Let the Great World Spin + Man on Wire

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.

There is no shame in me saying that i took upon reading this book because of an Amazon recommendation. Had I become a part of the "tipping point?" Yes. I added to this Mr. McCann's acclaim of being a number one best seller for 2009.

So i'm not done with the book but i already have some general thoughts that could or could not sway you about whether you'd like to read novels again.

Let the Great World Spin first is very much like Crash, the film. But this movie is based around the time in the 70s where a great man had walked across on a wire that was connected on the World Trade Center. The most outrageous characters and the utmost real characters cross paths between this time in unusual yet normal ways. I think that the book so far has done an excellent job portraying the characters in their own elements. From prostitute, priest, mother who has lost her son at war... they all wind together in a form that is actually strangely poetic. What makes this book so easy for me to read though is that it comes in little vignettes that keep things short enough for me to complete while i'm riding the metro and before i go to bed. Today was actually the first day that I had almost missed my stop on the train because I was so eager to finish a chapter.

+

MAN ON WIRE
Starring Phillipe Petit

So it shouldn't really surprise you that the next thing i wanted to do was watch Man on Wire! Lucky for me in the midst of finishing this book, my Netflix arrives with Man on Wire in tow. And how wonderful the timing was. I watched the film and oo'd and ah'd at his tricks, juggling, and of course him walking on air.

It was exhilarating watching Philippe walk between the Notre Dame towers, then the bridge in Sydney, and finally the two World Trade Center towers. An entertainer to say the least yet at the same time an absolute nutcase! But it was simply so amazing to see this man devise such a brilliant plan and then execute it so well. I was glued to the screen the entire time. And honestly, I could not express more how much I loved that Erik Satie's Gymnopedie No.1 was playing for when he started the walk across the towers . Perfect perfect music composition for the movie.

The only regret i truly have is that 1. I wish i were alive in the 70s to have seen this happen 2. since i wasn't alive i wish i had seen it in the big screen at a theater... or better yet, Imax. Hopefully one day the New Beverly Center will play it again or something... it's just too magnificent.

Could you imagine being on the street in New York that day and looking up to see something like this? These are times I wish I lived multiple lives and could remember those past lives...