Cover Image: Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach

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This book was a huge disappointment for me. I had read so many good things about Jennifer Egan that I jumped at a chance to receive an advanced reader’s copy of Manhattan Beach from Netgalley and Scribner in exchange for an honest review. The book started on a good vibe, but as it progressed there were so many ancillary stories that it became distracting.
The meat of the story revolves around Anna Kerrigan, a young woman in the early part of WWII who goes to work at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, and becomes enthralled with the divers who are aiding the war effort. Women are not allowed to be divers, but Anna persists, and eventually gets the chance to train for that position. When I read the afterword of this book and discovered that Egan had researched this extensively, I was even more disappointed. Had she cleaved to this story, she would have had a first- class book.
However, we have a father who has associated himself with a mobster, does a Houdini-esque escape from cement shoes at the bottom of the bay, escapes on a freighter to parts unknown, has a Louis Zamperini lost-at-sea experience that he survives—oh my. Anna goes on to have a child by the very mobster who tried to deep six her father. And the convoluted plot just keeps on going.
Another issue I had with this book was that the characters were flawed, most had major secrets. The only two redeeming people in the book were the disabled sister and the mother, and their parts were minor. Egan ties this big mess up with a pretty bow, as Anna, her young son and her aunt move to the Golden State, to be joined by her long-lost father, and they start on their journey to become one happy family.
I know that my opinion of this book is in the minority, but it is sincere. Egan has the potential for greater things. Perhaps better editing would have pared this down to a well-organized book. Or perhaps the ultimate goal for this book was a movie adaptation, not a great literary piece at all.

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Jennifer Egan has written an involved and beautifully researched historical fiction novel. While it can feel like a departure from some prior works (it will NOT read like A Visit from the Goon Squad, which is my personal favorite Egan book), fans of historical fiction in the vein of Melanie Benjamin and the like will love this. I loved learning about women in New York City in the Depression and WWII eras - I had never heard about the diving programs that occurred. This book is well-crafted and gives enough detail, drama and mystery to keep you reading.

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Deception, devotion and diving suits

We first meet Anna at the age of 12 during the time of the Great Depression. She is accompanying her father, Ed Kerrigan, a union leader and part-time bagman (a courier of the proceeds of illegal enterprises) who is visiting Dexter Styles, a gangster boss with a young family, and it is after this meeting that Anna realises that deception can be advantageous. Anna has a severely disabled younger sister, Lydia, who has cerebral palsy and needs constant attention, and Anna and her mother care for her with unwavering love and devotion. Ed, meanwhile, cannot cope with Lydia’s illness and his financial problems, in spite of augmenting his union salary with the proceeds of his involvement in the crime. He disappears, vanishing out of their lives without trace but leaving many unanswered questions – was he murdered or did he stage his disappearance in order to escape his responsibilities?

Anna and her mother finally accept the fact that Ed is not coming back, all the while continuing to care for Lydia. Time passes; World War II breaks out, and America joins in on the side of the Allies. Anna, now in her late teens, joins the war effort in the naval dockyard on the instrument inspection team. She meets up with Dexter Styles again, but he doesn’t recognise her and she doesn’t reveal who she really is as she has a gut feeling that he is somehow connected with her father’s disappearance.

While at the Dockyard she applies to join the Naval Diving Unit. Her strength of character and her determination to succeed against all odds – including, at first, the initial male chauvinism she experiences that borders on the insulting, plus having to wear a diving suit weighing 200lbs which is much more than she does, results in her becoming the first ever female diver and the best in her unit.

It took me a while to get into this book, but I’m very glad that I persevered. The author’s sharply observed characters and clever writing create a fascinating story with several different strands in its DNA – Anna, her father, Dexter Styles – all characters with flaws yet who all have redeeming characteristics. Well, perhaps not Dexter Styles! The fourth strand in the DNA spiral is the sea and its effect on them all. Manhattan Beach is a gripping and satisfying read and I give it four stars.

Bennie Bookworm

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

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I was eager to read this because of my love for Goon Squad. Historical fiction primarily set at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and NYC during the Great Depression. Anna Kerrigan goes to work at the Navy Yard to help support her family after her father's mysterious disappearance. I thought the general outline of the story was interesting and loved learning about the Navy yard and Anna's journey; however, there were several story elements that seemed nonsensical to me. Is this time period and setting is appealing, you may be able to overlook some of the flaws.

I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

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This was very slow-going for me and I ended up putting it down and forgetting about it.

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A historical novel set during and around WWII is something that really appeals to me.

