Rating: 
Summary: did i read the same book as the rest of you???
Review: i wanted to love Harvard Yard as much as Back Bay and Cape Cod (2 of Martin's earlier books) but something about it fell terribly flat. Although similar in its blend of past history with present day mystery, in 'Yard, too much time was spent developing the historical characters to the detriment of the central plot. at times i found myself counting pages and wondering when I'd get back to the real story! another complaint i have is sloppy editting. too much repetition; "a man is known by his books" was quoted at least a thousand times...and the inability to do simple computation: Fallon's age wasn't figured correctly for the time period in which the story took place. although some might find these minor points, errors like that color my opinion of the finished product. overall, Harvard Yard was too long, only mildly interesting, and not cohesive enough for me to recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: Marvelous!
Review: I've been a fan of William Martin's fiction ever since BACK BAY, and have been waiting since CITIZEN WASHINGTON for his next novel. And was it worth the wait. HARVARD YARD is a real page-turner. As always, Bill Martin makes history come to vivid life and in HARVARD YARD he takes us from the very beginning of our country's history up until the present day. In between, there are wonderful scenes of witches being burned, wars being fought and ideas being challenged. It has action, romance, drama--a book you can really dive into and lose yourself in. This book will appeal to anyone who liked THE DIVINCI CODE--and it would make a perfect holiday gift, to boot!
Rating: 
Summary: ¿A man will be better known by his books¿.
Review: I've delayed writing a review for Harvard Yard, mainly because I've been at a bit of a loss at what to actually say about such a huge and mighty tome. On the one hand I admire its structure and its incredible audacity, yet on the other hand, underdeveloped characters, and an unnecessarily convoluted storyline, hinder the novel. But as someone who is not from America, and has only a patchy knowledge of American history, I really enjoyed the historical education that Harvard Yard imparts. The arrival of the pilgrims, the Salem witch hunts, the War of Independence, the Civil War, the arrival of the industrialized twentieth century, and the sinking of the Titanic, are all recounted with a breezy authenticity and a remarkable sincerity. Harvard Yard flows along at a fast pace, with William Martin giving us just enough period detail to wet our appetites for something more. I just wish he had taken more time with some of the periods, maybe slowed down and included a little more detail involving some of the main characters. The strength of the novel is in the beginning when Isaac Wedge becomes one of the first students at the first college in English America, founded on the edge of the wilderness, just six years after the settlement of the colony itself. The strength of is also in the enduring "mystery" of Shakespeare's play "Love Labor's Won which may or may not have lasted all these years and survived down though the generations of Wedges. The novel speaks about the universality of artistic inheritance and the lengths that families will go to preserve their heritage and speak to one another from the past. Although the novel is about rebellion war, and devotion, there is also an important detective story running through the modern day narrative, as Peter Fallon, who has found evidence that the undiscovered Shakespeare play is hidden somewhere at the college, races against time to uncover the mystery before other protagonists get their hands on the manuscript. Fans of libraries, literature, and writing will find a lot to admire in this work, as the world of historical - and modern - academia is bought vividly and authentically to life. Harvard Yard is not one of my favorites for the year, but it is still a good, if not excessively long read. Michael
Rating:
Summary: A Page-Turner -- As Visual as a Movie!
