Dreamland

City of Fire #1

by Kevin Baker

A dazzling masterpiece of literary historical fiction, Dreamland delivers a sweeping yet intimate portrait of immigrant New York in the early part of the twentieth century.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, New York, Historical, Novels, Contemporary, Jewish

672 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Kevin Baker is the author of the New York, City of Fire trilogy: Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Strivers Row. Most recently, he's been writing about politics for Harper's Magazine and the New York Observer.

Reviews

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not normally a fan of historical fiction (if the history is interesting, why the need to fictionalize it?) I picked this book up merely for the novelty of the cover and the promise of Coney Island-goodness that screams from the top cover. And it was a buck in clearance at Half Price Books.

What I found was actually quite a surprise. I found myself not interested at all for well over 100 pages, but then all at once realized I was invested in some of the characters. The layout of the chapters confused me at first when I read in short spurts; eventually, however, I figured out that not only were the characters heading each chapter intertwined with one another, occasionally a chapter would backtrack so that particular character could tell his or her perspective about a situation the reader had already encountered. Once I accepted that I found myself enjoying the book entirely.

The historical part of the story comes in the form of the characters themselves (Freud and Jung come to America and the reader witnesses the break in their beliefs, Kid Twist and Gyp the Blood are very central characters, etc.) as well as the landscape (turn of the century immigrant New York, specifically Coney Island; Bowery bars; opium dens; whore houses; sweatshops, etc.). Dramatized historical events showed their heads as well such as the union strike (and subsequent arrest of the women strikers, their imprisonment, their torture), the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, politics, corruption... a lot of the same things I spent 4.5 years learning about at a historically women's college.

Kevin Baker clearly did his research and fleshed out many real characters from the very late 19th-very early 20th century without sugar-coating any of it. He openly admits in his Acknowledgements that certain creative licenses were taken, rearranging a small period of years in order to tell the story he wanted to tell. Normally that sort of thing would drive me batty. Somehow Baker was able to do it in a completely non-offensive way. In fact, the man made me downright approve of it.

[Simi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book because it came so highly recommended but in the end, I found that I really disliked it even though I finished it.

This is a story of early 20th century New York City and the characters who populated this riveting, tumultuous, and extreme city. There are many characters, actually, and some are real and some are fictional. This is a kind of magic realism historical fiction that combines real events and fantasy in ways that are at once fascinating and bizarre.

That said, the story is rambling and gets less and less interesting. I only liked one character in the whole book and her story - the woman Essie and her work at the sweatshops and the struggle within to earn decent wages and be treated fairly. I think this story was amazing and would have liked to see Baker focus more on this than on other parts.

The story of the dwarf was uninteresting and I was definitely perplexed about why Freud was brought in as well. What did he have to do with the story? I still don't understand. I didn't have much interest in the politician, though when his story intersected with Essie's, I understood why.

The last chapter was a real comedown. Instead of taking responsibility for the ending, the author provides a series of possible scenarios about what might have happened. This is a cop-out and is terribly disappointing after reading such a long and complex story to not have a satisfying sense of conclusion.

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book's edition opens with pages of praise from very respectable nationwide sources. Pretty tough to live up to, but Dreamland meets and surpasses every word of them. It's an absolutely awesome (in the purest meaning of the word) novel, an epic, a powerhouse. It is exactly what a work of historical fiction (any book, really) should be like, a perfect, perfectly immersive, magnificent reading experience. As a rule I stay away from large books, something to do with instant gratification or fear of being stuck with a dud, so it took me a while to approach this book, but once I started it, it didn't seem long at all, it read easily, which is a marvel in itself for such an epic work with enough characters to require a dramatis personae and shifting narratives. Kevin Baker creates a world so stunning, so vivid, so magical, that, like the actual visitors to Coney Island in the early 1900s, one is reluctant to leave it at all. Fortunately, with this edition, one doesn't have to, not right away, not when there is a glossary and a historical note from author (highly recommended since it's where Baker lists his subtle manipulations of factual events) and even a lovely and very informative author's tour of Coney Island as it stands currently (at the time of publication). So yes, as far as actual history goes, some facts were rearranged to fit the dramatical narrative better, but Baker captures so much of the flavors and colors and textures of small part of the world and thoughts, hopes and dreams of its inhabitants during a specific time period that this is not only an important book, it's an exceptionally good one. Very well written, smart and moving, with a phenomenal cast of characters including, but not limited to, gangsters, midgets, prostitutes, women's suffrage workers and psychiatrists. This is a story of tenement dwellers, immigrants, fighters, lovers and dreamers, a genuine chronicle of the American experience, the pursuit of an ideal at all costs and from all angles. New York has never held any appeal to me personally, but boy does it make for a great tale, amazing tale of bygone glory. For a while Coney Island shone so brightly against the night sky, that its Ferris Wheel would be the first thing the newcomers to the country would see, before the Statue of Liberty even. This is a story of Coney Island at its shiniest. Highly recommended.

