Monday, November 1, 2021

London

I've become more interested in historical fiction lately, bringing me to my latest read: London: The Novel. Over a couple of thousand years, this city has gone from a backwater to one of the most important world capitals.

Usually, a story will follow a few characters during a historical event. But because this "story" spans a couple of millenia, the characters we follow are the descendents of characters we are introduced to. It's a pretty unique format. On the one hand it was interesting to follow along as a family tree grows and shrinks through changing times, but on the other it was a bit disjointing. Each chapter has a new story with a new set of characters, even if they share some traits with their (grand)parents.

But in the end you get a really good idea of how the city has developed into what it is from what it was, including the various influxes of immigrants at various stages of the city's existence.

It clocks in at over 1100 pages, however, so get comfortable!

1 comment:

Pedro Alves said...

Check out New York by the same author.