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Overview
This widely acclaimed bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains ... forever. Through the eyes of Cormac O'Connor - granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan - we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know the city's buried secrets - the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope.
Synopsis
This widely acclaimed bestseller is the magical, epic tale of an extraordinary man who arrives in New York in 1740 and remains ... forever. Through the eyes of Cormac O'Connor - granted immortality as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan - we watch New York grow from a tiny settlement on the tip of an untamed wilderness to the thriving metropolis of today. And through Cormac's remarkable adventures in both love and war, we come to know the city's buried secrets - the way it has been shaped by greed, race, and waves of immigration, by the unleashing of enormous human energies, and, above all, by hope.
The New Yorker
If September 11th was a terrible warning of New York's mortality, Hamill's entertaining panhistorical fantasy is a paean to its immortality. In 1740, an Irish Jew named Cormac O'Connor heads to New York in pursuit of the man who killed his father and gets tangled up in a rebellion against the English. Through a series of events involving an African slave with shamanistic powers, he is granted eternal life, provided that he never leaves Manhattan. There follows a tour of the city's history through Cormac's eyes: the political corruption and the poverty, but also the majestic growth of the metropolis through its culture, its buildings, and its people. The book's central conceit could almost have come from the pages of Twain or Bellamy, but Hamill pulls his story fiercely into the present by centering the final phase of Cormac's narrative on the World Trade Center attacks themselves.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
In Forever, Pete Hamill's paean to his hometown, the main character, one Cormac O'Connor, receives the gift of immortality with one condition: he must spend all his days on the island of Manhattan. This Whitmanesque dream, enacted in 1741, makes O'Connor a sort of undying resident muse of this ever-bulging metropolis. After September 11th, it is reassuring to read this novel as veteran New Yorker Hamill's lovestruck tribute to our most cosmopolitan city.The New Yorker
If September 11th was a terrible warning of New York's mortality, Hamill's entertaining panhistorical fantasy is a paean to its immortality. In 1740, an Irish Jew named Cormac O'Connor heads to New York in pursuit of the man who killed his father and gets tangled up in a rebellion against the English. Through a series of events involving an African slave with shamanistic powers, he is granted eternal life, provided that he never leaves Manhattan. There follows a tour of the city's history through Cormac's eyes: the political corruption and the poverty, but also the majestic growth of the metropolis through its culture, its buildings, and its people. The book's central conceit could almost have come from the pages of Twain or Bellamy, but Hamill pulls his story fiercely into the present by centering the final phase of Cormac's narrative on the World Trade Center attacks themselves.Publishers Weekly
This novel demands that the reader immediately suspend disbelief, but if this summons is heeded the reward will be a superior tale told by Hamill (Snow in August; A Drinking Life) in the cadence of the master storyteller. The year is 1741 and this is the story of Cormac O'Connor-"Irish, and a Jew"-who grows up in Ireland under English Protestant rule and is secretly schooled in Gaelic religion, myth and language. Seeking to avenge the murder of his father by the Earl of Warren, he follows the trail of the earl to New York City. On board ship, Cormac befriends African slave Kongo, and once in New York, the two join a rebellion against the British. After the rising is quelled, mobs take to the streets and Kongo is seized. Cormac saves Kongo from death, but is shot in the process. His recovery takes a miraculous turn when Kongo's dead priestess, Tomora, appears and grants Cormac eternal life and youth-so long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan, thus the "Forever" of the title. What follows is a portrait of the "city of memory of which Cormac was the only citizen." Cormac fights in the American Revolution, sups with Boss Tweed (in a very sympathetic portrait) and lives into the New York of 2001. In that year he warily falls in love with Delfina, a streetwise Dominican ("That was the curse attached to the gift: You buried everyone you loved"), and comes into contact with a descendant of the Earl of Warren, the newspaper publisher Willie Warren. His love, his drive for revenge and his very desire to exist are fatefully challenged on the eve and the day of September 11. This rousing, ambitious work is beautifully woven around historical events and characters, but it is Hamill's passionate pursuit of justice and compassion-Celtic in foundation-that distinguishes this tale of New York City and its myriad peoples. 4-city author tour. (Dec.)KLIATT
Cormac O'Connor is a young man with many secrets. His mother was a secret Jew in 1730s Ireland, his father a pagan Irishman following the old gods in secret as he and his wife adopt Protestant names and attend the local Anglican church for safety. After his mother is run over by the local Earl's carriage and his father later murdered by the same man, Cormac swears revenge according to the ways of the old Irish people-he must avenge his parents' deaths by killing the Earl. When the Earl flees to New York, Cormac follows. On the passage over, he helps and befriends several Africans recently enslaved who will be sold in the Manhattan slave markets on their arrival. One in particular, Kongo, is rumored to be a powerful shaman of his people and returns Cormac's kindness to him by assisting him in his quest to kill the Earl. After being mortally wounded during his act of revenge, Cormac is saved by Kongo through a magical ceremony in which he is granted immortal life, provided he stays on the island of Manhattan. And so Cormac's destiny is launched. The book zeros in on his life at various points in New York history; during the American Revolution, the corrupt 1830s, his friendship with Boss Tweed, and his final destiny as he falls in love with modern-day Delfina, a beautiful Dominican who will release him from this life and allow him to move into the afterlife-if he wants to. Pete Hamill is well known for his ability to make New York history come alive and this work is no exception. Hamill pays particular attention to weaving into his narrative the prominent role African Americans have played in New York history. An interview with the author and a reading group guide can be found at the end ofthe book. Some sex and violence render this work more appropriate for senior high and public library collections. This is a wonderful addition to historical fiction or fantasy collections. KLIATT Codes: SA-Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2003, Little Brown, Back Bay, 613p., Ages 15 to adult.— Courtney Lewis