[KL · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could overlook the confusing story telling. I could even look past trying to find out what the long drawn out plot was for. What I couldn't get over was the inaccurate telling of historical events. The 1909 shirtwaist strike is told so blatantly wrong and over embellished that I wanted to scream. Read a book before writing about something, please.

The timeline presented in the book wasn't even clear. Were Freud and Jung necessary? All of the talk about sex sure wasn't. Nor was using rape as a plot device. I'm honestly surprised I even read the whole book. How can you write something like this and not mention dates. Was there a point to the story at all?

[Elizabeth La Lettrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book because I love stories of early 1900s especially in New York. Being a native New Yorker, I am somewhat nostalgic towards Coney Island in the face of all the constant attempts at revival and renovation. This book opened my eyes to a Coney Island unlike any I've ever imagined - a world where the concept of being "P.C" didn't exist, where an "amusement" park included a "Midget" Town and where people born with deformities and other unfortunate situations were looked at like "circus" attractions. It also gave very personal insight into the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire which is just an incredibly sad moment in New York City's history.

There really is so much to say about this book (and I have so little time!). It's not a book for the light reader as it interweaves multiple character narratives (including Freud!) and it probably is a good idea to have a good general sense of what was going on in New York and the world at the time. However, I assure you that if you give it time and patience, it will be unlike any other historical novel you've ever read.

(Ya know, I feel so passionate about this book that I might add more to my review later when I have more time.) :)

[Harold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it tells an interesting story of early 20th century NYC. On the other hand, even though written by an historian and expert on that period, it is filled with anachronisms. Events taking place not in their actual times, characters that were dead by the time they appear in this narrative, etc. The author is aware of this but must have felt that his novel was better served by this artifice. Also the novel is comprised of several subplots, one of which to me was completely superfluous. I was annoyed several times by the author switching subplots and going several paragraphs using he or she and not identifying the character or even that the subplot had switched. Another literary device I've encountered many times but always find annoying. I mean WHY? And I have to say...the ending was a complete cop out. Maybe this was the author's way of reminding us that it is, after all, just a story, but .....really?

[Ron Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

In dreamland, even America was possible.

Kevin Baker’s spectacular new novel is often more a nightmare than a dream, but I didn’t want to wake up.

Trick the Dwarf, a Coney Island circus performer, opens the novel by claiming, “I know a story,” and does he ever. “It is a story about a great city, and a little city, and a land of dreams. And always, above all, it is a story about fire.” Over the next 500 pages, we descend into the controlled and uncontrolled flames of New York in 1911. This isn’t the city Edith Wharton described in her novels. Baker has turned that luxurious portrayal of the Big Apple on its stem. His New York is an explosive furnace in which gangsters, prostitutes, politicians-all recent immigrants-vie for survival.

In a seedy bar where the patrons bet on rat fights, Gyp the Blood is showing off: He can break a man’s back over his knees. When Gyp reaches for a young boy, Kid Twist bravely-foolishly!-intervenes. After beaning Gyp with a shovel, Kid and the boy are marked for death and flee to Dreamland, an amusement park on Coney Island.

Here, Kid Twist discovers that the boy he saved is actually Trick the Dwarf, who disguises himself as a boy to snatch a few moments of normalcy from his life of ridicule.

The phantasmagoric amusement park provides a perfect metaphor for the city itself. Staffed by the mentally or physically handicapped, Dreamland is an ever-expanding complex of bone-crushing rides, shocking freak shows, and reenactments of disasters.

As Gyp the Blood seeks revenge on the man who beaned him with a shovel and the “boy” who got away, we meet his indomitable sister Esther and their cruel father, a rabbi so strict that his congregation has abandoned him.

Trapped in the crippling labor of the garment district, Esther is saved from despair by her friendship with a young socialist. Together they begin the almost hopeless task of organizing a women’s union and striking for better hours. But their modest requests are met with horrifying brutality from the city’s police and gangsters, two groups distinguished only by uniform.