Unfortunately, reading this novel felt like work.

The story felt contrived and ultimately, it failed to make me care about any of the characters.

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This is the first novel I’ve read by Jennifer Egan and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride! I was immediately drawn into the story and my attention sustained by her beautiful and rich prose. Used to gradually warming to a new novel initially (especially when the vestiges of the last book read still hang on me), I was amazed at how deftly I was sucked into her narrative, very literally from the very first line, like unravelling wool in a jumper (or, a more pertinent simile for this book, like being sucked into a water vortex).

The novel quietly twists and turns, meandering gently but firmly and constantly - I don’t want to give anything away by going into detail about what happens but Egan’s plot comes together so satisfactorily, and yet also so painfully tragically, that you feel no theme has been left untouched, no idea unhandled or dealt with. Emotionally this is a delicate, almost fragile, story and yet its characters force and will charge the whole novel so that it becomes a vibrating action packed experience. The water is a constant theme in this novel – the pull towards to, as means of escape and freedom, and annihilation of self (death). The narrative framework jumps back and forth, in time and from Anna, Dexter and Eddie’s pov – three characters irrevocably linked to one another with very different and deeply touching relationships amongst themselves.

There is such an eclectic amount of information gathered from reading this novel; from diving during the second world war to gangster life in New York (as well as the particular and clear viewpoint of what it was like to be a young woman in those years – Anna is very empowered and quietly revolutionary).

I wish I could expand on the issues and relationships and events that take place in this novel but I don’t want to ruin the experience I had when I came into contact with Egan’s prose – which was unadulterated by having read other books or reviews etc. I’m so pleasantly impressed by Egan’s talent; I cannot wait to read her other novels – I know I won’t be disappointed.

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The plot description intrigued me, I love historical fiction novels. But this novel was difficult to finish. It was incredibly long, I'd read for an hour and have only moved 2-3% in the book. It took me a lot of dedicated reading to get through this book. The book was also kind of boring, it was very descriptive but nothing ever really happened. There was no compelling action or drama to pull the reader in and feel for the characters. I didn't even feel anything when Lydia died. Just felt like I was waiting for it to end.

I hate to be so critical and negative of a novel, so maybe I just didn't connect well with the novel. It's not very action based so I found it slow.

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Manhattan Beach has its strong points, particularly the passages about becoming a diver, but overall I just didn't find this novel engaging.

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I love fiction where I learn something new. Birdsong was one such, where I learned about miners being used to create tunnels for the troops in occupied France. Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan is another.

Anna adores her father Eddie and accompanies him when he goes to visit various people ‘for the union,’ his job. Times are tough in depression era New York. Many people have lost their jobs. Eddie has Anna, an extremely disabled younger daughter, and an ex-showgirl wife to support and does whatever he can to make sure there is food on the table.

Years later America has joined the second world war and Anna works in a munitions factory at the docs, earning some money to support her mother and sister. She harbours a desire to be a diver, to go down into the dark, greasy waters around the navy piers and help to repair the ships that have returned there between sorties. She believes her father, who disappeared years earlier, will one day return, but when she has an ill-judged affair with an older gangster cum club owner, she discovers that her father may be closer than she knows.

I loved this book. I had no idea that New York was so nervous of being hit by the Germans, always believing that they thought the war was something that happened ‘over there.’ I loved the attention to detail Egan provides. Her research was obviously extensive, but she doesn’t ram stuff into the story to show you she knows it. Instead, each detail enriches the sense of time and place in which the story takes place. There are some authors I know who would do well to take a leaf out of Ms Egan’s book.

The characters flew off the page, so perfectly were they described. I adored Anna, a true feminist who wouldn’t recognise that word. She did whatever it took to survive and thrive during these difficult times. I felt great empathy with her, and with her father.

Dexter Styles, the gangster, was brilliantly drawn. I’d quite like him to have a book of his own as there was such complexity in his character and story.

There is so much more I’d like to say, but I don’t want to give away any of the plot. This is a truly remarkable book and I am grateful to the publisher who gave me a copy of the book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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One of those rare books that you do not want to come to an end. A future classic, great American novel. The characters are so well crafted and feel so dimensional, that one cares about them all. It is a coming of age novel that takes place during early to mid-20th century in Brooklyn, extra wonderful because the main character is female. The writing is gorgeous without hitting you over the head with it. What I mean is that the story thrusts you forward, even while you are aware of being brought along by a remarkably gifted writer.

