Rating: 
Summary: Money begets tragedy, and gets away with it
Review: On Memorial Day in 1889, above the town of Johnstown, Pa, the South Fork dam burst nearly wiping out the town itself and many smaller towns downriver. Thousands were killed, livestock decimated and the township's buildings, homes and infrastructure were literally wiped off the face of the earth. Those that survived the initial assault were tested furthur as the cold night bore down on them. Shivering, injured, separated from loved ones, thirsty from the lack of potable water, left without food, desperate for medicine, bandages and clothes, they huddled together praying to make it until morning. While waters swirled around them, the structures they managed to seek refuge in threatened to collapse, casting off the survivors into black, raging waters. Even worse were those trapped inside structures and wedged downstream against the low bridge. Fires had ignited from the still burning stoves of homes knocked off their foundations. Massed in a huge jam, people burned to death and their screams could be heard throughout what was remaining of the town. This was a tragedy of immense proportions.The real tragedy is that the wealthy men who were ultimately responsible for the maintainance of the dam failed to make the dam safe. The luxury of having a recreational and fishing lake were granted only to those rich enough to afford to vacation at the "club", and the area was strictly denied to any trespassers not registered with the fishing and hunting club. Little to no consideration was given to the THOUSANDS of people below the dam, nor their homes, their animals and their livlihoods. It is inconceivable that such callous disregard existed and that these "important" men got away with such transgressions!! I guess I should not be surprised, as the foundation was set, and the same kind of disregard exists today as the corporate rich rob and plunder their companies at the expense of the working people. Skillfully revealed, the author makes no mistake as to who is responsible. Delightfully entertaining, there are intriguing characters to lighten the impact of such a horrific event.
Rating: 
Summary: A story of people, not disasters
Review: One reviewer above notes that a book about the Johnstown Flood has the flood as the focal point. Actually, that's not true. The book's title is subtly accurate and avoids naming the flood--which is smart because the book isn't really about the flood. This is a book about relationships: mothers and children, fathers and children, husbands and wives. It's also about the relationships between the social classes, the haves and have-nots. Finally, it's a novel about the relationship between an individual's dreams and the culture in which s/he lives. Looming in the background is the flood, casting a shadow over all of these relationships. This novel would succeed even without the flood. Definitely worth reading and certainly appropriate for book groups (and I'll be recommending it to my group). By the way, it's ok to consider me a Top 100 reviewer; I do!
Rating:
Summary: A story of people, not disasters
Review: One reviewer above notes that a book about the Johnstown Flood has the flood as the focal point. Actually, that's not true. The book's title is subtly accurate and avoids naming the flood--which is smart because the book isn't really about the flood. This is a book about relationships: mothers and children, fathers and children, husbands and wives. It's also about the relationships between the social classes, the haves and have-nots. Finally, it's a novel about the relationship between an individual's dreams and the culture in which s/he lives. Looming in the background is the flood, casting a shadow over all of these relationships. This novel would succeed even without the flood. Definitely worth reading and certainly appropriate for book groups (and I'll be recommending it to my group). By the way, it's ok to consider me a Top 100 reviewer; I do!
Rating: 
Summary: Slow start set the pace . . .
Review: Quite possibly the slowest book that I ever read! This book - featured to be about the Johnstown flood - is trying to tell too many stories about characters who you do not come to care about. Character development is weak since there are too many characters trying to be weaved together. When the flood occurs, this devestating event barely gets a paragraph.
Rating:
Summary: An elegant, beautifully crafted achievement.
Review: Since 1889, many novels have been written that have used the 1889 Johnstown Flood as a historical backdrop...the first being written just a few months after the disaster. Quite simply, this is one of the best. I have been professionally studying the Johnstown Flood for almost a decade, and I am quite impressed with the research the author did, and the excellent effort to present the results of that research in a most compelling way. She has created characters that you end up caring about a great deal. In fact, you'll likely be thinking about those characters long after you finish the book. She has almost perfectly captured the emotions and anguish that affected so many in the valley before and after the Flood. Quite importantly, you realize that there is indeed more to this story than most history books will tell you. You will also be refreshed at the beautifully crafted writing...something that is so rare these days in the world of fiction. Just remember, this is a piece of fiction. I encourage you to also read David McCullough's masterful 1968 book, 'The Johnstown Flood' for an excellent treatment of the Flood story.
Rating:
Summary: Tragedy
Review: The attention of many of the professionals of the state of Johnstown is being attracted to the Dam of Johnstown, near a very large lake. One of the professionals of the state, a lawyer, James Talbot, tells his business manager that the dam is very weak and should be closed down until it undergoes restructuring, for the safety of the people. However, his business manager disagrees with him, justifying himself with the point that, under the Dam are the town's most wealthy people, vacationing in the Clubhouse. He did not want to inconvenience those people due to their wealth and power. Thus, the Dam remained open, to James' disgust.
