Helpful Score: 3
A good read but hard to stay with it. I loved the beginning but it started to meander about 3/4 of the way through.
Helpful Score: 3
This book went into the history and background of several families and individuals who made it through (as well as lost their lives) in the Johnstown, PA flood of 1889. Some of these histories were quite interesting, I found myself skimming a bit over some of the dryer details of a couple of these people.
Now -- I am no prude, but it surprised me somewhat that sexual attitudes were as open and free as Ms. Cambor described - I thought people didn't dare do much less than think about such things (i.e. premarital sex) in the Victorian era.
Regardless, I enjoy historical novels and although not the very best book I've read recently - this was a good book that I can recommend.
Now -- I am no prude, but it surprised me somewhat that sexual attitudes were as open and free as Ms. Cambor described - I thought people didn't dare do much less than think about such things (i.e. premarital sex) in the Victorian era.
Regardless, I enjoy historical novels and although not the very best book I've read recently - this was a good book that I can recommend.
Helpful Score: 3
This was a little hard to get into at first for me but once I pushed past that point, I enjoyed it. It was a look in to just what may have happened in the time prior to the Johnstown Flood.
Helpful Score: 3
This is a novel which is based on a factual occurrence â a flood in 1889 in Johnstown Pennsylvania. The rich had a hunting and fishing lodge above the dam, the town of Johnstown was below the dam. When the dam broke, over 2000 people died in the subsequent flood.
Rich means VERY rich: Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Henry Clay Frick â businessmen and financiers of the highest caliber at that time â were all members of the âclubâ.
Similar to the situation in the Titanic, the rich couldn't care less about the other people â their fate, their future was totally unimportant to the men who used the club. When the club had been built, the earthen dam was nominally reinforced⦠once⦠for $17,000. Then it was never maintained.
The fiction is in giving lives to the characters â daily details, conversations, a romance or two. The writing is compelling â the reader knows, just as in the Titanic, what the outcome of the story will be, and keeps reading.
I recommend it.
http://www.johnstownpa.com/History/hist19.html
Rich means VERY rich: Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon and Henry Clay Frick â businessmen and financiers of the highest caliber at that time â were all members of the âclubâ.
Similar to the situation in the Titanic, the rich couldn't care less about the other people â their fate, their future was totally unimportant to the men who used the club. When the club had been built, the earthen dam was nominally reinforced⦠once⦠for $17,000. Then it was never maintained.
The fiction is in giving lives to the characters â daily details, conversations, a romance or two. The writing is compelling â the reader knows, just as in the Titanic, what the outcome of the story will be, and keeps reading.
I recommend it.
http://www.johnstownpa.com/History/hist19.html