Above the fray, but thoroughly in control of it, strides Big Tim, a state senator and city crime boss who owns more bars, gambling rings, and flop houses than he can count. Big Tim enjoys such prosperity and power that he’s beginning to dabble in a new luxury: compassion for the people in his city. Why should so many children be killed by thoughtless carriage drivers, he wonders. How many women will be lost in factory fires because the bosses lock them in?

These questions are just starting to break through a lifetime of corruption, but they’re in harmony with the liberal reform movements driven by shrill newspapers and the persistent lobbying of the city’s high society ladies. That the New York we know today could have evolved from such social chaos should give us hope about modern-day Russia.

Woven throughout these stories of escape, revenge, survival, and reform is a remarkable, often comic narrative of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung coming to America. It’s the culmination of Freud’s attempt to legitimize his cause, but the founder of psychoanalysis finds himself haunted by anxieties. New York’s explosive energy and sensuality overwhelm him. Abused and humiliated in a ghastly Coney Island funhouse, Freud finally concludes, “America is a mistake.”

Dreamlandis a richer symphony of life than E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime(1975), to which it’s being compared. Baker, the chief historical researcher for Harry Evans’s recent American Century,has perfectly captured the messy, complex, inefficient nature of social development. Thick with the gritty details of unforgettable characters, this is literature-and history-at its best.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting historical novel set in New York City in the early twentieth century. We see the amusement parks of Coney Island, the gangs, the Jewish tenements, the garment sweatshops, and the Tammany Hall political machine through the eyes of both real and fictional characters involved, such as a dwarf who works on Coney Island, a young Jewish woman who tries to mobilize workers in the garment sweatshops to demand better conditions, and even Sigmund Freud during a visit to the city. It's meticulously researched and realistic and gives a fascinating look at conditions in the raw, corrupt, young city.

[Timothy Juhl · Rating 2 out of 5]

So it took better than a month for me to finish this rambling, historical tale about New York and Coney Island at the advent of the 20th century.

When Baker wrote about Dreamland and Luna Park and Steeplechase, those wondrous marvels of Coney Island, I was entertained. I was less entertained by the passages focused on the political mechinations of Tammany Hall and the corrupt maneuverings of the city councilmen and the police.

I hated every chapter about Freud. Freud? Freud and Jung, to be precise and a fictionalized trip they take to America. Tedious.

Most of the characters were one-dimensional, distinguished only by their clothing or the food they could afford.

The ghost of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory looms throughout the book, a tease of something dramatic to come, only to be leveled in a few pages at the end as speculation into a character's afterward.

That this was a corrupt, violent, dangerous time, Baker leaves no doubt. The image of addicted babies on display at Coney Island where the public waited breathless for one of them to die, a highlight of the exhibit, or the image of an elephant tortuously caged and ultimately electrocuted for public consumption, both stand as reminders that these were not simpler times, but rather times ruled with simpler minds.

[L.G. Cullens · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book some years back because I had read another of the author's books, Sometimes You See It Coming, and enjoyed it. This one was written well enough, but I didn't enjoy it near as much, maybe because the story wasn't that interesting to me. I get sick of all of man's political corruption.

As I remember it, this book was a well researched and inventive narrative with the arc of the story a popular criminal trial of the period (early twentieth century), with much of the action taking place at Dreamland amusement park in Coney Island. The criminal trial being about Tammany Hall police corruption. Many of the characters and events in Dreamland are purported to be based on real, historical accounts and people.

[Carl R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

By virtue of a tour of The Tenement Museum (highly recommended, by the way) on NYC’s lower east side, I came in contact with Kevin Baker’s historical novel (1910) of Coney Island. There were (I found out) three big amusement parks there--Luna Beach, Steeplechase, and Dreamland.)

Baker’s narrative starts off like a bullet and seldom lets up. He prefaces Book One with a list of “Dramatis Personae, like a Playbill, and it helps set the historical tone. We hear first from Trick the Dwarf, whose first words are I know a story. And does he ever. We’re transported from uptown to downtown in an instant, from Coney Island’s sand and water to rat-baiting in a Bowery cellar, and to an incident that will haunt every character in the story from then on.

