Top Shelf in July: Transatlantic by Colum McCann
Reviewed by: Consuelo, Master Bookseller & Assistant Manager
Colum McCann is back, and doing what he does best – weaving story lines across time and place into one stunning work of fiction.
TransAtlantic begins with the stories of four real-life men with ties to Ireland. It opens with Jack Alcock and Teddy Brown, who make the first transatlantic flight from Newfoundland to the Irish coast. McCann’s decision to start with these two men is brilliant. His account of their adventure is gripping and attention grabbing, you can almost feel the rattle of the plane and the ice-cold air. He also provides a glimpse of Frederick Douglass, on a book tour and series of lectures in Ireland, which humanizes such a legendary figure. He is young and slightly insecure, but possesses the charisma that draws people to him. The section that describes Senator George Mitchell’s attempts at promoting peace in Northern Ireland is subtle, and more personal than political.
And then McCann uses his special brand of literary magic and tells the tale of four generations of women who tie these men together. It never feels like a mere machination or manipulation because it’s done with such balance and precision that each character is needed or none of them would exist. Irish housemaid Lily Duggan makes the courageous decision to immigrate to the United States and must reinvent herself several times as she struggles with multiple hardships. One of the most fascinating aspects of her story is the period she spent gathering ice blocks from the frozen lakes of 19th century Missouri in order to make a living. The detail of the writing reflects that of the transatlantic flight at the beginning of the book. McCann has an uncanny knack for making you feel like you are there, that this is your plight. Lily’s journalist daughter Emily leads an unconventional life in Newfoundland with her own daughter, Lottie, until life leads them back to Ireland. Lottie and her daughter Hannah must endure a terrible tragedy that breaks both their hearts. Each of these women is both strong and vulnerable, deepening the humanity of the men that came before them in the first half of the book.
Ireland also serves as a character in this book. It is ever present, even when the story travels to North America.
Poverty, beauty, and political turmoil – the characters each react to these different aspects of Ireland’s history Their decisions create a domino effect across each other’s lives. The story explores the idea that time and place are fluid, that our collective history is not fixed. Our choices reverberate off one another in a way that go backward and forward, and this is true of our memories, as well. McCann has a range of emotional nuance that allows his characters to come to life. He so carefully chooses the moments in these characters’ lives that best tell us who they are and how they connect with each other, that a novel epic in scope has a beautiful simplicity that truly soars.
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Copies of Transatlantic are now available on our shelves and via bookpeople.com.
BookPeople 
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http://sensusdivinitatis.blogspot.com.es/
Brilliant book, such talent to interweave historical figures and to effectively channel a few days in life of one man who is still living and do so without it seeming like an invasion of his privacy, which is how it feels when the media attempts to do the same thing.
Love how he shares the imagined stories of the women, who create the fabric of keeping things together so that these men could become great. What a grand feminist and wonderful writer McCann is.