recommend it.
January 8, 2015
Fine writing. Certainly enhanced for me due to the locale; 'Electric City' takes place in Schenectady, just across the river from our home. Rosner mingles the stories of Steinmetz and his adopted family with characters set in the 1960s and 1970s. The connections add meaning to the story without making it cloying; the different cultures represented by the European scientist and his Native American compatriot are handed down effectively to the three young characters still in high school. The three younger protagonists carry the same type of cultural and economic differences, but the connections between them are just as nuanced and important as those of Charles Steinmetz, his family, and John Longboat.
A story that stays with you, and already has me going back to review passages of wonderful writing.
A story that stays with you, and already has me going back to review passages of wonderful writing.
March 28, 2017
I have put off reading this book. I bought it right away, but then hesitated because The Speed of Light is my favorite novel, and what if this book didn't live up to the first work I read by Elizabeth Rosner? However, WOW, this is what a book is! Historical, great fictionalization of history, diverse characters who become connected and deal with their conflicting but loving feelings for each other, and then we get to follow some of the characters as they grow. THEN an ending that made me cry and, like The Speed of Light, was not enough for me.
Elizabeth Rosner clearly ended the book at the correct time, I'm just not happy because I want to know EVERY SINGLE THING that happens to these characters, like the characters of The Speed of Light. That shows how well Rosner wrote this story, and that I just have closure issues. . . .
5 stars!
Elizabeth Rosner clearly ended the book at the correct time, I'm just not happy because I want to know EVERY SINGLE THING that happens to these characters, like the characters of The Speed of Light. That shows how well Rosner wrote this story, and that I just have closure issues. . . .
5 stars!
July 9, 2015
I picked up this book because of its context; set in the electric city of Schenectady, New York, I was curious about the history of the city, as told through the eyes of a Mohawk, Van Curler and Jewish family perhaps based on the author's background. The writing is pretty, familiar with nature and science but poetic at turns. The story moves back and forth in time, between several characters, sometimes captivating the audience and other times quietly allowing for space to be still. Sophie, the main character, is hard to relate to and her inner conflict not fully realized or developed. The ending is sweet but too quick. It seemed only to be just beginning.
August 24, 2020
Reminded me of the years I lived in the Schenectady area (1963-1967) and worked at GE
We lived there when I worked at KAPL designing nuclear reactors for nuclear submarines while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) graduate school. We were there during the blackout of 1965, and this well researched book brought back many memories. I learned so much about the history of Schenectady and the Mohawk Indians, as well as the Dutch immigrants that built the Electric City. The interweaving of the characters in this book is wonderful and I recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in this area or the origins of the cultures described.
We lived there when I worked at KAPL designing nuclear reactors for nuclear submarines while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) graduate school. We were there during the blackout of 1965, and this well researched book brought back many memories. I learned so much about the history of Schenectady and the Mohawk Indians, as well as the Dutch immigrants that built the Electric City. The interweaving of the characters in this book is wonderful and I recommend this book for anyone who has an interest in this area or the origins of the cultures described.
December 20, 2015
There are two main reasons I liked this book and the first is the time period of the sixties. I remember the blackout of 1965 very well and since I was at that time just a few years older than the heroine, can identify with the mores of that time. Second, since I live in what is known as the "Electric City," I know of the landscape the author describes and Charles Steimetz is a revered ancestor of our city. We are always eager to know more about him. I did enjoy the way the story dips in and out of the two time periods and the surprises along the way. A very enjoyable read.
September 20, 2016
In ELECTRIC CITY Elizabeth Rosner delivers a captivating story of families in a company town, one that started by the brilliance of Thomas Edison and Charles Proteus Steimetz but over time creates winners and losers and ultimately takes it toll on the town itself. In this historical context, Rosner gives us a moving love triangle between Sophie, Henry and Martin, each from a family with a different connection to The Company. As with her other novels, Rosner brilliantly captures what it means to descend from the Holocaust. And also, here, to live during the 1960’s.
May 15, 2015
Over a month after reading it, this book is still very much with me. This is a wonderful addition to Elizabeth Rosner's body of work. She explores nature, science, invention, and the questions of progress-- what is gained and what is lost. The poet is very much at work in her prose and there are sentences you will highlight and read again and again. As usual, her characters are richly developed, unique, and dear. I was sad to say good-bye to them at the end of the novel.
December 13, 2015
Loved this book and all the connections I had with its story: attending Niskayuna HS, having a parent who worked for "the Company" for his whole career, working for "the Company's" research lab myself, walking frequently through the GE realty plot and seeing the homes of the scientists including where Charles Steinmetz lived, having a summer home on Lake George, living in "Electric City" now myself...it was a fascinating novel based on a real place and fascinating history.
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March 22, 2015Met this author, and had took a brief writing workshop with her in Tucson. She grew up near my old stomping ground. The setting of this book is Schenectady NY, but is not identified as such. The descriptions of Lake George brought back memories of waterskiing on that body of water with classmates who had vacation homes there.