And there are a lot of characters. As huge a cast, fictional and historical, as you’d ever want to meet. And every single one as fascinating as the city in which Baker sets us down. This world is not a melting pot, but a stew--lots of different ingredients, each with its own distinct texture and flavor--but all in the same pot, swimming in the same gravy. As you might expect in this time of Ellis Island, this is a world of immigrants--first or second generation. Jews, Italians, Germans, Irish, all striving for survival and/or dominance. Often violently.

It’s a mixed bag of pushcarts and automobiles, manure and petrochemicals, oppressive bosses and exploited workers, crooked politicians and ward bosses. It’s a crowded world that smells bad, one where even the virtuous need to watch their backs. But it’s also a world where affection and solidarity rule even in the worst circumstances.

We see a lot of our friend Trick the Dwarf. We see a lot of Tammany Hall boss Big Tim Sullivan. We see a lot of--really--Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung on their first journey to America. And there are many others, each drawn sharply and feelingly. But the central story is that of Esther (Esse) Abramoitz and her lover Josef Kolyika, a.k.a. Kid Twist, coming of age and following a circuitous path to they’re not sure where.

We move uptown, downtown, midtown through many different plot lines, but always, that incident in the beginning drives everything else, turns the book into a revenge drama of the first order, a hunter-hunted tale that keeps you going, going, going till there are no more pages left and you wish there were more.

[Gregory Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of New York and Coney Island circa 1909-1911, a period when many influences were growing, such as the labor movement, along with the exuberance and immaturity of a new country, which shoved so many cultures together so ambitiously in such a short period of time. It could only have happened how it did - with gangsters, Trammany Hall society, graft, prostitution, ridiculously bad working conditions, and unrestrained demonstrations of wealth and self-satisfied projects such as Dreamland with a million incandescent lightbulbs beckoning newly transplanted immigrants to the new country. An amusement park that also hosted "Little City", full of dwarfs and midgets, and incubators for the public to see tiny babies struggling for life.

I was a little put off by the knowledge that some of the events were off by a few years, but the author acknowledges this in the end, saying that he used some license, but his true aim was to get human nature right at that time in history, and he's done that very well. A worthwhile read!

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was hard to read. It was huge which is usually ok with me but it just seemed to go on and on and on. I didn't really like any of the characters and then worst of all the last chapter felt like an add-on by the editor. The entire style of the book vanished and it became some kind of musing about what might or might not have happened to some of the characters. Ridiculous. Either tie up all the loose ends or don't. I don't recommend this book to anyone.

[Jim]

I got about 245 pages into this promising but ultimately disappointing book. I give up. I don’t read only for plot, but it is nice to have one. Baker has created interesting characters, placed them in an interesting setting, during an interesting time, but somehow failed to create a narrative. It’s filled with colorful paragraphs, that seem to go nowhere.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this is a giant of a book, a book fit for the big top. I’d never heard of Dreamland, the place, the book, or author Kevin Baker. I think I picked this copy up from a Little Free Library in my neighborhood. It sat on my shelf for a long time. Then I cracked it open and read 10 or 15 pages, but got distracted by other books, other responsibilities and it sat neglected for several more months. I returned to it with few expectations and due to its physical heft, little hope of finishing it.

However, I found myself drawn into a dreamworld like no other I’ve experienced. Baker has created a fantastic example of historical fiction, a genre that can be puzzling and often suffers from lack of respect. Set on a Brooklyn peninsula, amidst the rough and rollicking Coney Island amusement park culture of the early 1900s, Dreamland, takes readers into a surreal world of desperate immigrants exploited at every turn by employers, street thugs, gangs, and a manipulative political system.
The rich cast of characters is comprised of real historical figures as well as fictional rubes struggling to make a go of life in a new and unkind country. Character names provide insight into what I’m trying to describe: Kid Twist, Gyp the Blood, Trick the Dwarf, Mad Carlotta, Big Tim Sullivan, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Francis Perkins, Mary Dreier, Louie the Lump—I think you get the picture.

Baker’s achievement is in making us root for these characters, even the most despicable ones. There is pride, outright evil, graft, animal cruelty, child abuse, violence against men, women, children, and animals. There are scenes that made me want to flee. But, the matter of fact way in which they are presented lends a horrifying credence to them. These things, or things much like these things, really happened. Think the garment industry and the Triangle Fire, for example.

