The Given Day

Lehane is a wonderful writer Mystic River was his opus magnus, and his Boston hard boileds are quite good This novel is his attempt to break out into a larger literary world Set in the period around World War I, Lehane offers us a sense of the times, and they are not pretty The two primary characters are Danny Coughlin, a Boston cop in a long tradition, and Luther Laurence, a poor black There is much in here about the condition of the working man, and it is startling, even to someone who has rea [...]

The size of this novel equates to the size of this story Mammoth Huge Epic Lehane sweeps us into the world at the end of ww1 in Boston It s a time of unrest, social uprising, anarchists, revolutionaries, immigrants, plagues and violence It s the story of 2 men One white an Irish cop one black, a house worker Both struggling to define themselves during a turbulent time in history leading up to a given day, where change is inevitable.The stories are told In contrasting parallel with richly flawed [...]

October 2015Buddy read with Stepheny the kidnapper with the heart ofwelllots of people probably,Jeff the whiny prisoner with a blue crayon, andJess the not so innocent bystander, and two new comers who incidentally finished waaaaaay before me Steve and CarmenExtra Extra read all about it image error THE GIVEN DAY is a historical novel set in Boston Massachusetts and Tulsa Oklahoma.Aiden Danny Coughlin, an Irish Boston Police patrolman whose father Thomas is an influential detective and captain i [...]

Imagine an America where the wealthy people in power rule a system in which they are free to reap enormous profits through unregulated businesses while every privilege that society can offer is given to them These titans of capitalism underpay their employees for hard labor that lasts at least twelve hours a day in unsafe conditions with no overtime or benefits If any of these workers dare complain, then the government will happily label them as dangerous socialist terrorists who threaten the Am [...]

It s interesting to see an author branch out from his her comfort zone and attempt to tackle a different genre Here Dennis Lehane tries his hand at Historical Fiction and although not entirely a fiasco, the book falls far short of his usual compelling work Centered on the labor unrest and Red Scare of 1918 19 in Boston, the book bites off than it can chew and at over 700 pages feels bloated To a lesser or greater degree, Lehane also references World War I, the Spanish Flu pandemic, race relatio [...]

The Given Day is the tale of two men, Danny Coughlin and Luther Laurence, and their families, set against the backdrop of pre prohibition Boston.Yeah, I know that didn t really say much but it s hard to write a teaser for a 700 page historical novel.As I understand it, this was Dennis Lehane s return to the novel world after five years of doing other things, mostly writing for The Wire And he crammed every thought he may have had in about Boston in the early 20th Century in those five years into [...]

He felt a hopelessness that had refused to leave him since he d woken on the basement floor of Salutation Street It wasn t just Salutation though that would play a large role in his thoughts for the rest of his life , it was the world The way it gathered speed with every passing day The way the faster it went, the less it seemed to be steered by any rudder or guided by any constellation The way it just continued to sail on, regardless of him.I hate the cover It s so ugly Couldn t they do any bet [...]

Lehane hasn t written a book in five years The Given Day is his return to fiction.It is a big book, both in length 700 pages and scope Set in late 1918 1919, the book follows two men, one Irish Boston cop Danny Coughlin and a black man from Tulsa Luther Laurence The book explores race, baseball, the Boston Police Strike, terrorism, love, and a whole mess of other topics.It is a huge book, and it is beautifully written I could not put it down.The major complaint about this book, I feel, is going [...]

The Given Day taught me something very important about myself I don t like historical fiction.I like fiction Apparently I only like certain parts of history When I read Mystic River I was blown away I absolutely loved Lehane s writing He was eloquent and thought provoking even moving at times So when Honk, Graymeat and the White Candle sometimes Candlestick and this here crazy MahFah decided we were going to read a Dennis Lehane book I was over the moon about it I already owned the Given Day and [...]

How does one begin to review a 700 page epic historical novel, which drops names such as Calvin Coolidge, John Hoover, W.E.B DuBois, and Babe Ruth, among others Dennis Lehane s The Given Day is set mainly in Boston at the end of World War I The action features two families, one black and one white Luther Laurence is a young colored man who is not quite ready to be a responsible adult He gets his girlfriend pregnant, and at the insistence of her family, they get married in Tulsa, where even black [...]

This was a surprise I am really surprised that a historical fiction about Boston, Babe Ruth, and didn t interest me than this did The Given Day is a broad ranging drama about Boston in the late 1910s The war is ending, jobs are in demand, money is getting tight everywhere, terrorism is putting fear into the hearts of all, segregationist racism is still rearing its ugly head, and the little guy is getting the shaft There s a lot going on in The Given Day, maybe too much I wasn t overwhelmed by [...]

I have it pretty good here in ol 2016 I work nine to five, Monday to Friday I have a decent health plan and my job consists of sitting on my ass in front of a computer all day I get regular raises and if I get sick, I can rest up for a few days until I kick whatever ails me out of my system The men of the Boston Police Department in the early 20th century didn t have any of this They d be lucky if they were even given time off to sleep let alone enough money to feed their families.For Dennis Leh [...]

WOW The Given Day has it all Lehane gives his reader historical facts, tons of strong characters, both good and evil, social and political unrest, murder and mayhem and throws in a love story to boot This was a powerful book, and even so for me as I listened to the wonderful narration of Michael Boatman The ease with which he changed voice, tone, accent was mesmerizing The immigrant Irish brogue, the street cop Boston Irish accent, the New England sound, the black man s cadence.even a bit of Br [...]

