Question #2: Why a Book about the World’s Fair???
What are your early impressions of the book’s setting— World's Fair of 1893? The book’s author, Erik Larson, goes to great lengths to explain why the World’s Fair was so important during that time. He mentions how well Paris performed at the previous expedition, and he describes the battled that ensued in America’s bid for the fair. (Washington wanted it because it was the seat of the country’s government; New York wanted it because it already had everything else.) Many important events happened in 1893. Do you think the World’s Fair setting added or detracted from the storyline? Is there a different historical event that would have captured this plot equally as well?
posted by Twanna A. Hines | FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com at
5:30 AM
9 Comments:
Wow. It never even occurred to me that there might be another setting because the World's Fair was as much a part of the story as anything else.
I really enjoyed reading this because I remember my parents telling me about World's Fair's from their youths and I never got the grand scope of how amazing they must have really been. This was a time of such wonderful and inspiring advancement in technology that I wonder if it could be as grand even today. I think, maybe not.
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MamaChristy, at 11:13 AM
I was completely fascinated by the setting. My husband went to the Lousiana World's Fair in 1984 and still talks about it as his best family vacation ever. I didn't know any of the history surrounding it and thought it really added much more to the story.
Really, the book could have been about one or the other of the main characters, since they never really met and are only connected by time and location. The fact that the author was able to go so seamlessly back and forth between them made the whole thing more interesting, and the unique setting was most of what made that possible, I think.
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mamashine, at 8:23 PM
They had a Worlds Fair in San Antonio Texas 1968, that is how the Tower of America, and the River Walk came into being.
http://hotx.com/sa/tours/hemisfair/toa.html
ok, on to the book. Both the Worlds Fair and the City of Chicago were major characters in the book. They come alive and in some cases have more energy and vitality than the actual living people in the book.
So yes, I think that they are vital, integral parts to the story.
Without the fair, it's sad to say that Dr. H Holmes would have been "just another psychopath" - sigh...
Additionaly, without the Fair, who knows where Holmes would have ventured to do the dasterdly things he did. The Fair provided a means and the way for multitudes of people to cross his path.
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E, at 9:54 PM
The setting actually turned me off from the book in the beginning. When I purchased it, I remember thinking, "why the hell is everyone reading a book about the 1893 World's Fair." But, I really think that the author did a GREAT job using the setting to build the story ...
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Twanna A. Hines | FUNKYBROWNCHICK.com, at 5:05 AM
I thought the World's Fair thing was fascinating. It was wonderful to read about the way the city pulled together and the amazing things the planners etc. did and encountered to make this thing come off. It also comforts me to read that our ancestors weren't these omnipotent beings who had more determination and courage and intelligence than we did. (I sometimes feel like our generation is a weak link, until I read things like this: " '... only the Woman's Building is anywhere near completion inside and out.' Yet the fair was to open in little more than two months." (p197)
And: "Hundreds of empty freight care stood black against the lights. Lumber and empty crates and the remains of workers' lucnhes lay everywhere. The whole scene was heartbreaking but also perplexing: The fairs OPening Day celebrationwas set to begin the next morning, yet the grounds were clotted with litter and debris -- in a state, Stead wrote, of 'gross incompleteness.'" (p230)
I don't know much about the World's Fair tradition. Do they still happen? Reading the descriptions of all the new stuff (esp. p. 247) and imagining what that was like for folks was the highlight of the book for me. Can you imagine how astounded you would have been? In a time when a Ferris Wheel scared people half to death, and most families lived in small quarters, and few people traveled beyond their birth city even ... how your mind would reel seeing these delights and the people and the sheer enormity of it all? Wow.
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JenniNapa, at 11:56 AM
And I know I write too long, but I didn't answer all the question, and I want to hear what everyone else thinks ... I did think that, while the World;s Fair thing was fascinating and the serial killer thing was fascinating, that the author didn't connect them as well as he could have. I know this isn't a made-for-TV movie where (gasp!) in the final scene we discover the serial killer is the long-lost brother of the architect or anything. Still, I felt like Larson wrote two stories and then pieced them together. I think he wanted to write about Holmes, realized there wasn't enough data to write a comprehensive book, and then started looking for a peg to make the book marketable, hence "The White City." I can practically hear the editor's meeting: "Oh, it's a serial killer - a devil -- in this place of beauty and determination. The irony! We can sell this."
And it's not that I don't think the World's Fair part was the richest part of it, or that the Holmes element made the WF part richer ... it just seemed tenuous and a little contrived. Did anyone else think so, or am I a raving cynic?
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JenniNapa, at 12:01 PM
I admit I was expecting them to be connected together at the end more than they were. You're right about that. Are we cynical, or do we just expect the soap opera ending these days? :) I'm not sure.
As for your other question, yes, they still do World's Fairs. Looks like there hasn't been one in the States in awhile, since New Orleans in 1984. Maybe we should all get together at the Shanghai 2010. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_fairs
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mamashine, at 12:51 PM
Jenni - It bothered me, too, that the two main characters weren't connected a little more. Like you said, not crazy and unbelievable, but maybe just Burnham's thoughts on Holmes or something.
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MamaChristy, at 7:02 PM
Whew! Glad y'all feel much the same way. Intellectually, I feel it's a credit to Larson to not try to make up some connection, but -- emotionally -- I wanted *something*. Was there even anything in there that suggested Burnham or anyone on the fair knew this was going on? I know it didn't get a lot of police attention, but surely if you were planning a big huge event and there was even a mini-crime-wave in the area, you'd know about it. (I know a lot of you people are event planners! Wouldn't you think it would have come up??)
And, yes, Kim. I SO agree about the sheer "Omigod" factor. To build a whole city? Can you even imagine undertaking such a thing in today's world? Insanity.
Shanghai 2010? I'm in, baby!
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JenniNapa, at 10:07 PM
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