This book will suck you in, perhaps against you better judgement. I think it will echo in my head for a long time.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book in a library in our son's apartment building in New Jersey (found out later that the author is from the same town in NJ). When I started reading it, I thought I might not finish it. The beginning describes some very violent, horrific scenes - a rat-dog fight, innocent bystanders being snatched up and having their backs broken by a gangster for the amusement of the crowd. But I kept reading because the writing is good, the author is reputable and does meticulous research, and I am interested in the history. I am so glad I did not stop reading! The gory, horrific scenes are not common throughout the book; they are mostly in the start. The times and conditions reported in the book are depressing, but the characters are well fleshed out so that they are real and multi-dimensional human beings. And, indeed, most of the characters ARE REAL PEOPLE. The story is so outlandish and bizarre that I kept saying to myself, "can this be true? How much of this historical fiction is really not fiction?" So, of course, I looked it up. OMG Truth really is stranger than fiction. So many of the characters are actual people from history; so many events are accurately reported; the parks: Dreamland, Luna Park, the dwarf city, the elephants, etc. - it's all true. The author does mix up dates some. For instance, Freud and Jung's visit to the U.S. was a little earlier than the other events in the book. But they did visit and have the experiences in the book, at least many of them. I wasn't too thrilled with the ending, but it made sense. I won't say more in order not to alert readers to the ending. This is a book I think we all should read, especially in this political environment when unions are being busted and the corporations are re-gaining all the power. We have been down that road and need to be reminded of why we have workers rights and government intervention.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreamland, Coney Island -- outwardly it was a glittering paradise, but scratch the surface and you find an inner core of cruelty and corruption. Baker meticulously researched Coney Island for this work of historical fiction and did a masterful job of bringing it back to life -- the sights, the smells, the noise. Despite all its tawdriness, Dreamland was quite literally a dream land -- where ordinary people could temporarily forget their daily burdens.

The cover art depicts a Ferris wheel, which is an apt metaphor for the story. Coney Island is the hub, and the stories of the immigrants, carny workers, Tammany Hall, garment union, gangsters, prostitutes, etc. are all spokes on that wheel.

Baker details the grinding hardship of the NYC immigrant experience, with a particular focus on Jews and the garment trade. The author was especially effective at capturing the plight of women workers; his portrayal of the union strike and its ramifications is particularly gripping.

I was surprised to learn how many of the colorful characters (particularly the gangsters) were based on real people. Some characters, like Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, are well known. The two visited Coney Island prior to speaking at Clark University. Some readers may find the Freud/Jung sections a bit ponderous. (Having graduated from Clark with a major in psychology, I was more engaged by this part of the plot than others might be.)

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a complicated relationship that I've developed with this book. There were segments I loved and characters that I adored, but there were parts that I hated and characters that I found irrelevant. The overall story--historical fiction of Coney Island, gangsters, and the working woman's strife in early 20th century NYC--was completely compelling, and the detail he goes into was great. You felt like you were truly in the setting. The scenes with Kid and Gyp were fraught with tension, you relationships that developed between Kid, Esther, Gyp, and Sadie were engrossing and you found yourself coming down on distinct sides, and that was great. What I ultimately think I needed was for it to be about 200 pages shorter, completely eliminating the Freud story line and pretty much all of the Big Tim stuff, with the story completely focused around the big 4--Esther, Kid, Gyp, and Sadie, and including enough of Trick's story to see where he fit in to all of the plot.

There was just a bit too much of the story that felt unnecessary. Yet, I don't regret reading it--if only for the story that developed between the four of them.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you write a collection of short stories but never provide an ending for any of them, have you created a novel? That's how "Dreamland" read for me - a series of stories with no endings. Every time I started to feel invested in a character, the story completely changed. Though I enjoyed the descriptions of Coney Island during its heyday, they were too few and far between to really keep me going. I slogged through the book rather than reading it with relish, and was happy to put it down several times to start on something else. I had incredibly high hopes for this book, but they were dashed. This book didn't prove to be my "dreamland" at all.

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was quickly drawn into the story of early 1900's New York's steamier side. I love all the intricacies of corrupt politics, gangs, hooligans, and stories of immigrants learning about a new land. The introduction of the Triangle Factory gave me an indication of where it would end up, and the use of one of the dwarves from a Coney Island sideshow gave the plot a reason to use that errant playground as a background. With a combo of real and non-real characters, the plot races along.

Unfortunately.

