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Title: Thunderstruck (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper))
ISBN: 0739326767
Author:
Erik Larson
Publicate Date: 2006-10-24
Publish: 2006-10-24
List Price: $28.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $10.25
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $8.97
Amazon Merchant Price: $28.95
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1: An Artful Reconstruction of History
A wonderful, exciting, and vivid look at what life may have been like for and in the time of Guglielmo Marconi, (often cited as the inventor of but, more accurately, the first to successfully commercialize wireless communication). The author painstakingly reconstructs many events in Marconi's life and juxtaposes them against the life of the notorious English murderer Dr. H. H. Crippen using public records and letters.
The genius Marconi struggles for years to perfect his invention to the point where it can bridge the Atlantic and successfully compete with the trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, making communication with ships making the voyage between the continents possible for the first time in history. Meanwhile, the life of the Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen is presented in shockingly sympathetic detail as the plain-looking and love-starved peddler of patent medicines meets the love of his life and attempts to get away with the murder of his gold-digging and unfaithful wife, culminating in a manhunt like none ever before seen.
The two stories come together as, in a flight that seems a haunting prelude to O. J. Simpson's nationally televised car chase, the entire world hangs on the reprinted wireless updates from the captain of the ship transporting the unsuspecting doctor and his mistress to America as British authorities slowly close the distance in another ship over the weeks of the journey.
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2: THUNDERSTUCK OUT
I was thunderstruck by Devil In The White City, so why not Thunderstruck. Using a format that was so effective in Devil, Larson interweaves a story of murder back in the early 1900's with that of Marconi and the introduction of wireless communication.
I found the story of Marconi much more riveting than that of Dr. Crippen and the murder of his wife. I was disappointed in the uneveniess of the two storylines. Unlike in Devil where each of the stories warranted equal analysis and narrative, here the story of Dr. Crippen is undeserving of equal billing with that of Marconi. It is at best an aside to the Marconi story and their nexus is minimal and almost anti-climatic.
I would be interested in a better analysis of the Crippen crime, and its' ultimate trigger, if one exists. While Larson does a great job and is very detailed as to Crippen before the murder, we are left here with too many questions as to his method. I found myself underwhelmed by Crippen's lack of "neatness" as to the crime, and how easily became the obvious suspect. Finally, Larson fails to capture the sensationalism of his trial. Larson raised the bar with Devil and may be unfairly destined to have efforts to duplicate its compelling formula fall short by comparison.
Thunderstruck
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America
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3: Thunderstruck by Eric Larson
Eric Larson has an almost lyrical voice for historical non-fiction storytelling presenting historical fact in a style generally associated with works of fiction. After reading Larson's Devil In The White City, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America I was excited to get my hands on Thunderstruck. It was a disappointment. Larson chose Edwardian England and the dawning of the 20th century as the backdrop for his tale The period was ripe with growth and discovery. There was an innocence lost as, still reeling from the White Chapel murders, Londoners feared Jack the Ripper around every corner.
From this period of the dawning of the technical age, Eric Larson plucks two intriguing tales, each an enthralling bit of history in its own right. The first of these is Marconi's development of wireless communication. Larson skillfully lays out Marconi's life from childhood in Italy, his lack of formal education, his Irish mother's insistance that young Guglielmo learn English even at the expense of his native Italian, his eventual migration to England, his obsession with wireless communication, his lack of social savvy and the resultant failure of his romantic relationships.
And, while Larson unravels a tale of Marconi bouncing back and forth across the Atlantic in multiple failed attempts to transmit and receive timely wireless messages between Europe and North America he introduces a little known, but pivotal character in history ... Hawley Harvey Crippen.
