Rating: 
Summary: 2,000 Years of London Life -- Long, But Worth the Effort
Review: This is a big, sprawling, initially intimidating (mainly because of its heft) but ultimately rewarding read -- a journey that follows several British families, from all walks of life, through 2,000 years of London's history. You'll start with the Druids and Caesar's crossing of the Thames, and finish with The Blitz and a bit of modern arachaeology. In between, you'll watch history come to life (each chapter revolves around a major event in British history), with the usual artistic embellishments expected of historical fiction. But it's all in the name of good fun, so don't be a stickler -- sure, modern-day English didn't come out of the mouths of the Tudors, but who cares? Rutherford is, for the most part, faithful to reporting events As They Really Happened and to Life As It Really Was. While it's the Ducket/Doggett/DuQuette family that serves as the focus of the book (keep looking for those folks with the webbed fingers and the shock of white hair as you read), it's the City of London itself (and, arguably, its architecture) which is the book's real showpiece. Be prepared to stick an extra bookmark at the front of the book where the maps are, because you're going to need it. If there was a Roman road leading out a City gate, Rutherford has marked it in the text and you're going to walk down it eventually, so get your bearings early. The cast of characters also grows exponentially through the years, as family trees are wont to do, so keep the page of the family trees marked as well. This isn't a novel (as the cover proclaims) so much as it is a series of vignettes linked by a constant (and consistent) narrative and cast of characters, and Rutherford makes the most of it. There's some laugh-out-loud bawdiness in here, a dash of The Classic Chase (a la Keystone Kops), a bit of high drama, a few nods to Shakespeare, and even a bit of the Prince and the Pauper. Rutherford makes good use of his time, but there ARE instances when things seem to get wrapped up rather too quickly and too neatly in order to clear the way for the next chapter. The middle sections of the book seem to move the fastest, which makes sense, given the historical period this portion of the book covers -- the Glorious Revolution, the Civil War, the War of the Roses, and a peek at a Henry VIII who's the biggest skunk you'll ever see this side of Richard III. There's also some real beauty in here, and Rutherford doesn't skimp on the details of British life and living that really make the book come alive. It's going to take some time to get through, and you WILL find yourself thumbing back and forth between chapters, maps, and family trees to keep everything sorted out, but it's well worth it. Set aside a week or so, put aside nitpickiness, and just enjoy watching Rutherford go to work.
Rating: 
Summary: Michner does it better
Review: Having read Edward Rutherford's other two 'place' histories, Sarum and Ruska, I was looking forward to London, his similar treatment of the history of this most civilized city. But I was disappointed by the lack of continuity in character development. The leaping of centuries between sections presented a picture of London in a sort of strobe effect with major changes taking place that then had to be filled in with clumsy exposition. Each new section brings on a new cast of characters with only the vaguest relationship to the story of the characters that were presented before. I enjoy complex fiction that spans generations, but when there are centuries between the 'stories' there is not enough narrative momentum to carry the reader forward and characters are cast aside just as one learns enough about them to care about what happens to them. This approach to fiction (interlocking narratives that defined the history of a place) is the one favored by James A. Michner but he was usually careful to provide more direct continuity of character and family line so that one had at least a sense of a common story. Rutherford seems to have been less successful here and it requires a great deal of attention and resolve on the reader's part to make the jumps and fresh starts necessary to complete this 800 plus page series of stories. A previous knowledge of English history and specifically that of the city of London will no doubt help with context, but the author alone could have provided the continuity of character without which no plot can be sustained.
Rating: 
Summary: Great writer
Review: Like his others, this is a great book. The author gives accurate information about the time period and brings the reader into the many interwoven stories.