In Boston, this drew the attention of one young engineer, Mr. Morris, and he began professionally restructuring the dam, strengthening it. Yet, there was a danger and risk involved. If the water reached a certain level inside the dam, it would flood and burst, endangering the lives of the people of Johnstown. After about fifty years, in 1879, the Dam once again began failing, and fell, once again, into very poor condition. Many contractors bought the Dam, to the delight of the Dam's previous owners. All the previous owners wanted most was to get the Dam out of their hands, to be free from responsibility of it, they saw it as a bother. Therefore, when one man went to buy it off of another owner, that owner would be very happy to be free of it. Unfortunately, though contractors bought the Dam, none ever took the responsibility of maintaining it. Instead, they poured out all their energies and money into providing more comfort for the already wealthy environment of the Clubhouse, for the enjoyment of the people. That money could have been invested into repairing the dangerous Dam that was in very faulty condition. No one knew what dangers this Dam could have brought to the people below, monumental dangers.
In the times of the rains, all of Johnstown was flooding. The lake underneath the Dam was flooding as well. Therefore, there was not enough room for the water released from the Dam to fall into, and instead, it would flood into the rest of the town. This is exactly what happened. In 1889, the Dam reached its maximum height, and burst, throwing millions of tons of water into Johnstown, and washing the town away, covering it with water. Everything was lost, and this was the end of Johnstown, due to the flooding of the neglected Dam.
None of the main characters that were described in the novel had a specific role in the plot of the story. Instead, they were all submerged into equal roles in the plot. There was a love story surrounding the main event of the bursting of the Dam and flooding of Johnstown. And the novel described many of the relationships the people of Johnstown had with each other. They seemed to be all united into one family. Every one knew each other. I think this bond within the people contributed greatly to the tragedy of the event. For we felt like we were a part of that union, and to see it completely diminished by the flooding is very emotional. Especially regarding the story of the young love between Nora Talbot, a scientist, and daughter of the lawyer who first took part in the Dam, James Talbot, and Daniel Fallon, a son of one of the characters, a veteran, Frank Fallon.
This novel is more like the telling of a historical event. Although it involves tragedy and romance, the story is centered on the historical event of the flooding of Johnstown due to a neglected Dam, because Nora and Daniel's romance was just beginning to flourish after many years of shy and distant encounters, when their lives were unexpectedly ended due to this flooding. Yet, it is good, because it is the combination of a regular novel, because it includes romance, yet involves historical facts, such as this event of the Dam of Johnstown. Therefore, I could recommend it to anyone who likes reading novels, specifically to a more mature audience, since it also has educational aspects to it. It is a novel centered on a historical event. Yet, if one is easily depressed, reading this book may not be a good idea, for it is very tragic to be sentimentally bonded to a relationship in the book, and then see it all diminish so rapidly. Yet, this was to be expected since the beginning of the novel.
Rating:
Summary: A great example of how fiction can illuminate history!
Review: The author's exhaustive effort at research shows in the wonderful details of life in Johnstown and the South Fork lake community. These details and the compelling characters make this a novel to savor. If you'd like to discuss this book further, join the discussion thread at Abuzz, the unique and wonderful message board from the NY Times! Here's the link: http://nytimes.abuzz.com/interaction/s.176410/discussion_in_list/ci/0/ This book has sparked my interest in learning even more about the Johnstown Flood. The very next book I will read is David McCullough's authoritative book on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Fact and Fiction
Review: The wonderful thing about the book is that although we know how, and with what event, it will end, that ending comes as both a surprise and a climax. And almost an afterthought. Cambor has deftly interwoven a historian's concern for details and research (and an accurate portrayal of the historical figures who were members of the club) with a novelist's ability to create fictional characters out of whole cloth. We become interested in their lives, and we wonder (here is the suspenseful part) exactly who will live and who will die in the predictable climax. In addition, Cambor take's a poet's delight in crafting beautiful sentences. I couldn't put the book down, but neither did I want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: This book makes the Johnstown flood come a live over 100 years after it happened. Read the book and then take a trip to Johnstown to see the historical artifacts and the buildings that remain.
Rating:
Summary: A Book to Savor
Review: This is a book to savor, a touching romance overcast by the looming disaster of the Johnstown flood, so beautifully written that the characters remain in the mind long after the pages are closed. Kathleen Cambor peeks into the lives of the rich and famous industrialists of the late 1800's - Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick - all members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club. This summer retreat for the wealthy was created by re-building the South Fork dam. There were questions about the dam's stability from the beginnings of the project, however these were swept aside due to the importance of the club's members. The wealthy members do not give a thought to the people down below in Johnstown as they enjoy the pleasures of an idyllic locale. Ms. Cambor also touchingly re-creates the lives of those living in the doomed city of Johnstown. Some few will survive the flood which took the lives of 2200 and was the worst industrial tragedy of its time. Although the book climaxes predictably with the flood, there are surprises in the aftermath.
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