Let the Great World Spin
“Let the great world spin” by Colum McCann is a subtle, pre-9/11 novel; It is not the story of the tight rope walker, Philippe Petit, but rather the story of the characters on the ground and how they are affected by the “Man on Wire” from different point of view. We understand how it’s like for them to be involved in a freedom they can never have.
Let the Great World Spin can be read on multiple layers of love and death; The love between a man and a woman, the love of a [unknown] religious worker to other human beings, the love between brothers, the love of grieving mothers in a support group, love of a grandmother and her children. I decided to focus on two different, but similar characters from the novel.
The Love of Brothers:
Two young men from Ireland moved to New-York City in the early 70s; John Corrigan, a member of a religious [unknown] order, is been living in the Bronx for a couple of years before his brother first moved to the states. He shares his apartment with three prostitutes, who are free to use his facilities as they please. His brother, Carian, followed him to NYC; He is trying to make sense of his brother’s life style, trying to help him, take care of him, reach out and keep him out of troubles.
Corrigan falls in love with Adelita, a nurse in the elderly house Corrigan volunteers in, and Adelita returns his love.
The story ends with a tragedy, when Corrigan drives back from the court with Jazzlyn, they have an accident. Jazzlyn is killed instantly, while Corrigan dies on the way to the hospital, leaving Carian, Adelita and the readers to grieve.
Much of the rest of the novel is spent building their lives up and getting to know them through other characters, from the two artists in the third story that were in the other car which caused the accident, and ended up killing Jazzlyn and Corrigan, through Gloria, the grieving mother who adopts Jazzlyn’s daughter.
The Love of a Mother:
“My big tall boy, shaving. Long ago, long ago. The
Let the Great World Spin can be read on multiple layers of love and death; The love between a man and a woman, the love of a [unknown] religious worker to other human beings, the love between brothers, the love of grieving mothers in a support group, love of a grandmother and her children. I decided to focus on two different, but similar characters from the novel.
The Love of Brothers:
Two young men from Ireland moved to New-York City in the early 70s; John Corrigan, a member of a religious [unknown] order, is been living in the Bronx for a couple of years before his brother first moved to the states. He shares his apartment with three prostitutes, who are free to use his facilities as they please. His brother, Carian, followed him to NYC; He is trying to make sense of his brother’s life style, trying to help him, take care of him, reach out and keep him out of troubles.
Corrigan falls in love with Adelita, a nurse in the elderly house Corrigan volunteers in, and Adelita returns his love.
The story ends with a tragedy, when Corrigan drives back from the court with Jazzlyn, they have an accident. Jazzlyn is killed instantly, while Corrigan dies on the way to the hospital, leaving Carian, Adelita and the readers to grieve.
Much of the rest of the novel is spent building their lives up and getting to know them through other characters, from the two artists in the third story that were in the other car which caused the accident, and ended up killing Jazzlyn and Corrigan, through Gloria, the grieving mother who adopts Jazzlyn’s daughter.
The Love of a Mother:
“My big tall boy, shaving. Long ago, long ago. The