City of Light
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
The exploitation of Niagara Falls to generate electricity leads to a murder involving members of Buffalo's ruling class. The heroine is a high-society school teacher who investigates and through her eyes is seen the conflict between industrialists and environmentalists of the day. A first novel
Reviews with the most likes.
I very rarely (almost never) do not finish a book. I read the first couple of chapters, and I also skipped ahead to see whether I wanted to continue. The premise was very interesting to me: a single, career woman navigating power struggles in early-20th century Buffalo, NY. But I couldn't get past the writing. There were too many blatant foreshadowing interjections. Why couldn't I have said something at that exact moment that would have completely altered the trajectory of all of our lives? I had to move on.
What a powerful, glorious book. Its historical details are matched by the caliber of its prose. Our heroine is unforgettable in this epic tragedy.