Crippen, a mousey, bespectacled, little American, had the misfortune of marrying a young woman with loose social graces and high hopes. Their story follows the couple's circuitous and often tumultuous journey from America to England Where Mrs. Crippen, a failed actress in America believes she can find a better audience for her mediocre talents. She changes her name to Belle and, for a short time, becomes the belle of third class salons (theatres) about London. Although a failure as and actress, her exuberant personality makes her a darling among the theatre set nonetheless. But Belle's charm does not extend to her husband. She attempts to remake Hawley into her concept of what he should be, buying all of his clothes, orchestrating his life, and even renaming him Peter. Her own personal insecurities require him to be at her beckon call accounting for every moment he is not with her.
But, in the office of his patent medicine business, Hawley hires a secretary, Ethel La Neve, with whom he develops a romantic relationship. Bolstered by his romance with Ethel, Hawley stops worrying over Belle's threats to leave him. And, when one day she turns up missing, he explains her absence with a story of flight to America. But, before long he offers reports of Belle falling ill and, later, succumbing to her illness, and her friends start to question his story. When the theatre guild ladies go to the police, Hawley's cover begins to disintegrate and a global manhunt begins. Hawley and Ethel take flight, eventually boarding a ship in the Nederlands headed for America.
By this time, Marconi's wireless has found technical if not financial success as Marconi continues struggling to prove its worth and overcome competition from others working on similar radio wave advancements as well as the established cablegram. And the Marconigram proves to be the undoing of Hawley and Ethel when reports explode in the air with every snap of the telegrapher's signal on land and aboard ships crossing the Atlantic. When the lovers arrive in America, Assistant Commissioner McNaughton of Scotland Yard is there ahead of them.
Larson takes these two individually fascinating tales and, based on the one slender common link, attempts to intertwine them into one story. It seems almost as though he randomly interspersed chapters of two different short stories to make it big enough to call it a book. The result is a mish-mash of confusing chapters that flip-flop from one story to the other with no apparent connection, leaving the reader in a state of confusion with each new chapter.
I found myself being thrust out of the stories with every chapter, my mind doing a double-take at each new beginning, having to stop and review what I just read and trying to acclimate myself to the next chapter and the next. The ultimate effect is a sense of disequilibrium leading to a wholly unsatisfying reading experience and the most disconcerting fact is that Larson is far too forgiving of his own shortcomings in this book.
Despite the technical failure of Thunderstruck, however, I am sufficiently impressed with Larson's writing skills to want to read more of his non-fiction novels: Isaac's StormIsaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History; An Act of VengeanceAn Act of Vengeance; and even Lethal Passage Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun which is more a cry for social awareness than a simple historical tale.
Thunderstruck is well worth the read if only for the historical information it imparts. But, if you've not read any of Larson's work, Thunderstruck is not the place to begin. I would recommend,instead, Devil in the White City. And, when you do read Thunderstruck, be aware of its shortcomings.
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4: Be prepared to read slowly
This is not a quick, easy read. This one takes a lot of concentration, yet it was very interesting. History buffs will love it.
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5: Continuing in the same vein as "White City"
Larson seems to have devised a genre or writing style of his own making with this book and his earlier bestseller "Devil in the White City." The two works are similar in that they both tell the intersecting stories of a creator and a destroyer. In "White City," it was the architect Daniel Burnham and the serial killer H.H. Holmes whose stories were told in alternating chapters; in "Thunderstruck," it's the stories of Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of wireless telegraphy, and suspected killer H.H. Crippen which are alternated until they intersect. The similarity of style between the two books is so uncanny that it could not be chance; Larson has intentionally created a "genre" of sorts for himself.
This one is perhaps even better than "White City." Marconi is infinitely more interesting than Burnham, and his creation is more interesting than the latter's architecture. Crippen is more of a sympathetic character than H.H. Holmes, although the latter is perhaps more fascinating because of his much higher body count. It's almost a wash between the two books, and I daresay fans of the earlier book will be pleased with this one, too. Personally, I've really been enjoying these "turn-of-the-century true crime books" (as I classify them), whether by Larson or others.
One more thing: persevere. The first 100 expository pages may drag, but soon you learn to care for the principals and the book then begins to really move. Stick with it.
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