Really? After all those pages? The ending was inconclusive to say the least. I hate weak endings.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

turn of the century new york city (it's "wild west period") as told from the perspective of two jewish gangsters, a female sweatshop worker in the triangle shirtwaist factory, a jewish prostitute and a midget who works in various coney island freak shows. my favorite non-harry potter novel that i have read in the past few years. fucking fantastic, and so much yiddish.

[Kij · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coney Island in the early party of the Twentieth century, A city of Midgets, the seamy underworld of New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire , a love story. What more do you need from a book?

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved it. Great characters and wildly interesting history

[Susan Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

The images in this book linger on....kaleidoscopic, heartbreaking; Times so full of struggle and misery all towards a better future in which we live now.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice trip back in time on the coney island strip and the streets of fast paced manhattan

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stories about old-time amusement parks.

[H.Friedmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging novel about a particular time and place, and the people who made it so.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dreamland is a long book with a complicated plot. Parts of it go in circles, looping back around to come up again. But in the end, everything, or almost everything wraps up into one tight plot.

Except for the Great Head Doctors from Vienna – Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and a couple of others. They apparently did make a journey to America in the general time period, and the story has them wandering by, sightseeing, at a couple of the scenes of action of the main story. But primarily they are doing their own thing neither affect nor are affected by the main events of the story to any great extent.

It is a story of the early twentieth century. There are gangsters, Tammany politicians, sweatshop workers, whores, and Coney Island freaks. There are drinking and gambling in the most disgusting of Bowery bars, shows in the Coney Island amusement parks, murder, an opium den, abuse – physical and sexual – of young girls in garment factories, and several fires.

The story or at least part of it is narrated by a character called Trick the Dwarf who lived for a time in the Dreamland amusement park, one of at least three amusement parks on Coney Island. But the main characters are Esther Abromowitz and her boyfriend, Kid Twist. I liked the description of Esther’s early work experience, from being virtually sold to work in a cramped attic hand-sewing coats when she was still practically a child through several other equally demeaning sorts of sewing jobs to finally working at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. There is a long stretch about union activities during her time at the Triangle factory. After the worst of the drama between Kid Twist and Gyp the Blood (who is really Esther’s brother Lazar) is finished, Trick the Dwarf professes not to know what happened to Esther and Kid. But if they did not leave the city, and if Esther did not take up working professionally for the union, she was set up perfectly to return to the Triangle factory. If that happened, she was then in a perfect position to die in the famous fire that subsequently struck that establishment killing over a hundred people due in large part to the foolish policies of the owners.

The book was a little difficult to get into at first, but as the relationship between the characters became clearer, it got better.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had purchased this book several years ago when I worked at a bookstore—which is like some kind of shiny fantasy dream for a book lover like me. We got a 30 percent discount and could special order books, and since much of the job consisted of stocking, restocking and reorganizing the walls and tables and books, I became quite familiar and quite enamored with several books. This was one of them, one that I was sure I was going to love since I'm drawn to books about amusement parks and carnivals, including books just about the history of amusement parks.

This book starts with an index for a "cast of characters", something I always am loathe to see because it means I'm likely going to be flipping back and forth from what I'm reading to the index to see who the hell it is I'm reading about. Usually, I try to give a book at least 50 pages before making up my mind about continuing, especially if I'm not getting into the story. However, I only made it to page 16 for this one and decided I was done. I lost track of how many times I'd flipped back and forth in that short amount of pages, trying to figure out who was who. The main reason I stopped was that maybe I'm just too squeamish for this subject matter, which is kind of messed up because I'd say the same about Rizzoli & Isles novels, with all their graphically detailed autopsy scenes, yet I still continue to read Rizzoli & Isles novels. This, this did not compel me to keep going.

I stopped shortly after a bunch of men, gangsters, and a carnival dwarf were all gathered in some basement for a "rat pit" or something like that, where they watch dogs kill rats for sport, and a scary gangster named Gyp was "breaking men"—and there was a description of a man whose back had been broken in three places—when another gangster, Kid Twist, hit him over the head with a shovel. I didn't finish chapter 4.

So, needless to say, I'm disappointed. I wish I wanted to keep reading, at least till 50 pages, but I don't. Reading just what I did gave me this odd sensation of grit and nastiness that I just don't want look any further into, if that makes sense.

[C.A. Martella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turn of the century NYC with gangsters and thieves and Coney Island and Tammany Hall and magic and...do you need more? An unique peek into an intriguing chapter of the world's greatest city, with serious research for history buffs to back up this great story.