On August 7, 1974, a
tightrope walker, Philippe Petit, walked across a high wire rigged between the
newly-built Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 1350 feet above the ground.
The stunt was unauthorized and a surprise to all who saw it. In Let the Great World Spin, Colum
McCann uses this event to unite the stories of various New Yorkers: prostitutes
and the Irish priest who ministers to them; the priest’s brother who works as a
bartender; a group of mothers who have lost sons in the Vietnam War; a judge
and his wife; an immigrant nurse; two artists visiting from upstate and various
other New Yorkers whose lives intersect in surprising ways. This is a character
driven novel. More than ten different voices tell the story of strangers drawn
together by a trial, an automobile accident, and a death. Lurking in the background
are the defining anxieties of the early 1970’s: the Vietnam War and the
resignation of President Nixon. Petit kept his balance while walking between
the towers. The same could not be said of some who watched him from New York’s
streets. Lives fell apart. People died. “NOBODY FALLS HALFWAY,” read a sign
Petit kept on his wall. This was as true
of the ordinary people in the book as of the acrobat. And those who kept their
balance throughout life put their own sorrows aside and stepped up to help friends
and strangers deal with theirs. A book that celebrates the generosity of the
human spirit, Let the Great World Spin a heartfelt look at a city and
its citizens.
