- Hardcover: 496 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins World (6 April 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0060195835
- ISBN-13: 978-0060195830
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 16 x 4.3 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,946,363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Strivers Row: City of Fire Trilogy, Book 3 (P.S.)
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Review
"Ambitious, at times transcendent .... brings to vibrant life a notable chapter in New York City history." -- Entertainment Weekly
Product Description
The dramatic and riveting final installment in Kevin Baker's New York Trilogy, "Strivers Row" is the story of two young men trying to find their way through the temptations and pitfalls of life in World War II Harlem. The Rev. Jonah Dove is the son of a legendary Harlem minister, and a man troubled in both mind and spirit. He feels himself unworthy and incapable of taking up the burden of running his church from the larger-than-life figure who is his father. He is haunted both by his own, shameful history of "passing" as a white man in college, and by the prospects for his people in the harsh, new, racist age he fears the world is entering. Malcolm Little, better known as Malcom X, is a teenage hustler, a young man on the make, trying always to be something bigger, tougher, savvier, and more confident than he really is. On his way to New York, Malcolm happens to come to the rescue of Jonah and his wife, Amanda, when they are attacked by some drunken soldiers on the train. From then on, their paths cross repeatedly as they each go about trying to find what they really want out of the roiling, wartime city, until the moment when Harlem finally erupts around them, as a people driven beyond endurance strikes out blindly at all the forces keeping it entrapped in misery and hopelessness. Stranded on the streets of a rioting city, Jonah and Malcolm meet each other once more, as they come to grips with what they are and what the future will hold for them.
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First Sentence
He thought about the rabbits sometimes, lying awake at night in the little room in Ella's house, under the eaves. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
He thought about the rabbits sometimes, lying awake at night in the little room in Ella's house, under the eaves. Read the first page
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12 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Least Fiery of Baker's Trilogy
1 Nov 2006
Format:Hardcover
The third in Baker's "City of Fire" trilogy of historical fiction about New York City, this book is set in the early `40s in Harlem with the story told through the eyes of a young Malcolm Little, who in later life would become Malcolm X, and the fictional Rev. Jonah Dove (based on Adam Clayon Powell, who also appears as himself in the book.)
Baker's meticulous research results in Harlem scenes that resonate with believability. Laid against the backdrop is the story of Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad (founder of the Black Muslims), which has to be dealt with on a symbolic level. While an enjoyable read, this one didn't quite measure up to the promise generated by Baker's first two parts of the trilogy, Dreamland and Paradise Alley.
Baker's meticulous research results in Harlem scenes that resonate with believability. Laid against the backdrop is the story of Malcolm and Elijah Muhammad (founder of the Black Muslims), which has to be dealt with on a symbolic level. While an enjoyable read, this one didn't quite measure up to the promise generated by Baker's first two parts of the trilogy, Dreamland and Paradise Alley.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Master literary historian, great novel (what else is new?)
12 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
I've been a Kevin Baker fan since his brilliant book about Coney Island: Dreamland. His next one, Paradise Alley, may have been even better. No one writes about New York City as well as Baker does -- no novelist, no historian, no one. This new book is a novel about Harlem in the era of jazz greats and secret cults, the era of war and hope. I think it's his most ambitious work yet -- it tells the sotry of young Malcolm X, in the days before he was famous, and -- better than anything I know of about the man -- it gets at the heart of a great American engima. There are other great characters, too --- The Reverend Jonah Dove, who may be a real life figure, as well (I don't know) -- but the story itself is so riveting, I was totally into the book from page one.
Anyway, I really recomend it. The dude can write.
Anyway, I really recomend it. The dude can write.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
An Extraordinary Experience
13 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
For six years and three books, Baker has been building, brick by brick, his own city, and it is a classic. With Striver's Row, the high-rises are inhabited, the streets are paved, the corners are teeming. You see how the country came together, and you understand that the world of books has been resting in sure hands. Baker has a detective's eye and a preservationist's heart: but most of all, he has a writer's head, and the proof is on every page. This book tops off a trilogy, but Striver's can be read alone; if it were a first novel, it'd be a cause for celebration. As the end of a series, it's an occassion for gratitude.
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