Review: In "Harvard Yard", author William Martin does a remarkable job of bringing history to life in a way that will leave you thinking you have just watched an epic film! I understand that Martin, after his undergraduate years at Harvard, received a graduate degree in Film -- and his eye for visual, dramatic action certainly shows in this gripping historical novel! Martin is masterful as he draws you into this page-turning "treasure hunt" that spans 300 years of Harvard, Cambridge -- in fact AMERICAN history, as the past comes to life in colorful, unforgettable scenes: For example, in the early 1600's in England, William Shakespeare - very much alive - gives his newly-written play "Loves Labors Won" to his friends upon the birth of their child (John Harvard!),then we watch the family become nearly decimated by the plague. (Note: This unpublished manuscript crosses the ocean with John Harvard, and becomes the "treasure" which grows in value with each generation that it is hidden for various reasons, the most significant of which is the Puritan ethic which for many years squelched "enlightenment" represented, in part, by theater and dramatic literature.) In a later scene - now in colonial New England -- students in a "rustic" Harvard Yard where cows graze and chickens scuttle about, have to visit the equivalent of outhouses each morning, before attending classes - a glimpse into a very different student life at the fledgling college (where, in 1678, there were only 23 students in all!) In a hauntingly vivid scene, we watch the old Harvard library go up in flames on a cold winter night in the late 1700's (nearly consuming the hidden Shakespearean "treasure") as students and townspeople form a bucket brigade to fight the fire, the nearest pump being frozen. Later, the Titanic sinks as key figures in the "hunt" grapple for the already-packed lifeboats! A young northern soldier in the Civil War, fighting alongside many of his college friends, pauses for a moment to look back at "the hundreds of young southerners who were down, crying, dying, at all those hopes, all those years yet to live, all the love that had been spent on them, all thrown away in an instant" -- and in that moment of hesitation, he himslf is shot. Add scenes of witchhunts and 1960's riots, and bring to life historical figures such as Joseph Kennedy and FDR, and you cannot help but be engrossed, wishing that the hunt for the multimillion-dollar manuscript would never end! This book is outstanding and can be enjoyed on so many levels: If you like a fast-paced mystery/treasure hunt (like the hunt for the grail in The DaVinci Code), this is your next page-turner! If you want to absorb a great deal of history while experiencing a great read, this novel is chock full of historical detail that is so visual, you will never forget the New England of the mid-1600's to the present! If you devour family sagas, covering multiple generations with all the relationships, feuds and traditions, this book is rich in multi-generational drama. Pehaps the most unique aspect of this work is Martin's technique of alternating chapters between past and present that weaves a complex, intriguing web, so that by the final chapters, past collides with present in the on-the-edge-of-your-seat resolution of the treasure "quest" that will keep you up at night!
Rating:
Summary: Irresistible --- Nearly Impossible to Put Down
Review: In 1638, young Isaac Wedge settled uneasily into a fledgling school in Cambridge, starting a tradition of Harvard men in his family. Thereafter, it was simply expected that the Wedge sons would apply when it came time to head off for college. The subsequent generations lived through America's youth, its struggles for identity, its wars, its triumphs and its tragedies. No matter what they chose to study, at a minimum each learned to think for himself and each learned to take a stand --- however disagreeable to his parents or professors --- and in so doing, each left his mark on the great university and this great country. Now, over 350 years after the first Wedge graduate, the family has come to believe a lost Shakespearean play exists and that it belongs to them. Back in the 1700s, Lydia Wedge --- a poet, and a bad one at that --- penned a cryptic promise that Harvard would receive "a small gift of majestic proportion" when it welcomed women into its student body. She left instructions to future Wedges on its care and handling until that day arrived. But unforeseen events intervened and the family lost track of its whereabouts. Now one member of the family, Ridley Wedge Royce, enlists the aid of his friend, antique books dealer Peter Fallon, to help find this priceless treasure. When Fallon realizes he has attracted the interest of some violent and unsavory types, he starts to take the request more seriously. Then one of the Wedges turns up dead and Fallon throws himself into the quest with vigorous determination. As Fallon searches for the lost folio, author William Martin takes us back in time to explain how it came into the Wedge possession --- earlier, actually, back when John Harvard received it from Will Shakespeare himself. In one chapter, Martin guides us through the years pertinent to the school's history, then in the next brings us back to Fallon as he is unearthing more clues. With each new Harvard candidate, time moves on and the story leaves the old behind and a new Wedge student carries the secret of the lost Shakespearean manuscript. Meanwhile, Fallon works to unravel the puzzle. In the first hundred pages or so, such an abundance of information comes at you that it can seem overwhelming. But once you catch the rhythm of the book, you get so caught up in the family's doings that the sheer breadth of the book becomes easily manageable. To simplify a seemingly expansive undertaking, Martin has graciously provided a genealogical chart of the Wedge lineage and a diagram of the Harvard campus. After you've devoured the first six or seven chapters, the pace quickens sharply, the mystery takes shape, and you can't help but care what happens to the Wedges and their treasure. I can almost guarantee that you'll find HARVARD YARD irresistible --- in fact, nearly impossible to put down. It may not look like a page-turner, but it is. --- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
Rating:
Summary: fabulous historical novel
Review: ive always enjoyed bill martins books starting with back bay. harvard yard is by far his best opus . i highly recomend it .
