Review: Evening’s Empire

Evening’s Empire by Bill Flanagan

Every once in a while, I like family epics. Usually, I don’t have much of a taste for contemporary domesticity in fiction—which is hilarious, considering how much of a homebody I can be—but something about it spread over generations or, if done properly, a single generation, engages me. I’m also fond of self-made families, whether they’re chosen or not; I’m reminded of a bit in the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty when Don Hahn talks about how the animators at Disney, during a particularly grueling production period, essentially composed a family all their own. I find their dynamic interesting because the bond is deeper, yet more ephemeral than blood bonds. This, rather than an interest in the history of rock-and-roll, is what prompted me to pick up Evening’s Empire.

Teaser Tuesday: Evening’s Empire

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Withers seemed bothered that he had to go into all this. Withers often acted as if he preferred subordinates to read his mind and save him the trouble of having to explain himself.

pg. 6 of Evening’s Empire by Bill Flanagan

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your 2 ‘teasers’ in a comment here (if you don’t have a blog). Thanks!

The Literary Horizon: A Trace of Smoke, Evening’s Empire

Usually, I try and tie together the two books featured on The Literary Horizon based on genre, story, or location, but today I’m going to tie them together by the source I found them in–The New York Times Sunday Book Review. (This is easier than pretending they’re related due to the use of music in both of them.) So, off to prewar Berlin and the history of rock and roll!