Perham Area Public Library Book Club: Thunderstruck// Erik Larson

Hello April and hello Spring! This month's selection was Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson. Up next for May is Harbour Street, by Ann Cleeves. We have limited copies of Harbour Street, so if you're able to find a copy elsewhere, we'd encourage you to do so. Also, if you don't happen to need one, would you let us know below? Thanks!

As promised, the votes are in and we have 13 new books on their way to being sorted into a reading order... however, for those who like to read ahead, Susan has picked "Gunflint Falling", by Cary Griffin, as our June 2024 selection. As it happens, the Perham Library is hosting Mr. Griffin on Tuesday, June 18th, from 2:00pm-3:30pm, in the meeting room to discuss the very same book, so it seemed very appropriate that this be the June selection. We hope to see you all there!

We'll be sending out the new reading schedule via email, and also creating an additional post here on the blog within the next few days or so... stay tuned!

To the goods!

Thunderstruck tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.

Every once in a great long while, we all more or less agree on a book... and it can be a really lovely thing. While collectively, we can all respect the amount of time and attention the research must have required for Larson to put this book together, we found it was tiresomely arduous to get through it on our end as well. It felt bogged down, almost choked out, with too much information about matters we didn't think made any real difference to the main thread of the story. In fact, it was suggested that the entire Marconi narrative could have been left out altogether, that it felt like Larson's main objective was to write a story about the invention of the telegram and then haphazardly pulled in Crippen's tale to entice the reader to stick with the book... the two men never having crossed paths, and couldn't be more different from each other if they tried.

Several members couldn't get through the book. Some didn't even try, after reading the first few pages. Others still made it far enough that they wanted to hold on to the end to see what became of Crippen, disappointed in the end that he never did find lasting happiness.

On a more positive note, we liked Crippen. And Ethel. We commented that we generally like Larson's writing, citing our fondness for Dead Wake and The Devil in the White City... our sentiment about Thunderstruck wouldn't deter us from reading any of his other works, but in the end, for us, this was far from a fan favorite.

Did you love it? Let us know the view from the other side down below! 👇

Did you enjoy Thunderstruck? Fans of the book also enjoyed, The Wager, by David Grann, Destiny of the Republic, by Candice Millard, and The Johnstown Flood, by David McCullough. All of these titles are available within the Viking Library System~ reserve your copy today!