- Hardcover: 464 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday (3 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385600925
- ISBN-13: 978-0385600927
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,298,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Stephen Amidon's fourth novel The New City is a powerfully plotted American tragedy, mirroring the nation's own optimistic birth and the inevitable betrayal of its idealism. The "new city" of the title is Newton, Maryland; a city built from scratch, planned and developed to provide a perfectly engineered social and physical environment which might foster the dreams of the Republic, a place where races will live harmoniously. Its architect Barnaby Vine believes that "the city's design would provide a remedy for the social chaos gripping the nation...Put [people] in communities and they'll act like human beings". Entrusted with carrying out his vision are two men, one white, one black: Austin Swope, acting city manager and the lawyer responsible for land acquisition, and Earl Wooten, the master builder who has overseen the construction of Newton and who dreams of a city free of racial prejudice. Unexplained problems are developing in the city's social and structural fabric, however, and as Newton starts to fall apart, Swope and Wooten are set against each other by a moment of mistrust. Amidon's plot is inexorable and compelling, the end a brutal descent into chaos and treachery.
Amidon's book lies partly within an established American tradition which explores the possibilities of creating utopian communities in the New World, but also picks up on the recent fascination for revisiting the dysfunctions of the 1970s (for example Rick Moody's The Ice Storm) and the turbulent personal and political currents of those times. It also brings to mind the inexorable fall-from-grace plot of Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities--but without that book's ebullient satire and heavy irony: Amidon--though he never quite avoids the element of stereotype that seems such a staple of the thriller-genre he has adopted--is too interested in the detail of character and the individual's response to events to want to turn his book into an exemplary fiction. For what happens is tragedy enough, and sufficiently emblematic to suggest the deep fault lines that still traverse American society. --Burhan Tufail
Sunday Times
'A novel to devour and be devoured by'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The New City is a wonderful novel. Set during the unfolding the the Watergate crisis, The New City owes its title to a would-be utopian urban development in which the main characters have been involved. A plan to create an ideal town which will foster the best forms of civic behaviour of its inhabitants has increasingly been prey to simmering racial tension, as well as unexplained problems which have led the fish in the artificial lake to die, and the gas lamps to burst randomly into flame. Against the power politics of the development, the lives of three families intertwine cruelly with horrifying results. The book is reminiscent of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities; it has the same expansiveness; the desire to look at a moment of American history; the same compulsive readibility - your heart will start to sink as you reach the end, simply because the book is so damn enjoyable; there are the same beautifully drawn characters; and the same kinds of social, cultural and political faultline are beautifully exposed. It is immensely readable; those 500 pages will fly by. There's a strong momentum that takes you through the book, tugged forward by some perfectly judged cliff-hangers, thrilling switches of viewpoint, and a keen use of irony and misdirection that keep you reading with your heart in your mouth. Superb.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Definitely worth investing in. I read this in 3 days whilst on holiday and really enjoyed it. An absorbing plot, strong interesting characters who make sense in the context of their life-experiences and a clear and powerful style of writing. Very very good.I agree with the comparisons woith Bonfire of the Vanities to some extent, though would not rate it quite that highly (although the ending is better realised!)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A real rollercoaster of a novel intriguingly set at a time and reflecting a period when idealism turned to cynicism. There are many echoes of Shakespearian tragedy and the plot is pretty gripping. Perhaps one or two of the characters are a little hard to believe and maybe the turn in the middle of the novel is alittle too sudden and hard to accept, but overall this is an intelligent decent holiday read. Not quite Tom wolfe, but great stuff all the same
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Couldn't put it down!
I am a big Stephen Amidon fan and this did not disappoint. He always seems to have his pulse on American life in the 21st Century. Great story!
Published on 18 Jan 2010 by Avid Reader
Interesting, worth reading but not the greatest book ever
This book has an interesting premise, providing a sort of allegory for America. That sounds pretentious but this is a very American book, with loads of 1970s and American... Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2001 by heatherballance@aol.com
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