Rating:
Summary: An instant classic
Review: This is one of the best books that I have ever read! The tracing of imaginary trees is a well-conceived idea by Rutherfurd, and one that draws the readers further into the book. Interesting twists of fate makes it interesting to compare the newer generations to their ancestors. It was very easy for myself, and I imagine for other readers to easily identify themselves with one of the many lines in the novel. Whether you consider yourself one of the meek Duckets, a noble Bull, or a backstabbing Silversleeves, everyone can identify with the story. This book would make a splendid reading companion to any English history textbook, and though Rutherfurd's intention was to write fiction, I couldn't help but consider it useful in historic knowledge. This could be the only flaw in his writing. For example, it is easy to associate Chaucer as one of the great English authors, but now when I think of his name, I will always remember his good friend, James Bull. It is very hard to remember that James Bull is fictional. Rutherfurd's characters are so memorable, that it is tough to keep in mind that this is all fantasy and it is hard to separate the actual history from the stories. I found myself associating most freely with the Ducket/Doggett line. The trademark white patch of hair and webbings made them especially memorable, but more memorable was their ambition. I also admire the Barnikel's for their practicality, and the Bull's for their tradition. The only characters I seem to despise are the Silversleeves. They always seem to be lazy, or sly, never doing honest work and always reaping the benefits. However, Rutherfurd writes justly and always seems to foil their line by the end of a story. Overall, the book was intense and very hard to put down. Though the stories are broken up chronologically, transitions flowed rather smoothly, and when engrossed in a chapter, the action and plot twists are so well arranged that it is hard to focus on doing anything else.
Rating:
Summary: A great historiography, both educational and entertaining!
Review: Rutherford's book begins and ends on River Thames. Brilliantly researched, this book literally brings history to life. Beyond being an account of one of the world's great capitals, it is an engaging story of civilization on a personal level. A suggestion to the publisher (and, I noted, another amazon.com reviewer mentioned this)I would begin each chapter with a brief, up-dated presentation of the "family tree" and map of London at the time of that particular chapter. I was constantly flipping back to the front of the book to check geneaology and maps of London, which was extremely annoying. A warning to prospective readers -- this is a LONG book -- and it takes some work to plow through it. The effort is definitely worthwhile. I began reading the book at bed time, and only managed a few pages, and then had to re-read those pages the next time I picked up the book. One should allow and dedicate time to read this book, really get into it and allow no distractions from concentration. The book deserves your total and un-divided attention!
Rating: 
Summary: 38 pages was my limit - BORING!!!
Review: The 800+ pages of this book did not deter me at all. I read Sarum and liked it. It was not perfect, but it was good enough for me to seek out this author again. London, however, was a different matter. I read - DRAGGED - myself through the first 38 pages and found the initial characters so completely boring that I could have cared less what became of them. My normal rule is 100+ before making a decision to close a book, and I think I've only ever closed 1 or 2. This one is now added to that short list. In fairness, it may get better - it may have turned out to be a thrilling, moving piece of literary work. Unfortunately, the beginning was SO bad that I don't even care if it gets better. I not only closed it - I donated it to the library. Maybe an nice insomniac will find it helpful.
Rating:
Summary: An epic that chronicles the history of London
Review: Edward Rutherfurd's London embodies the noble history and heritage of the city in the past two centuries. Whether it is Rutherfurd's tour de force of story telling or a thorough research in the historical archive, London opens to readers the windows to the past, through the capricious, ever-shifting fortunes, lives, destinies, and amazing interactions of several families. Their webbed hands characterized the Duckets who were down the family line of Leofric. The Silversleeves were of Norman descent and got brawny built. A hurried Norman clerk had made one of the few but egregious mistakes in which he forgot to record Duckets' ancestors as free. The Duckets, through some ever-shifting and checkered fate, existed also under the name Dogget. London is nothing but a historical fiction that builds upon the history of the city over 2000 years, from Ice Age to Julius Caesar, to the Medieval, to Renaissance and present. So long as readers scrupulously follows the chronological account, the intricate family lines and the overlap and interactions between the very families, it is an absorbing read, though I do not find it intriguing. The book resembles a huge, endless compression of the lives of a sampling of Londoners during their respective times. Generations after generations, these very families coincidentally found themselves befriending, collaborating, fighting, persevering, revenging, marrying and