Let the Great World Spin
by McCann, Colum
Colum McCann is an Irish writer whose novels include Songdogs, This Side of Brightness, Dancer, Zoli and Let the Great World Spin. His fiction has been published in 30 languages. His book, Let The Great World Spin, received the 2009 National Book Award for fiction. This expansive novel is set in New York City and begins in 1974, on the day that Philippe Petit walked on a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers. The novel revolves around eleven diverse characters that are seemingly unrelated, but somehow all touched by the events that take place between the two towers. A young aesthetic couple, Blaine and Lara, have tried to escape a past filled with drugs and alcohol by moving to the tranquil country. Their lives intersect with those of Corrigan, who is a monk on a mission and his brother Ciaran, who struggles to make sense of both his life and his brothers, and the prostitutes they encounter, Tillie and Jazzlyn. This highly original, profoundly human novel is as wonderfully written as it is admirable.
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Early 1970s, early morning New York, people on their way to work watch a person high in the air, not obvious from the ground, but turns out he is crossing between the two Twin Towers on a tightrope. The watchers include a few young men over from Ireland, a group of black prostitutes, a high society Park Avenue type woman, and others, who interact with each other in the course of this novel. The author pays unstated tribute to James Joyce by including scenes and images comparable to some found in Joyce's book Ulysses.
A bit disappointing. Perhaps I was expecting too much after the pleasure I got from reading McCann's "Transatlantic." The two books were similar stylistically with multiple stories revolving around a single historical event. In the case of this book, the event was Phillipe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk on a wire stretched high across Manhattan's Twin Towers. Among those whose lives were being lived out in the shadow of the tightrope were two Irish brothers, one a Catholic monk, and the hookers who cared for them. Others included a group of mothers who lost their sons in the Vietnam fiasco and, of course, the walker himself. The title character--this old world--just keeps on spinning, despite the depths of grief, tragedy, love and joy that transpire as it rotates.
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Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
- Condition
- Used; Good
- Published
- 12/04/2009
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780812973990
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London, Greater London, GBR
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LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN [SIGNED]
by McCann, Colum
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- Used
- Edition
- First Edition, First Printing
- Published
- 2009
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9781400063734
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Rockville, Maryland, USA
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$200.00
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Let the Great World Spin.
by McCANN, Colum.
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- Used - Fine
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- 2009.
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- Ivory paper spine, ivory paper-covered boards.
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Edmonds, Washington, USA
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel.
by McCann, Colum
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- 2009
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Palm Beach, Florida, USA
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by McCann, Colum
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- 2009
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- 9781400063734
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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Let the Great World Spin
by McCann, Colum
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- Near Fine
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- 1st Edition
- Published
- 2009
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- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780747597223
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Shelbyville, Indiana, USA
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LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN
by COLUM MCCANN
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Let the Great World Spin
by Colum Mccann
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- 2014
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Edmonton, Alberta, CAN
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by McCann, Colum
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
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Let the Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
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Orange, Virginia, USA
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LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN: A NOVEL
by MCCANN, COLUM
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- Used - Very Good in Very Good dust jacket
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- first edition,6p; 9876pt line
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- 2009
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- 9781400063734
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Durham, California, USA
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by Colum McCann
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- 2009-12-02
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- 9780812973990
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Chicago, Illinois, USA
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by McCann, Colum
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Reno, Nevada, USA
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by McCann, Colum
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Wantage, New Jersey, USA
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Let the Great World Spin
by McCann, Colum
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- 2010
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Maplewood, Missouri, USA
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Let the Great World Spin
by McCann, Colum
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- 2009
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- 9780747597223
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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Let the Great World Spin
by McCann, Colum
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
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Let The Great World Spin: A Novel
by McCann, Colum
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- Used - Fine
- Jacket Condition
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- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Published
- 2009
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780747597223
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Apache Junction, Arizona, USA
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Let The Great World Spin
by Colum McCann
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Southport, Merseyside, GBR
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Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
by Colum McCann
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- Used: Good
- Published
- 2009-06-23
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9781400063734
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HOUSTON, Texas, USA
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