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Loading... Heyday: A Novelby Kurt Andersen
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. 1   LukeS | Apr 11, 2009 |  If you're in need of a nice long historical fiction novel to read over your holiday break, I can do little more than to recommend Kurt Andersen's Heyday (Random House, 2007). It's a sprawling, adventuresome look at American culture of the late 1840s, with its utopian communities, growing cities, racial and social tensions, and endless temptations. Andersen's major characters - memorable all - include erstwhile English émigré Benjamin Knowles, freethinking actress Polly Lucking and her former soldier brother Duff (whose troubles neither began nor ended with traumas sustained during the war with Mexico), plus the carousing Timothy Skaggs, a fascinating writer/photographer/astronomer (whose earlier adventures would make a delightful prequel, should Andersen feel up for it). This quartet, once united, find themselves caught up in a series of cross-continental adventures which, improbable as they may be, make for a fun read (after a rather slow start to the book, it picks up pace quickly). I enjoyed the cameo appearances by various historical figures (including Poe, Darwin, Pinkerton, Tocqueville, and Lincoln's law partner James Herndon, among others), although as they kept happening the effect wore a little thin. I do wish that Andersen had included a note about his research (obviously extensive) and how he incorporated the historical details into his story. All in all, an absorbing and detailed book, which I enjoyed a great deal. http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2008/... (  )1 jbd1 | Dec 20, 2008 | This book received rave reviews but I am having trouble getting into it. Maybe I'll give it another chance one of these days (  ) RebeccaReader | Aug 30, 2008 | Heyday follows the story of four young Americans during the tumultuous years of 1848-9. The novel opens in Paris in February 1948, when the aristocratic Englishman Ben Knowles witnesses an uprising. Eventually, he escapes to the United States, where he quickly befriends Polly and Duff Lucking, and Timothy Skaggs. They’re each of them unique, quirky characters, and I enjoyed reading about them as they make a transcontinental voyage to California followed by a Frenchman in search of vengeance. It’s a journey that’s at once exciting and full of danger. I had mixed feelings about Heyday. I’ve been reading reviews about the book on Amazon.com, and my grumblings about the novel are pretty much the same as theirs are. The four main characters become involved—accidentally or no—with nearly every moment of historical significance in 1848 and -9. However, despite all the change that surrounds them, Ben, Polly, Duff, and Skaggs don’t really seem to change that much themselves. I like to see characters grow and expand in a novel, not remain static. They also seemed like 21st-century people who just happened to drop in on the 1840s. Sometimes the dialogue and events didn’t ring true to me. And I thought that Ben and Polly’s relationship could have been fleshed out a bit. Another complaint I have about the book is the fact that Andersen name-drops a lot. It seems that the four main characters run into every real person of significance of the period. I’m all for historical veracity, but not if it’s going to be superfluous. Along the way, for example, we meet Charles Darwin, Walt Whitman, Horace Greely, and hear from Brigham Young. But none of those characters plays significantly in the narrative. Rather, all the name dropping detracts from the story. All that said, however, Andersen did a terrific amount of research, the kind you don’t nearly run into in novels of this caliber. The overarching theme of the book is that life is in the timing. It’s only coincidence that these four idiosyncratic characters live in this particular period and witness and do all that they do. It’s a completely fantastic historical backdrop and one that I enjoyed reading about. ( ) Kasthu | Aug 16, 2008 | I hated to leave these characters. (  ) sb7693 | Jun 18, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:23 -0400)
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Wikipedia in English
Although the surviving couple, Ben and Polly, absorb and merit the lion's share of our sympathy, perhaps the most intriguing character is the doomed Duff Lucking. A deserter during the Mexican War, he left the army for humanitarian purposes. He ends keeping to his ideals, but committing a long series of crimes, murder and arson, according to his reading of his principles. A devout Catholic, he understands the similarities between the Gospels and the teachings of the Maidu, the Indian tribe he joins at the end of the book.
Against the large canvas of pioneering across America, the sweeping events take place. We have cameos by Charles Darwin, Franklin Pierce, Abraham Lincoln, John C. Fremont - all at least tangentially involved in the unfolding story.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It's epic, and thought-provoking, personal in focus, and national in scale. Pick it up, take a deep breath, and plunge in! (