SEPTEMBER 2017 - AudioFile
This cheerfully overstuffed audiobook is a lot of fun if you don’t expect it to do anything it’s not trying to do. The plot is in the style of a Depression-era comic strip or penny dreadful, never convincing but often entertaining (though a good editor wouldn’t have hurt.) The setting is the New York of the 1939 World’s Fair, and the cast of characters include jazz musicians, IRA terrorists, millionaire arrivistes and imposters, a medium, and a young priest whom an explosion has rendered deaf and mute who is accompanied everywhere by the ghost of poet W.B. Yeats. Graham Halstead’s enthusiastic performance is great with, say, the shifting accents of the Irish ex-con pretending to be a Scottish lord, and is game and lively throughout. B.G. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
★ 05/15/2017
Three Irish brothers tumble through New York during an eventful two weeks in June 1939, in Mathews’s masterful debut novel. Francis, temporarily released to attend his father’s funeral from the prison where he was being held for distributing pornographic literature, is in possession of some IRA cash he bungled into in the wake of a bomb blast. Francis has conceived an audacious plan to make it to America posing as a Scottish aristocrat, and is turning a few American heiresses’ heads in the process. With him is his brother Michael, on leave from the seminary for the same funeral, who was shell-shocked by the explosion that netted Francis his money and has struck up a friendship with the ghost of Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Their older brother, Martin, is already in New York, where he is trying to make a living as a jazz musician, to the chagrin of his politically connected in-laws. Once reunited, the brothers are pursued by Cronin, a former IRA hit man who has retired to a farm on the Hudson River, and his menacing boss Gavigan, who concocts a sinister plan involving the visit of the British royalty to the World’s Fair being held at that time in New York. Despite its length, this novel is a remarkably fast and exhilarating read, reminiscent of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Like a juggler keeping multiple balls in the air, Mathews regularly adds new characters and their complicated stories to the volatile mix, without losing track of the original ones. With the wit of a ’30s screwball comedy and the depth of a thoroughly researched historical novel, this one grabs the reader from the beginning to its suspenseful climax. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
Advance praise for The World of Tomorrow:
"Entertaining . . . outsized . . . The World of Tomorrow views its teeming cast of characters as though from the observation deck of one of the city skyscrapers that seem to 'burst from the pages of a comic book.' . . . Reveling in bold twists and fantastic coincidences, Mathews's big, expressive debut inhabits a world that's neither of the past nor the future but wholly of the imagination."—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal
"This Doctorow-esque debut novel shimmers with the swing and swank of 1939 New York . . . Mathews's urban epic is as rich and raucous as the city it celebrates."—O., The Oprah Magazine
"Mathews has a big, rambunctious talent . . . He is a wonderful scene-setter, whether he's describing the streets of Manhattan in the wee hours or conjuring the glories of then brand-new Rockefeller Center . . . The gusto of his prose and vividness of his characters keeps the novel gyrating with zany energy . . . An exuberant debut novel."—Michael Upchurch, Chicago Tribune
"The World of Tomorrow is that rarest of historical novels, a book that catches a moment in a jar, holds it aloft, and displays it for what it really is: Somebody else's day before tomorrow, the instant right before the future comes . . . Mathews's entire novel takes place over the course of one week in June of that year, culminating at the World's Fair itself, in a fast-paced finale worthy of a Scorcese long-take. And I love this about the book. I love the bright-eyed joy of it. The meticulous attention to detail that actually serves the plot . . . And I like that Mathews made this big book so intimate . . . One of the strengths of his story is the way it sprawls and loops. It finds odd little corners of time and place and character to get into and, in those corners, it finds both a balancing seriousness and a wideness of vision."—Jason Sheehan, NPR
"A promising writer . . . Mathews is an able prose stylist, and breathing life into so many diverse characters is no mean feat . . . The possibility of dramatic transformation amid historical ferment is at the heart of The World of Tomorrow, a fat novel stuffed with well-drawn characters grappling with different versions of themselves . . . Mathews has a flair for bringing street scenes to life, and his hopscotching narrative-from a Harlem jazz joint to a Bowery art studio to a Fifth Avenue palace-makes for an enjoyable tour of a vanished city . . . An affable debut novel."—John Freeman Gill, Washington Post
