I bought it on cd to listen to while I commuted to college a few years ago ( an hour and a half one way commute) an stopped part way through. I couldn't get in to it.
I feel like it's just too dang long. It does a decent job of throwing in little "they could never have expected what would happen..." Dun dun DUN! lines, but just get to it already. I don't care about the architect's first wife and what color her eyes were.
I thought the book picked up steam as it went on. The beginning was a bit tough for me to get through, especially the parts about architecture. There's an exhibit about the Columbian Exposition at the Chicago Field Museum starting in Sep. or Oct. I think we're going to go back up to the city for it when it opens.
I liked it but got really bogged down when I was first reading it with how slow it was moving. I agree with PJ that it picks up some and was worth getting through.
I loved the white city part once construction was underway. Which book did you pick up? I just finished Isaac's Storm today.
Isaac's Storm! Did you like it?
I did like it. He talks about the politics of the US Weather Bureau and the basis of the scientific knowledge about hurricanes, which I really enjoyed. I love reading about that time period in general just because the world was changing so much, but it's still horrifying to me to think of living in a time without antibiotics, basic weather radar, etc.
I pretty much only kept reading it for the serial killer parts. The other stuff bored me after a while. I'm not sure what this says about me. I liked it enough, though, to want to read his other book, In the Garden of Beasts, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.
I liked it but I was living in Chicago at the time so could visit some of the places in the book. I am a history/achitecture lover so liked that part too. Plus, there was the serial killer.