Book Club: 1906

The ladies in the book club chose to go with my recommendation this month and read 1906 by James Dalessandro. A friend of mine had recommended it to me and I couldn't pass it up. The novel is a fictional account of the 1906 earthquake that happened in San Francisco (and up and down the California coast).

I was surprised to find that the first half of the book took place three days before the earthquake; the story built up around the mysterious murder of a police detective who was about to put an end to the corruption of a handful of men who seemed to own the city -- elected officials included. I found all of this really fascinating, especially since most of the story was based on actual people. Then the earthquake hits and everything is a disaster. The way the author describes the earthquake's movements and the fire that followed are very accurate to the actual event. I was so intrigued I wanted to learn more! And for about a week I looked up and read so many articles about it, but this book was by far the most interesting read.

There was of course a romance that probably didn't need to be there, but it added another storyline and gave more attachment to the characters. There were a lot of characters in this novel, sometimes I found it hard to keep track of who was who and questioned why someone was mentioned at all, but over all it was an excellent read.

It was interesting to read a historical fiction piece about a place I currently live and find that other than newer buildings and more people, it is very much the same city it was over 100 years ago. There is still corruption, still human trafficking (yep, that started long ago too) and greed. Our city so very badly needs influential people to step up and care for humans. If people in control back then had done so, I'm fairly certain lives would have been spared. There is always a need to fight for justice.

Read it if you are at all interested in SF, earthquakes or just want to read a good mystery with lots of characters.

The ladies in the book club chose to go with my recommendation this month and read 1906 by James Dalessandro. A friend of mine had recommended it to me and I couldn't pass it up. The novel is a fictional account of the 1906 earthquake that happened in San Francisco (and up and down the California coast).

I was surprised to find that the first half of the book took place three days before the earthquake; the story built up around the mysterious murder of a police detective who was about to put an end to the corruption of a handful of men who seemed to own the city -- elected officials included. I found all of this really fascinating, especially since most of the story was based on actual people. Then the earthquake hits and everything is a disaster. The way the author describes the earthquake's movements and the fire that followed are very accurate to the actual event. I was so intrigued I wanted to learn more! And for about a week I looked up and read so many articles about it, but this book was by far the most interesting read.

There was of course a romance that probably didn't need to be there, but it added another storyline and gave more attachment to the characters. There were a lot of characters in this novel, sometimes I found it hard to keep track of who was who and questioned why someone was mentioned at all, but over all it was an excellent read.

It was interesting to read a historical fiction piece about a place I currently live and find that other than newer buildings and more people, it is very much the same city it was over 100 years ago. There is still corruption, still human trafficking (yep, that started long ago too) and greed. Our city so very badly needs influential people to step up and care for humans. If people in control back then had done so, I'm fairly certain lives would have been spared. There is always a need to fight for justice.

Read it if you are at all interested in SF, earthquakes or just want to read a good mystery with lots of characters.