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July 7, 2015I'm on p.180 and I'm calling it quits. I'm having a hard time keeping the characters straight and I'm just not compelled to finish the book.
June 11, 2015
Always inspired by the beauty of her prose. Always.
November 24, 2015
Beautifully written, though I found the character of Charles Steinmetz in the historical timeline more compelling and engaging than those of the three young people in the contemporary story line.
December 10, 2015
Three characters, 1960's, Schenectady NY
November 30, 2022
The memories come flooding back. I left in eighth grade, and have never been able to explain this magical place and time to anyone.
If only we had cell phones back then, to record how the sound of the bridge changed when the new bridge was built! Driving down Wendell Avenue or past the Labs, the spirit of Charles Steinmetz, with his AC motors and artificial lightning, was the ancestor we never knew but all shared. Fathers who worked to make electricity too cheap to meter, invented superconductor magnets and transparent ceramics, kids who made sharp remarks about nuclear war because they had just figured out how to calculate the blast radius from KAPL from their yellow new math books. Thunderstorms so intense that grown adults would gather together in the kitchen in the middle of the night, on the pretext they were hungry, and tell you "It's Rip Van Winkle playing ninepins." And of course, the Mohawk Indians, the heroes every child knew from field trips to the New York State Museum, the people who survived all those cold winter nights like the Blackout of 1965 in bark longhouses without indoor heating, and then went on to build the skyscrapers of New York. The only bit of local color missing was the Quality Bulb House, the world's best ever retail selection of tulip bulbs, as you'd expect in a town settled by the Dutch.
If you're not from Schenectady, the allegory of the main characters may not hold together for you. But if you are from Schenectady, or if you attended Niskayuna schools, you are changing your plans, and taking a trip back, as soon as you can.
If only we had cell phones back then, to record how the sound of the bridge changed when the new bridge was built! Driving down Wendell Avenue or past the Labs, the spirit of Charles Steinmetz, with his AC motors and artificial lightning, was the ancestor we never knew but all shared. Fathers who worked to make electricity too cheap to meter, invented superconductor magnets and transparent ceramics, kids who made sharp remarks about nuclear war because they had just figured out how to calculate the blast radius from KAPL from their yellow new math books. Thunderstorms so intense that grown adults would gather together in the kitchen in the middle of the night, on the pretext they were hungry, and tell you "It's Rip Van Winkle playing ninepins." And of course, the Mohawk Indians, the heroes every child knew from field trips to the New York State Museum, the people who survived all those cold winter nights like the Blackout of 1965 in bark longhouses without indoor heating, and then went on to build the skyscrapers of New York. The only bit of local color missing was the Quality Bulb House, the world's best ever retail selection of tulip bulbs, as you'd expect in a town settled by the Dutch.
If you're not from Schenectady, the allegory of the main characters may not hold together for you. But if you are from Schenectady, or if you attended Niskayuna schools, you are changing your plans, and taking a trip back, as soon as you can.
December 25, 2024
A great read. Set in upstate New York in the 1960's and 1970's but moving backward as well, the novel is partly a coming of age story for three very different friends, the son of the company boss, the daughter of Jewish immigrants whose father is a scientist in Electric City and an indigenous young man who has deep ties to his ancestral origin. The story follows all three through triumph and tragedy. It is also a story of Electric City, a haven for Edison and real life inventor Charles Steinmetz (a strong character in the story) and the possibilities of progress in this company town in the Rust Belt. Their are strong themes of dashed scientific optimism, the Vietnam War, family tragedy, women doctors before this was mainstream, spirituality and resilience. An excellent read.
January 23, 2021
Just a beautiful book, the second by Ms. Rosner I've read after the wonderful "The Speed of Light." With meaningful characters, so real I feel I now know them, moving and growing through life's beauty and sadness and loss, Ms. Rosner brings to life times, events, places, and feelings in which I became fully immersed. Once again, I say, Bravo Ms. Rosner, I am so glad I picked up this book, another signed by you at our local, and not far from your Berkeley home, Pleasanton bookshop, Towne Center Books.
December 31, 2022
First, do not listen to the audio book. The author is the reader and reads like she loves her prose, which is nice but makes for a very dull, school teacher-ish listen. I enjoyed all the main characters— Martin the Native American teen defending his culture and life, Henry the rich kid, and Sophie the bright teen attracted to them both. I also enjoyed the historical bits about Charles Steinmetz. What I struggled with was needing more about each characters life and yet less of some of the philosophy. I kept thinking, get on with it!
June 27, 2017
I liked this book, but it was nothing like what I thought it was going to be about. What I thought was going to be an exploration of a company town- it's rise and demise- actually read more like a family/generational saga. The main characters and relationships within the book were well developed, and 'Electric City' was just the place where they resided, if that makes sense. The central focus, between Sophie, Henry, and Martin, was particularly beautifully developed and written.
September 15, 2019
Back and forth with this one. Beautiful language and imagery. Plot was a hard to hold onto when it mixed in with memory and history. I wanted it to be more present, but also wanted more of the relationships of the past. Perhaps that was intended, since the nature time passing and time past was almost a character itself.
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