Dennis Lehane's "The Given Day" - A Gripping Novel of Historical Fiction

Jack Johnson: An impossible book to put down. In tears of sadness or joy, The Given Day is the best book I’ve ever read. I’m not sure I was crying for the sheer breadth of the narrative or that the book had finally ended. It had become a friend, a guide taking me through such a turbulent time in America’s’ history.
I can’t recommend The Given Day enough, brilliantly researched and powerfully written.

Australia on Sep 10, 2023

Kindle Customer: This is an enjoyable read and although set over a century ago reflects the writers attitude to what relationships should and could be. Unfortunately they are not. As a Brit, even one who has attended baseball games at Wrigley field the arcane rules and mores of baseball are as unknown as explaining the game of cricket to an American. Buyer beware.

United Kingdom on Jun 30, 2023

Spieler7: Boston 1918: Der junge Polizist Danny Coughlin soll seinen Vorgesetzten beweisen, dass er für höhere Aufgaben taugt, indem er die überall sprießenden Gruppen von Anarchisten und Bolschewiken infiltriert; auch in den Polizeigewerkschaften soll er Informationen sammeln für seinen Vater, der Polizeichef ist und dessen Freunde, allesamt honorige Mitglieder der Stadtelite.

Luther Laurence ist ein junger Schwarzer, frisch verliebt und werdender Vater, der hofft, sein ganz persönliches Stückchen Glück zu finden, als er nach Tulsa kommt, wo der Erdölboom in vollem Gange ist. Doch die Verhältnisse, die sind nicht so, Luther gerät schnell auf die schiefe Bahn und als der Chef seiner Gang tot am Boden liegt lässt er Frau und Ungeborenes zurück und flieht alleine nach Boston…

»The Given Day« ist der erste Teil einer Trilogie (Teil zwei »Live By Night«, Teil drei »World Gone By«) und es war kein Geringerer als Stephen King himself, der mir via Twitter diese Bücher empfahl. Und was soll ich sagen, der Roman ist einfach großartig. In diesem epischen Meisterwerk werden viele Geschichten erzählt, von Familie, Freundschaft, Liebe und Hass, vom Erwachsenwerden,...

Germany on Aug 27, 2015

Kindle-Kunde: Dennis Lehanes Roman ist kein Krimi, wie seine bisherigen Bücher. Der historische Roman aus der Zeit zwischen 1918/1919 profitiert aber von seiner Erfahrung in der Gestaltung spannender Plots mit überzeugenden Charakteren und lebendigen Dialogen.

Amerika, und Boston im Besonderen, war zu dieser Zeit geprägt von hemdsärmligen Kapitalismus, dem durch die Gewerkschaftsbewegung Einhalt geboten werden sollte. Arbeiter organisierten sich und mit Einwanderungswellen wurden auch Ideen aus Europa importiert, die beflügelt waren von der russischen Revolution. Anarchisten, Bolschewisten, revolutionäre Gedanken, aber auch einfach Arbeiter die mehr Lohn und bessere Arbeitsbedingungen erkämpfen wollten ergaben eine explosive Mischung.
Obrigkeit und Polizei witterten an jeder Ecke Hochverrat. Attentate, Briefbombenanschläge und Terrorakte waren an der Tagesordnung, Polizeiwillkür ebenso.
Unter den Polizisten gab es aber ebenso den Ruf nach Verbesserungen von Lohn und Arbeitskonditionen. Bezahlung unter dem Armutsniveau, Uniformen mussten selbst bezahlt werden, Übernachtungen auf der Wache unter unhygienischen Bedingungen erhöhten den Unmut. Wie eine Gewerkschaft für...

Germany on Dec 16, 2013

Straightforward: This isn't the smoothest of reads - it took a couple of hundred pages before the storylines started to really come together, and I found myself feeling a bit disappointed, as well as reading the words without taking them in at times (it's something that really irritates me about myself), but that's not to say that those pages were unrewarding - Dennis writes with very theatrical, broad strokes here, and the language he uses here is vivid and dense.

At first, I found the detail a bit distracting, and the presence of Babe Ruth a bit off-putting for some reason; I still wonder quite what he was doing here in this novel... what is his significance to Lehane? I have my theories, and I'll bore my missus with them rather than go into the details here. Once the characters started to come alive though, the operatic quality of the plot structure comes to life as well. You've got all kinds of beautifully-drawn characters here, proper heroes and villains (Dennis doesn't muck around), and as long as you're prepared to suspend your disbelief at the start, and be willing to wait a bit to get into a great story, then you'll find this book quite an immersive experience.

Ultimately,...

United Kingdom on Jun 07, 2011

Lawrance Bernabo: Any novel that begins with Babe Ruth getting drunk and stealing hats is going to grab my attention, but I actually picked up Dennis Lehane's "Any Given Day" without knowing anything about it beyond the name of the author. I am another one of those who came to Dennis Lehane's writing through the film versions of his works. When I learned that " Gone Baby Gone " and " Mystic River " were both adapted from Lehane's books, and that the former was the fourth in a series of, to date, five Kenzie-Gennaro novels (like him, love her), I went out and ordered the series. That was enough to move Lehane into the small but select category of authors whose books I pick up when they come out in hardcover.

"The Given Day" is a historical novel covering a two year period with the year 1919 in the middle. Gidge Ruth dominates the book's prologue, but the two star crossed characters are Luther Laurence, a black baseball player we first meet playing a pickup game against Ruth, and Danny Coughlin, a white Boston police officer . It seems strange that the paths of Luther and Danny should meet, but events conspire to form an unlikely friendship. Meanwhile, there are anarchists stirring up trouble...

United States on Oct 26, 2008

Dave Schwinghammer: The author of MYSTIC RIVER is back with a Theodore Dreiser-like novel dealing with the Boston Police Strike of 1919.

Historical characters such as Communist leader John Reed, Governor Calvin Coolidge, and Babe Ruth wander in and out of the story, but the main character is patrolman Danny Coughlin whose father is a captain on the police force. They are at odds throughout the story. Another point-of-view character is Luther Laurence a black man who runs from his wife and family in Tulsa after he kills a drug kingpin. Luther takes a job working for Captain Coughlin as a servant. There is also a love story featuring Danny and Nora O`Shea an Irish maid who also works for the Coughlins.

Danny takes on the job of infiltrating the various unions and radical organizations in Boston, mainly because he's promised his gold detective shield. But the more he attends the Boston Social Club (the police union), the more he's swayed to their point of view.

There are several villains in the story, the main one being Lieutenant Eddie McKenna who takes an instant dislike to Luther, mainly because he's black. McKenna has a cop's instinct that tells him Luther is hiding something...

United States on Oct 13, 2008