Let the Great World Spin

Colum McCann

2009 • Random House

The novel folds over from 1974 on to 2006 or where we are now. Vietnam folds over to some extent on Iraq. They’re not exact maps of each other, but the section about the freakers is definitely a metaphor for the Internet. Today, we can be absolutely everywhere instantaneously. We can be at Michael Jackson’s memorial, look at a camera that is on Kings Road in London, or we can Google Earth ourselves down to Australia. In the summer of 1974, the Web didn’t exist yet, but people had begun sending e-mail messages, and these guys from California could phone-freak in and ‘experience’ Petit’s walk.

— Colum McCann

Novel English Language

Let the Great World Spin

Colum McCann

2009 • Random House

The novel folds over from 1974 on to 2006 or where we are now. Vietnam folds over to some extent on Iraq. They’re not exact maps of each other, but the section about the freakers is definitely a metaphor for the Internet. Today, we can be absolutely everywhere instantaneously. We can be at Michael Jackson’s memorial, look at a camera that is on Kings Road in London, or we can Google Earth ourselves down to Australia. In the summer of 1974, the Web didn’t exist yet, but people had begun sending e-mail messages, and these guys from California could phone-freak in and ‘experience’ Petit’s walk.