The Last Days of Night: A Novel

by Graham Moore | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0812988922 Global Overview for this book
Registered by rem_ABK-578523 on 9/16/2017
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by rem_ABK-578523 on Saturday, September 16, 2017
One sentence summary: A well-paced book that plays fast and loose with the facts surrounding certain historical characters.

"Last Days of Night" is historical fiction about the so-called current wars around the turn of the last century between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. The lawyer who represented Westinghouse against Edison, Paul Cravath, was the central character. Nikola Tesla was also a main, yet almost shadowy character in the book. I didn't like the author's portrayal of fictional Tesla and the role he played as some kind of pawn used by the main characters in an attempt to throw "thriller-esque" elements into the novel. In my humble opinion, the historical Telsa would not have let those events unfold as they did in the book.

Written by the screenplay writer of "The Imitation Game", this book reads to me as if it was written more to romance movie producers than to produce a book for its own sake. Serious readers will probably pick up on the quality in writing between by screenplay writers and those written by experienced novelists. The prose in "Last Days" is a bit choppy, the characters are rather flat, some of the dialogues feel forced, and certain fictional situations feel contrived, false and often downright weird. As I said earlier, I really object to Moore's treatment of the fictional Tesla. Also, Moore painted Cravath as a sometimes fool for whom other characthers, such as Agnes, JP Morgan and Alexander Graham Bell, had to reach conclusions; I'm sure the historical Mr. Cravath was no fool. Speaking of Agnes, the imagined details of the love story between Cravath and Agnes were rather unsatisfying to me.

"Last Days" was not my favorite but was also not all bad - the factual part of the history is interesting and it was quick and easy read; I read it in a weekend. I appreciated that it was well edited (a few books lately have had typos and other editorial issues, none of which I noted in this.) I also appreciated the facts that were given in the Afterword (A Note from the Author).

I plan to release this book shortly for the next reader to find.

Journal Entry 2 by rem_ABK-578523 at San Antonio, Texas USA on Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (9/22/2017 UTC) at San Antonio, Texas USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Gave to the friend who originally recommended this book to me to release; she said she'd give it to her neighbor

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