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This book isn’t what I was expecting at all. I felt like it was all over the place and so much that didn’t connect. Despite that, there are zero regrets for reading it.

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Anna and her father have a special relationship. When he turns up missing she finds war-time ways to fill the void left by him. What ensues is a poetic journey for many characters, with the climax being a woman who has found what she needed.

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"Manhattan Beach" is a masterpiece. The book begins in Brooklyn during the Great Depression where we are introduced to Anna Kerrigan. Anna's father, Eddie, is struggling to keep his family afloat which includes his wife and another daughter, who is seriously ill with a disease that will never improve. Enter Dexter Styles, a character that will transform all of their lives.
Interwoven beautifully into the plot is Anna's success in becoming the first female diver to serve the US during World War II.
Egan's writing is beautiful, allowing the reader to not only visualize the scenes but to make you feel that you are diving alongside Anna. It's a mesmerizing tale to the very end!

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I didn't exactly love Egan's <u>A Visit From the Goon Squad</u> but I was still intrigued enough by the plot blurb for <u>Manhattan Beach</u> and this woman working as a diver at the Navy Yard to give her another shot. While the prose is definitely "beautiful" and the time period obviously well-researched, I never connected with the majority of these characters. It's difficult to care much about what's going on in the story when every character feels like a rather dull stranger or their actions come straight out of a "Plot Points 101" pamphlet instead of having the feel of a natural progression of the character's arc and story. The book follows several different characters during several points in time, but the primary protagonist is Anna, which was great because as this female diver, I was most interested in her. However, even the diving aspect of this book, which seemed to be a major story aspect (I certainly thought it was from the blurb), is actually fairly minor when compared to the rest of the story. We spend more time with the merchant marines than actually diving with Anna or reading about her work. Most of the diving is simply long descriptions of the weight of the diving suit itself.
When I finally reached the last chapter, I was thrilled for it to finally be over. I just didn't see the point of this story and felt the publisher was selling me a completely different bill of goods than what I actually received. I want to be able to connect with characters, root for them, and have some sense of satisfaction by that final chapter. This book fulfilled none of those vital points for me.

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NetGalley for the win! Thanks to the author and publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

***

I didn't know much about this book when I requested a copy, but-- it was Jennifer Egan, so of course I was in. While I found the book very different from her other works, that wasn't a dealbreaker. I would read Ms. Egan's shopping list and probably not be disappointed.

I always appreciate when a book can take me to new worlds - the New York docks during WWI, a merchant marine vessel off the coast of Madagascar, not to mention a woman breaking in to a "man's field". FWIW, Anna Kerrigan makes my rather short list of "badass females" for her time and era. Recommended, but don't expect a fast read.

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I loved this novel. It is a sweeping story in which the protagonist lives in some ways a very simple life. In others, there is intrigue, interest and more excitement. What a joy.

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Not. at all what I,expected, this book was a pleasant surprise. Egan has done her research and created a detailed, dark story of the criminal underworld in New York city and the transformative effect of WWII. What does one do to survive.? The Narrative unfolds using three different voices, adding to the breadth of the story.
Many of the twists and turns in the plot were unexpected, a few predictable. Egan manages to give us a story that begins to explore the social transformation in the United States that accompanied, or was caused by World War II.
Highly recommended.

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As the Second World War rages and the American Navy is desperate to produce and repair ships, Anna Kerrigan gets the opportunity to become a diver in the shipyards of New York. Anna is alone in the world after her father disappeared five years before she lived with her mother and disabled sister but when her sister dies her mother returns to the MidWest. She begins an affair with a married man, a man with links to crime and who may know the truth about her father, but finding out the truth is no consolation.

This is one of the best books I have read all year. Not having read Egan's previously lauded novel I was a little sceptical about the hype but within minutes I was hooked. Anna is a complex character, ambivalent about sex and wanting to have equality, yet launching into a passionate affair with a man who may have killed her father. The setting in the early 1940s is imagined vividly but without too much obvious scene-setting and the longer descriptive parts are excellent - the claustrophobic nature of diving, the loss at sea. Interesting sub-characters appear and disappear and even the ending is not as neat as some authors might make it.

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I have a love/hate relationship with Egan's work. This is the fourth book by her I have read and by far my favorite. A Visit from the Goon Squad completely missed the mark for me, but this one hit the bullseye. I loved the setting, it feels as if Egan researched the Great Depression thoroughly in order to offer a realistic picture of life during that time. I also loved the characters she created and how they wove the plot together. All-in-all, a very satisfying read.

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