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Description
In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Cast of Characters/Important People
- Ciaran: He is the younger brother of the two Irish brothers (Corrigan and Ciaran). He is more cynical than his brother, more realistic.
- Corrigan (John Andrew and Corr): He is the older brother of the two Irish brothers. He is a monk and looks for the best in people.
- Tillie Henderson: Older hooker, mother of Jazzlyn and grandmother to Jaslyn and Janice.
- Claire Soderburg: Wealthy, affluent mother of Joshua. Friend of Gloria, Jacqueline, Marcia, Jaslyn and Janice. Wife of Solomon.
- Solomon Soderburg (Sol): Father of Joshua. Husband of Claire. Judge.
- Joshua: Son of Claire and Solomon Soderburg.
- Jazzlyn Henderson: Daughter of Tillie Henderson. Mother of Jaslyn (Jazzlyn) and Janice. Hooker.
- Albee: Angry elderly man in wheelchair who swears at Corrigan all the time.
- Sheila: Elderly lady who goes on outings with Albee and Corrigan.
- Adelita: Nurse. Single mother of Eliana and Jacobo.
- Eliana: Daughter of Adelita.
- Jacobo: Son of Adelita.
- Gloria: Mother of three boys. Friend of Claire Soderberg, Jacqueline and Marcia.
- Melvyn: The doorman at Claire Soderburg's building.
- Jacqueline: Friend of Gloria, Claire and Marcia -- they had get-togethers for a common purpose. A mother.
- Marcia: Friend of Jacqueline, Claire and Marcia. They all got together for a common purpose. A mother.
- Lara: Artist. Wife of Blaine.
- Blaine: Artist. Husband of Lara.
- Fernando Y. Marcano: Man Jasyln meets on place to NYC.
- Dennis, Gareth, Compton, The Kid: Computer hackers in California who call NYC payphones.
- Pino: Teenager who likens graffiti to art.
- Tightrope walker: The tightrope walker.
Memorable Quotes
-
“He went where he was supposed to go. He stayed where He was needed...He never rejected the world. If He had rejected it, He would have been rejecting mystery. And if He rejected mystery, He would have been rejecting faith. (p. 20)”
Ciaran (Corrigan's brother) -
“...in the real world, when he looked closely into the darkness he might find the presence of light, damaged and bruised, but a little light all the same. He wanted, quite simply, for the world to be a better place, and he was in the bait of hoping for it. Out of that came some sort of triumph that went beyond theological proof, a cause for optimism against all all the evidence. (p.20)”
Ciaran (Corrigan's brother) -
“...he was seldom known for his beliefs--instead, people looked at him with a fondness for another era, when time seemed slower, less complicated. Even the worst of what men did to one another didn't dampen Corrigan's beliefs. He might have been naive, but he didn't care; he said he'd rather die with his heart on his sleeve than end up another cynic. (p. 21)”
Ciaran (Corrigan's brother) -
“Let it be. Silly song. really. You let it be, it returns. There's the truth. You let it be, it drags you to the ground. You let it be, it crawls up your walls.”
Claire Soderberg -
“Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That's why they became evil. That's why it stuck with them. Evil was for those who could never reach the truth. It was a mask for stupidity and lack of love. Even if people laughed at the notion of goodness, if they found it sentimental, or nostalgic, it didn't matter--it was none of those things, he said, and it had to be fought for.”
Lara -
“All I was doing was holding my hand up against guilt. Avoiding the failure, the drugs, the recklessness. I felt so foolish and inadequate. It was as if I had burned the whole house down and was searching through the rubble for bits of how it used to be, but found only the match that had sparked it at all.”
Lara -
“There are rocks deep enough in this earth that no matter what the rupture, they will never see the surface. There is, I think, a fear of love. There is a fear of love.”
Lara -
“Listening to these people is like listening to trees--sooner or later the tree is sliced open and the watermarks reveal their age. (p. 337)”
Jaslyn -
“The world spins. We stumble on. It is enough. (p. 349)”
Jaslyn -
“Some people think love is the end of the road, and if you're lucky enough to find it, you stay there. Other people say it just becomes a cliff you drive off, but most people who've been around awhile know its just a thing that changes day by day, and depending on how much you fight for it, you get it, or you hold on to it, or you lose it, but sometimes its never even there in the first place.”
Gloria
First Sentence
Those who saw him hushed.
Table of Contents
THOSE WHO SAW HIM HUSHED.........................3
Book One
All Respects to Heaven, I Like It Here..................11
Miró, Miró, on the Wall....................................73
A Fear of Love.............................................115
LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN FOREVER DOWN......157
Book Two
Tag..........................................................167
Etherwest..................................................175
This Is the House That Horse Built......................198
THE RINGING GROOVES OF CHANGE..................238
Book Three
Part of the Parts..........................................247
Centavos...................................................275
All Hail and Hallelujah.....................................285
Book Four
Roaring Seaward, and I Go.............................325
Authors & Contributors
- Colum McCann (Author)
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