"This is one of those books that you jump into with its first line, like a diver into an inviting pond, and just happily swim for more than 500 pages . . . Mathews creates a crowded, bustling world that's insanely fun to inhabit. I didn't want this book to end . . . Just read it already."—Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
"A madcap rollick tinged with a touch of menace, The World of Tomorrow delights in sending its characters pinging around pre-World War II New York, on the run from Irish gangsters, fascist regimes, and crazy relatives . . . Mathews's breezy epic captures a hustling spirit soon to be subsumed by a world at war . . . A dazzling literary debut."—Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
"The World of Tomorrow is a big American novel, filled with ordinary people on the verge of extraordinary changes. By week's end, each will have made a pivotal choice whose consequences ripple far beyond their own lives . . . As with many novels that feel quintessentially American, immigrants and refugees are lead characters . . . This is Mathews's first novel, but you would not know it from the depth of its characters or the tight-as-a-snare-drum pacing. He connects multiple narratives in gratifying and often surprising ways, which makes this nearly 600-page story fly by faster than many books half its size . . . Mathews infuses The World of Tomorrow with the sights, sounds, and smells of 1930s New York: the energy of the dancers in Harlem's Savoy Ballroom when the band is running hot; the island-unto-itself nature of a Park Avenue mansion; the savory delicacies from a pushcart on a crowded Bowery street . . . Mathews takes exquisite care in creating even marginal characters and locales . . . [He gives] a sense of an entire neighborhood in a few phrases . . . It's rare to read a book whose range and ambition so aptly fit its title. Page after page, The World of Tomorrow lives up to its notable name."—Carol Iaciofano, WBUR
"Mathews writes extraordinarily well . . . His plot, rife with geopolitical intrigue, is nicely calibrated . . . His characters are likable and clever . . . They're Depression-weary, ready to transcend 'the sordid history of the Old World and looking boldly to the future.' This is an expansive theme, and from it, the first-time author has carved a commendable novel."—Kevin Canfield, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Mathews deftly handles a large cast of characters in The World of Tomorrow . . . Perhaps the most vibrant character of all, however, is New York itself. In hard-boiled prose that ranges from gossipy to poetic, Mathews takes us from humble Bronx homes to rowdy Manhattan jazz clubs, from grimy back alleys to palatial Fifth Avenue estates . . . The World of Tomorrow is a sweeping, impressive accomplishment . . . Mathews has written an insightful immigrant epic, not to mention a first-class literary thriller."—Tom Deignan, BookPage
"What a beguiling debut Brendan Mathews has given us in The World of Tomorrow: clever, smart, ambitious, richly textured, and moving."
—Richard Russo, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Everybody's Fool
"Brash, bold, completely entertaining, and dazzling in its evocation of time and place, Brendan Mathews's splendid debut offers pleasures on every page."
—Andrea Barrett, National Book Award-winning author of The Air We Breathe and Ship Fever
"What a book! The World of Tomorrow is a panoramic tour-de-force, a huge undertaking peopled with convincing characters and animated by a persuasive historical accuracy. But beyond all that, my fascination was with the way Mathews assembled the novel, sifting and endlessly resifting his characters like sand, as life itself piled up right in front of me. The grim realities of America on the cusp of a second World War will be recognizable, but in this capable writer's hands, the individual characters-passionate, secretive, naïve, lucky, unlucky, and sometimes hapless-remain full of surprises to the last. They exist not against the backdrop of history, but tangled up in its complex, cruel, or absurd demands, desperate to find whatever space is allowed them for intimacy."—Ann Beattie, PEN/Malamud-winning author of The New Yorker Stories
"In this sweeping book of slippery secret identities, Brendan Mathews invites us to sink deeply into the hearts and minds of a score of colorful characters. Magically constructed and methodically researched, The World of Tomorrow is a vastly entertaining novel about the powerful pull of family, the weight of history, and the allure of escaping into a better life-all set against a vivid and unforgettable New York."—Eleanor Henderson, New York Times bestselling author of Ten Thousand Saints
"Masterful....This novel is a remarkably fast and exhilarating read, reminiscent of Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay....With the wit of a '30s screwball comedy and the depth of a thoroughly researched historical novel, this one grabs the reader from the beginning to its suspenseful climax."