I frequently experience a letdown after reading the choice new releases that publishers and literary critics push and bookstores parade as the greatest novel of the decade So I was wary but seduced, anyway, to buy Lehane s book by Boston, by the Red Sox, by themes of racial injustice and social unrest, by the parallels to contemporary issues, and by Lehane s accomplishment with Mystic River I was impressed by Lehane s ambitious genre crossing The quality of this book is sufficiently steep that t [...]

This quickly jumped into my list of favorite novels Not only is it impeccably researched and details dramatic historical events in Boston of 1919, it also follows truly relatable and engaging characters The book follows two young men, one black and one white, who get caught up in the social and political turmoil in Boston at the time.I was worried that being a long historical drama, it would be boring, but from the first chapter I was totally engaged and then became swept up in Luther s desire t [...]

I awaited fervently for my turn at the library for this book and was pretty gravely disappointed It begins with great promise the period in time in Boston s history where the end of WWI, the outbreak of the great influenza epidemic, violent terrorism, and the formation of labor unions all intersect to create huge social upheaval But I just can t finish, despite how piqued my interest is about this period of history The writing was often wooden the characterizations are stock and flat I do want t [...]

I jumped in late on a buddy read with Delee, Stepheny, Jeff, and Jess.Couldn t sleep last night, so I finished this plodding novel 2.5 stars, barely rounded up.The Given Day is an historical novel set in Boston around the tumultuous times around 1919 the end of World War I, the Spanish Flu, unions forming against business owners, and huge waves of immigrants coming to the US hoping for a better life.The story centers around tough Boston Irish cop Danny Coughlin, and Luther Laurence, a black man [...]

This book had so much going for it, I couldn t put it down least for the first 400 pages But then I started to feel the characters were being manipulated from the outside, not operating from internal truths, and there were quite a few anachronistic conversations and unbelievavle relationships between African Americans and whites given the time period, 1919.I d recommend it for the history and the exciting read, but in the end I think it couldn ve been stronger I think, secretly, Lehane wanted to [...]

Lehane s use of dialog and story is outstanding and riveting His story pulls you in and you will not be able to stop This was my first Dennis Lehane story, but definitely not my last I highly recommend if you love thrillers with an historical aspect.

Son of a gun, Ive already read this and never reviewed it The author is so often linked with the idea of mysteries or stories of psychological suspense that this piece of historical fiction is outside the arena that one would expect Sets in the early 1900s, mostly in Boston, this terrific story is about the family of an Irish cop and the black man who serves his family as a domestic Labor disputes of the time, the anarchy that ended in what we would now call acts of terror, strikes, returning so [...]

Lehane, Dennis THE GIVEN DAY 2008 Be prepared to spend a few nights with this novel from Lehane It is a long, long book When you have finished it, however, you will realize that you have just read Lehane s best bool It is the story of an Irish policeman in Boston in the year 1919 It is also the story of a black man on the run from the law who ends up in Boston as a servant to the policeman s family on Beacon Hill 1919 was a turbulent year, and Lehane uses all of the history to support and drive [...]

Two odysseys converge into one story African American Luther Laurence begins his in Ohio Devoted to Lila Waters, he learns she is carrying his child, and follows her to Tulsa where she has family Danny Coughlin is born into police royalty in the still parochial city of Boston where the Irish police maintain order, Brahmin families rule the political system and Italians and Jews are feared anarchists His father is a police captain his godfather is lieutenant of a special squads unit The year is 1 [...]

After five years silence, The Bard of South Boston swings for the fences with this sprawling, brawling entry in the Epic American Novel sweepstakes, and for me he hits a home run Although it shares the same home turf as his earlier work Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone , this novel is a period piece, set just after World War I in an America I hadn t realized was so similar to the one we ve been living in for the last few years grappling with the effects of a devastating war, the exact reasons for wh [...]

I ve read this book for the first time in Sept Oct of 2011 see review hereafter This time around I ve listened to the Audio version audible and the impact of the story is the same this is and remains an amazing narrative of a specific tumultuous time in the city of Boston A huge round of applause for Michael Boatman who did a fantastic job bringing to life so flawlessly the many different characters that are featured He did a great job with all the accents 1st review The minute I read other revi [...]

So far in his relatively early career, Dennis Lehane has given us a stellar crime series and a few other great novels Shutter Island, which I loved, and Mystic River, which I haven t read because I saw and loved the movie.Unless he outdoes himself on this one, The Given Day will go down as his Great American Novel.The Given Day is set in 1919 Boston, and you would think that with the end of the Great War, times would be roaring and booming Not so America is in a state of civil unrest, with worke [...]

Surprise, surprise I have read Dennis Lehane before, and he s most famously known as a mystery and crime writer Not as much for historical fiction, which this novel should be labeled as I had expected something completely different, but it was a pleasant surprise.It takes place in 1919 and largely revolves around the Boston police strike as well as some of its key people Not being familiar with this event on beforehand I found this story very captivating Lehane cleverly introduces us to the key [...]

Mini ReviewDennis Lehane was the first really good author I had read and coming back to him after a couple of years, the first thing that strikes me is he is one of those rare authors who improve with every book His writing is nuanced and he has got a perfectionist s dedication when it comes to choosing words The characters are multi faceted while the protagonists are specially well written managing to be realistic and heroic at the same time The book is long and some anecdotal chapters about Ba [...]

I enjoyed the characters and the plot but I found the details repetitive really didn t want to read about one fight or union meeting

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Really enjoyable stuff here, but not the all time classic I was expecting and hoping for from Lehane I mean, it s still Lehane so it deserves four stars and never stops being anything but compulsively readable, but I was just left feeling a bit underwhelmed by the time I finished The man has clearly done his research and post WW1 Boston unquestionably came alive in my imagination in the hands of this master, so no problem there Lehane s writing is passionate and his eye for human nature never fa [...]