Niagara

by Richard Watson

Overview

Watson's sparkling, delightful new novel—about a French tightrope walker and a widowed Nebraska schoolteacher who meet in Niagara Falls, N.Y., become lovers, perform daredevil stunts and go their separate ways—is a witty meditation on miscommunication between the sexes.—Publishers Weekly [starred review] "Rich with metaphor."—Newsday

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781566890069
Publisher:	Coffee House Press
Publication date:	04/01/2000
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

Editorial Reviews

In 1859 Jean-Francois Gravelet, a.k.a. Blondin, staged a series of spectacular tightrope crossings of the Niagara gorge; 42 years later, Anna Edson Taylor became the first person to go over the falls in a barrel. The historical accounts are interesting, but wouldn't it be more fun if the famous daredevils had actually performed together? In Niagara they do. Taylor, a bored middle-aged schoolteacher, answers an ad to become the first person to shoot the falls. There she meets Gravelet, and they team up on some highwire stunts. (In reality he carried his promoter across, but here the cowardly promoter backs down, forcing the slim Gravelet to carry the corpulent Taylor.) Gravelet also provides logistical support for Taylor's famous feat. The book has two sections, one told from Gravelet's point of view and one from Taylor's. The discrepancies reflect their differing genders, nationalities, and personalities. Their personal interaction actually provides more excitement than the somewhat subdued action scenes. Recommended for medium to large public and academic libraries.-- Jim Dwyer, California State Univ. at Chico

Library Journal

"Niagara" is a historical novel about Jean Francois Gravelet, who was the first person to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Much of the book is devoted to Gravelet's account of how he ran away from his home as a boy to join the circus and his apprenticeship on the wire with Konrad the Great. It is told simply and directly by this man we begin not quite to believe; his vanity makes him suspect. Watson builds on the analogy of the quote he uses from Karl Wallenda, "To be on the wire is life; the rest is waiting." The novel also tells the story of Anna Edson Taylor, the first person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Watson creates a fictional liaison between Taylor and Gravelet. He has them meet at the falls and perform together. After the story has been told from Gravelet's point of view, the novel is taken over by Taylor to give her own history and account of Gravelet--on the wire and off. At this point the story loses some of its momentum. But Watson challenges the reader to make distinctions between Gravelet's and Taylor's courage and to judge each.

Terry Farrish