City on Fire

Rebecca Lowman carries the largest part of the narration of this nearly forty-hour audiobook. And while Lowman obviously works tirelessly to infuse an emotional element into each of the characters, her great efforts cannot overcome the author's excesses, which leave the listener, at best, apathetic. Lowman accentuates Hallberg's elegant writing style, but even her meticulous use of inflection and tone can't prevent the story from being muddled in detail and development. Lowman's range and insight allow her to uniquely vocalize each character, but they're still, basically, unlikable. Tristan Morris and Bronson Pinchot offer equally strong performances; it's a shame they were wasted on this undeserving novel. J.F. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

June 1, 2015
Hallberg’s maniacally detailed, exhaustingly clever depiction of 1970s New York is packed with urban angst, intellectual energy, and sinister pitfalls, much like the city it evokes. This epic of drugs, sex, and rock and roll combines fiction and new journalistic accounts of real events, with a character’s typed manuscript drafts (spill marks included), hand-written diaries, notebooks, photographs, cartoons, drawings, homework, and personal correspondence. A cast of characters drawn from all social strata features William Hamilton-Sweeney, artist and sometime heroin addict, once heir to a fortune, once lead guitarist for the post-humanist rock band Ex Post Facto; and Sam Cicciaro, the girl everyone finds irresistible, discovered half-dead in Central Park by William’s lover, Mercer. The search to identify Sam’s attacker is one of several story lines tying the ambitious work together; another is Mercer’s attempt, propelled by William’s sister, Regan, to bring William back into the family fold as their father’s business collapses and troubles in the family mount. Charlie, an alienated teenager who becomes a rock band groupie, falls for Sam. Meanwhile Richard Kosgroth, veteran journalist and Capote wannabe, interviews Sam’s father, New York’s fireworks king. Seventies survivors will not be surprised when city residents come together during the ’77 blackout. Readers wishing to wallow in cultural trivia will find much to savor in Hallberg’s all-encompassing, occasionally overwritten effort, but others will be left to wonder how so much energy could generate so little light. Agent: Chris Parris-Lamb, the Gernert Company.