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Mathews's first novel is all you could want in a piece of popular fiction. The tension never lets up, and the story is fast and mind-spinningly complicated....There's suspense, humor, love, of both the doomed and requited varieties....This novel should prove irresistible to anyone wanting a diverting read. It's quality stuff—and fun."
—David Keymer, Library Journal (Starred Review)
"As everything rolls toward an adrenaline-fueled finale, Mathews brilliantly creates characters who embody the esprit de corps of immigrants and movingly explores themes of class, society, race, and family. For fans of Michael Chabon and E. L. Doctorow."—Bill Kelly, Booklist, starred review
"Mathews' colorful debut novel examines the legacy of Irish political violence for a family in both the old country and New York during one busy week in 1939.... Among the many splashes of New York atmosphere, the strongest are snapshots of the city's prewar musical frenzy.... Mathews' debut shows impressive control of this narrative cornucopia."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Library Journal
★ 05/15/2017
Creative writing and literature professor Mathews's (Bard Coll. at Simon's Rock) first novel is all you could want in a piece of popular fiction. The tension never lets up, and the story is fast and mind-spinningly complicated. The many characters are well fleshed out; with few exceptions, you care about them. In 1939, storm clouds are gathering across the Atlantic, but the New York World's Fair promises an exciting future ("Asbestos: The Miracle Mineral," proclaims one exhibit). This massive yet charming book delivers guns and explosives, an elaborate con perpetrated on a rich New York family by a fake Scottish laird who's really a runaway Irish convict hunted by the IRA, menacings galore, and a man who threatens to kill anyone who stands in his way. There's suspense, humor, love, of both the doomed and requited varieties, and even a ghost of the poet William Butler Yeats. VERDICT This novel should prove irresistible to anyone wanting a diverting read. It's quality stuff—and fun. [See Prepub Alert, 4/1/17.]—David Keymer, Modesto, CA
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2017-06-06
Mathews' colorful debut novel examines the legacy of Irish political violence for a family in both the old country and New York during one busy week in 1939.Francis Dempsey, who has been jailed for selling banned books and luxury items, gets a furlough from Dublin's Mountjoy Jail for his father's funeral. There, he is joined by his unhappy seminarian brother, Michael, and several old Irish Republican Army buddies of his father's, who rig an escape for the brothers that involves an IRA bomb factory. There, an accidental explosion leaves Michael shellshocked and the brothers in possession of a Republican war chest. Francis uses the money to present himself as a Scottish lord and books passage for himself and his brother to New York on the RMS Britannic. His fake title leads Francis to a wealthy Manhattan girlfriend and a dangerous role in a New York mob boss's plans. Michael's dazed state leads to a fascinating relationship with the restless ghost of the recently deceased William Butler Yeats. Meanwhile—and there's a lot of meanwhile in this busy doorstop—a third Dempsey brother, Martin, who has been in New York for 10 years, is trying to get a jazz band together for his sister-in-law's wedding reception and impress recording legend John Hammond. But the bride-to-be, who performs synchronized swimming as an AquaBelle at the World's Fair, is having second thoughts about her nuptials after a night at the Plaza Hotel with Francis. Among the many splashes of New York atmosphere, the strongest are snapshots of the city's prewar musical frenzy. Weaving through it all is an old IRA enforcer with a tragic tie to the Dempseys who found escape on an upstate New York farm until the mob boss forces him to find the war chest and Francis. Mathews' debut shows impressive control of this narrative cornucopia, although his reliance on characters' thoughts to propel the plot can be tiresome. It's not Doctorow's Ragtime, but there's a similar feel in this impressive, wide-ranging debut.