colluding each other among the ever-shifting fortunes, destinies, political crisis, and wars. Family genealogy somehow holds the novel in one piece or else the book reads like a bunch of stories with innumerable characters. Readers who are not familiar with London and its historical landmarks might find the book somewhat difficult to grasp. Rutherfurd gives succinct details on landmarks such as the Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, Covents Garden, Royal Society of London, Twinings Tea Shop, Museum of London, West End, Soho, and the Big Ben. Rutherfurd uses these landmarks as backdrop to his characters. The author also deftly captures significant history of the city such as the Viking's invasion in 1088, the London Riot in 1189, the Black Death pandemic that hit all of Europe in 1348, the Peasant's Revolt in 1381, Civil War in 1649, the London's Fire in 1666, the establishment of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 1675, opening of Twinings Tea Shop in 1750, the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918, and Hitler's Blitzkrieg on London in 1940. Incidences of literary interest were the authorship of the Canterberry Tales. Geoffrey Chaucer himself was among one of the characters. The English theater flourished under Queen Elizabeth's reign and Shakespeare wrote only half of all his plays when the period of theater ended. The Bible also infiltrated London in 1382 and raised such alarm among church authorities. Almost concurrently the King appointed himself the Supreme Head of Church which entitled him the power to not only take in all revenues and appoint bishops and abbots, but to decide on all church doctrines just so to thwart heresy. London could be a rewarding read should readers wish to learn about the history of the city under a literary context. It is a thorough factual account in literary form. But it is far less captivating as the book claims and readers might have to trudge a bit through the not-so-interesting and absorbing prose. Readers might not be able to recall most of the characters and the happenings despite the significant historical occurrences. 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: One complaint about a fine novel.
Review: This is an absolutely wonderful book -- as enjoyable on my current fourth reading as it was on my first. I do have one serious complaint, one which I am surprized others have not made. Even though the characters and plot lines are totally original, the structure of the novel is all Michener. I am very disappointed that Rutherford does not acknowldedge his debt to Michener in his introduction.
Rating:
Summary: A good, long, thoroughly engrossing read!
Review: My adult niece gave me Rutherfurd's second book, RUSSKA, as a Christmas gift several years ago. I enjoyed it so much that I went looking for SARUM, and I've since purchased his two more recent books. As I write this review, I have put THE FOREST aside for awhile because Rutherfurd's works can be overwhelming to read one after another. LONDON's twenty-one self-contained tales begin in 54 B.C., and follow several families through often intertwining generations until 1997. We're there when each acquires its surname. We watch as those surnames change; as fortunes are made and lost; as respectability and social status wax and wane, for those who come to call themselves "Bull" and "Ducket," "Doggett" and "Silversleeves," "Meredith" and "Barnikel." Each story carries the unique flavor of the era depicted, and each deals with that time period's defining events. I've heard Rutherfurd compared to James A. Michener, and with that I certainly agree. Both writers concentrate on a particular geographic area, and tell the story of that area's people over a grand sweep of time. However, I do not see Rutherfurd's characters (or Michener's, for that matter) as figures sketched in for the storyteller's convenience. Each major character in the pages of LONDON is created in enough carefully chosen detail to take on individual life. I particularly enjoyed meeting such colorful figures as "Dame Barnikel," who founded a dynastic brewery in a time when most married women controlled no property; the Doggett sisters, twin prostitutes with far more respectable descendants; and Helen Meredith, aristocratic ambulance driver during the Blitz. A great deal of background for each tale is presented to the reader in narrative, "telling instead of showing" format; but Rutherfurd's alternative would have been writing twenty-one novels, because each of his self-contained chapters contains enough material for a complete book. His work feels more condensed than Michener's, and that undoubtedly is why. What these two epic writers have in common is their storytelling's richness. LONDON supplied me with a good, long, thoroughly engrossing read!
Rating:
Summary: Very good book...
Review: When I started this book, I couldn't put it down. I loved the first characters and reading about how they lived, etc. When the first storyline ended, I was so disappointed because I was enjoying that story so much! However, then next story was just as wonderful, as was the next and the next. But I didn't like ending one story only to have another one start hundreds of years later. I also had difficulty keeping track of the families...whom was seeking revenge on whom, etc. But I love historical fiction and overall, I have to give this book good marks.
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