This book won a National Book Award or some such thing last year. Was on many "must read" lists of 2009. Has been on my "must read" list (because of the preceding facts) for many months.
I finished the book and thought "really? That won an award? Why?" But two weeks later (yes, I am behind on blogging) I am still thinking about this book. When I finished it I was thinking about the characters in the book, but as it has percolated in my brain, I find myself thinking about life in general. The characters in the book got kind of thrown into their lives without being asked what they wanted but then were faced with situations where they did have choices. And the choices they made determined what direction their life would go. To a certain point. Each person is still greatly impacted by the decisions of others (things get thrown at them without asking them) but again each person has the choice of how to respond to the stuff that is thrown at them.
The central unifying event in this book is the tightrope walk between the World Trade Towers that occurred in 1974. Like the tightrope walker, each character in the book is walking a tightrope in their lives. The are balancing, swaying, trying not to fall off. Walking through their lives is just as precarious as the walk between the Twin Towers.
Read this book, then let it sit in your mind for a while. Or maybe you will "get it" long before I have. On my selfishly subjective scale...four out of five stars.
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