I was attracted by the promise of a murder mystery, and Erik Larson’s novel Thunderstruck ended up teaching me about the beginnings of the world’s greatest invention: wireless technology. Humanity today would not be able to survive without it, but, ironically enough, the people of the past thought it would be of no use compared to the success of communication via cable. By steering his audience through the doubts of a superstitious age, Larson humbles the invention and thus makes its successes much more exciting. Its best success in its early stages was its underestimated ability to send messages to places that were previously considered unreachable. This success would later play a huge role in catching the novel’s criminal while he’s on the run. Thunderstruck was able to turn me away from my misconceptions of the nonfiction genre, believing it to consist of a dull list of facts. In fact, I forgot I was reading nonfiction most of the time! Thunderstruck contains the stories of Guglielmo Marconi’s continuous struggle with wireless communication and Hawley Crippen’s love story marked with death. Unlikely as it seems, both of their stories cross in an excellent utilization of story format. For example, a chapter from one character’s perspective would reinforce or challenge an idea mentioned in the previous one in another’s point of view. I appreciated the setting descriptions of trends, technology, etc. If more explanation was needed, Larson provided an example from that time period and improved my understanding of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s in a way that didn’t rely on biased comparisons to the present—biased against past social norms that is. The consistency of the time period allows the story to flow and the readers to get into the mindset of what it was like in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Despite its serious subject matter, Thunderstruck is not without its own humor. History is packed full of situational irony, such as doctors who are actually killing patients with their prescriptions, and Larson takes advantage of this. The contradiction between intention and reality as well as serious and lighthearted subjects fixed a bewildered smile on my face. One moment Larson is describing the fear lingering in Jack the Ripper’s hunting areas, and the next he goes on about how the people lovingly call a Prince of Wales “Tum Tum” behind his back. And he somehow makes a transition which makes both topics relevant to the story! Nonfiction isn’t for everyone, but Larson’s writing style gave life to the facts, keeping me engaged in the suspense of the gradual plummet and rise of the two main characters. Even though I refer to Marconi and Crippen as main characters, Thunderstruck wasn’t centered around the two. Larson got into the minds of the people he was writing about through facts. Most of the people mentioned, even those seemingly unimportant in the grand scheme of the plot, had a blurb of their background, reminding me of how important it is to know the story behind a character. A person’s past has the power to influence their present or future reactions. Larson doesn’t interrupt the story to provide a character’s context. Rather, he gives a brief summary of the figure’s analysis when it is relevant to their reaction. For example, the detective was introduced as an investigator who’s first assignment was to catch Jack the Ripper, but the details of how that case affected him are revealed once he sees the corpse. It was quite refreshing to see all of the characters’ sides of the story with Marconi and Crippen’s under a magnifying glass. Readers looking for a solid ending would not enjoy this story much, for it closes with some unsolved questions which Larson addresses at the end. Murder isn’t at the center of the story, and though this fact may turn others away from Thunderstruck, I suggest they give it a chance anyways. Larson nicely balances wireless experiments and the drama in Crippen’s life so they can still enjoy the book while learning about something which plays a huge role in their everyday life.
Thunderstruck was able to turn me away from my misconceptions of the nonfiction genre, believing it to consist of a dull list of facts. In fact, I forgot I was reading nonfiction most of the time! Thunderstruck contains the stories of Guglielmo Marconi’s continuous struggle with wireless communication and Hawley Crippen’s love story marked with death. Unlikely as it seems, both of their stories cross in an excellent utilization of story format. For example, a chapter from one character’s perspective would reinforce or challenge an idea mentioned in the previous one in another’s point of view.
I appreciated the setting descriptions of trends, technology, etc. If more explanation was needed, Larson provided an example from that time period and improved my understanding of the late 1800’s to early 1900’s in a way that didn’t rely on biased comparisons to the present—biased against past social norms that is. The consistency of the time period allows the story to flow and the readers to get into the mindset of what it was like in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.
Despite its serious subject matter, Thunderstruck is not without its own humor. History is packed full of situational irony, such as doctors who are actually killing patients with their prescriptions, and Larson takes advantage of this. The contradiction between intention and reality as well as serious and lighthearted subjects fixed a bewildered smile on my face. One moment Larson is describing the fear lingering in Jack the Ripper’s hunting areas, and the next he goes on about how the people lovingly call a Prince of Wales “Tum Tum” behind his back. And he somehow makes a transition which makes both topics relevant to the story!
Nonfiction isn’t for everyone, but Larson’s writing style gave life to the facts, keeping me engaged in the suspense of the gradual plummet and rise of the two main characters. Even though I refer to Marconi and Crippen as main characters, Thunderstruck wasn’t centered around the two. Larson got into the minds of the people he was writing about through facts. Most of the people mentioned, even those seemingly unimportant in the grand scheme of the plot, had a blurb of their background, reminding me of how important it is to know the story behind a character. A person’s past has the power to influence their present or future reactions. Larson doesn’t interrupt the story to provide a character’s context. Rather, he gives a brief summary of the figure’s analysis when it is relevant to their reaction. For example, the detective was introduced as an investigator who’s first assignment was to catch Jack the Ripper, but the details of how that case affected him are revealed once he sees the corpse. It was quite refreshing to see all of the characters’ sides of the story with Marconi and Crippen’s under a magnifying glass.
Readers looking for a solid ending would not enjoy this story much, for it closes with some unsolved questions which Larson addresses at the end. Murder isn’t at the center of the story, and though this fact may turn others away from Thunderstruck, I suggest they give it a chance anyways. Larson nicely balances wireless experiments and the drama in Crippen’s life so they can still enjoy the book while learning about something which plays a huge role in their everyday life.