TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

As I looked through the book prior to beginning and wondered how a book that takes place in three distinctly different time periods could be connected.  We have read other books where time jumped from period to period but none where the characters seemed as disparate as two 1919 pilots, a modern photo journalist, a real political representative of the US and Frederick Douglas. I am pleased to say that the parts all fit together nicely. This is an immigration story. It includes immigration from Ireland to the US, from the US back to Ireland, from Lebanon to the US and other transatlantic travels by both wealthy, influential people and the poorest of the poor. In many ways, it is a global story that shows just how small the world really is.

 I had to look up the history behind the fiction of the book. Many authors seem to take great liberty with facts when writing historical fiction. McCann takes little.  He adds personality to his characters without changing much.  Alcock and Brown were the first two to fly across the Atlantic travelling from England to Ireland and ahead to America.  Frederick Douglas did travel and speak in Ireland during the 1840s. George Mitchell was the US Envoy to Ireland during the resolution of the “troubles”.

 
McCann weaves a detailed story and manages to do so in a way that keeps your attention but does not give away each story until you are caught up in its plot.  I never thought when I began the book that each section would be brought to its meaningful conclusion at the end of the book.  Somehow I imagined each story would end where the next began and the connections from one century to the next would be fleeting.  Not so with TransAtlantic!  Every character and every action has a purpose and contributes to making this a pleasurable read.

 I liked reading about early aviation.  Those were some very brave people.  I liked the details of the plane, the conditions, how they prepared for the trip, its dangers and the exhilaration they felt when things went well. Alcock and Brown were brave. Lily Duggan was brave.  She left her home to seek a better life.  That was the plight of so many Irish and still more folks today from other parts of the world. I thought the method used by McCann to show the destitute nature of the Irish poor as compared with that of a freed slave was very well done.  She made it out and her family returned. The circle of life is odd.

Throughout this is the letter given to Alcock and Brown. Such a minor thing but had such great importance by the end of the book!  Maybe I was a bit slow on the uptake but the letter did not connect the dots for me until the end of the book. When Hannah Carson comes into the story and I was able to thread all the people together, it seemed so fitting to end as it did.

The book is an easy read; well written, detailed where needed and brief where needed.  Using real people made it not only believable but added to the veracity of the story.  I am glad we chose this book.