Rating: 
Summary: (3.5) It's all in the journey
Review: Martin's latest novel follows the history of Harvard University from its inception in mid-1600, when endowed by John Harvard, Puritan son of Robert Harvard, of Southwark, England. After most of the family is decimated by the plague in England in 1625, surviving son John Harvard moves with his wife to New England, where he bequeaths his father's prestigious library, with Robert Harvard's message to the future, that "a man is known by his books". Among the precious volumes is a handwritten play by William Shakespeare for John and his wife. The play is even more valuable because it is an original and the only copy of it ever produced by Shakespeare. However, things become difficult as the first establishment for higher education is run by the strict Puritan dogma, one that is restrictive of frivolous ideas or temptations. As we follow the history of the small volume, it is necessary for it to be removed and placed in a safe place until the college has broadened its perspective on what constitutes an education. The ensuing quest for this Shakespearean work is the central theme of Harvard Yard. Moving back and forth in time, Harvard Yard revisits the original manuscript and its unique place in the Harvard library, making a case for the play's removal from the library when its survival is threatened by the historical imperative of the Puritan ethic, as well as the suggestion of it's possible reappearance. Antiquarian book dealer Peter Fallon is called to Harvard by his fellow alumni, descendants of the Wedge family, a dynasty that has been integral to the formation of Harvard's educational policy and financial resources. Fallon is asked to do research to determine if there is such a lost play, and if so, to do all he can to locate it, as it is worth millions of dollars. There is a huge market for this collectible; along with legitimate dealers there are criminal elements, all vying for information that will lead to this great prize. As in his previous novels, Cape Cod and Back Bay, Harvard Yard is a successful blend of fiction and history. Many of the characters play pivotal roles in the evolution of higher learning in America, from its Puritan beginnings, classical underpinnings and eventual acceptance of minorities into what is essentially an elite group with great influence in society.
There is an interesting thread of feminism underlying the whole story, acknowledging the struggles of the women through their respective generations, those unable to demand a voice for themselves. Each difficult period of history is detailed: the unfolding evolution of education and politics, from the Boston Tea Party to the Revolution to the Civil War, the great fire that destroyed the original library and all the other seminal events that have impacted this country. Harvard Yard is an engrossing read, thanks to the author's lively approach to historical events, the development of higher education and the silent war for equal opportunity that continues today. These characters are found on the pages of history, but Martin gives them life and individuality through their dreams, longings, differences and changing religious philosophies. As well, the author broadens the scope of the story, sculpting a human dimension to the past and our interpretation of the future. Luan Gaines/ 2003.
Rating:
Summary: entertaining look at the history of Harvard University
Review: One of the legends associated with John Harvard is that the Bard, William Shakespeare, not only played matchmaker to his parents, but gifted them with an original manuscript of "Love's Labors Won" when their son was born. John inherited the work and other tomes from his father and took the entire collection to New England. Between his donation of his library and money to the university led to the honor of the school being named for him. For years, most people assumed that, if the manuscript existed, it was lost to the fire of 1764. However, the Wedge family, generations of alumni of Harvard from the beginning until now, protected the surviving copy of "Love's Labors Won" starting with Isaac, concerned that the Puritans would burn the manuscript. As antiquities dealer Peter Fallon beats the bush (sorry - bad pun and wrong school) by playing his university political connections to gain entrance for his son, a modern day Wedge implies that his family saved a valuable Shakespeare play. Suddenly the chase to find the tome is on with Fallon in the lead, but organized crime is just on his heels. The sequel to BACK BAY is an entertaining look at the history of Harvard University inside an amateur sleuth mystery. The story line never takes itself too seriously yet provides a taste of the school over the centuries and an intriguing comparative analysis of alumni from various eras. Except for Eli who will not accept that all's well that ends well in HARVARD YARD, fans of fun frolics with a strong history bent will appreciate William Martin's homage to the Ivy League school. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Literary and Historical Labors Won
Review: The saga of the Wedge family is absolutely fascinating. If you want to know what a Boston Brahmin is (I don't blame you if you don't), read Harvard Yard. The Puritan ethic that shaped the founding of our country and its impact down to the present day is forecfully and authoritatively written with historical details that must have taken years to research. And yet it remains a fast, suspenseful and enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Literary and Historical Labors Won
Review: The saga of the Wedge family is absolutely fascinating. If you want to know what a Boston Brahmin is (I don't blame you if you don't), read Harvard Yard. The Puritan ethic that shaped the founding of our country and its impact down to the present day is forecfully and authoritatively written with historical details that must have taken years to research. And yet it remains a fast, suspenseful and enjoyable read.
|
