The Cloud Sketcher: A Novel | Richard Rayner

The Cloud Sketcher: A Novel | Richard Rayner | Era and characters come to life

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The Cloud Sketcher...

	The Cloud Sketcher: A Novel Richard Rayner Harper Perennial, 2002 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 17 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In a tiny village in Finland, Esko Vaananen is at the brink of despair -- he loves a woman he can never have. Suddenly, in the magical light of the aurora borealis, he has a vision of an impossibly tall building rising gracefully from the frozen lake and disappearing into the clouds above him. This pilvenpiirtaja -- "cloud sketcher" or skyscraper -- sparks a lifelong quest for beauty in Esko. He will pursue and protect these two passions -- his vision and his love -- no matter how great the cost, for the rest of his life. It is a journey that leads him into the Bolshevik revolution and the Jazz Age nightclubs of New York City and to strike a Faustian bargain with a ruthless gangster -- all in the pursuit of artistic perfection and impossible, unattainable love.

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The sky is the limit

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and felt that despite its origins in fiction it was a picture in to the Finnish people, their history and the things that motivate them.
The infatuation of the main character with his only love seemed a bit much at times but it did thread its way in and out of many chapters of the book and without it the story would have seemed dull to readers who are not interested in learning about other cultures and countries.
I have recommended the book to many people and would recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction.

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Era and characters come to life

This was a great book of historical fiction set in Finland in the early 1900s and New York City during the jazz age of the 1920s. Reading it, I could almost hear the music playing and the men working on the steel girders of the growing skyscrapers. The characters also came to life with their hopes and fears.

Achievement through building

I enjoyed this novel, and while some aspects and characters were not as well developed as others, I found myself swept up in the building of sky scrapers as a metaphor for achievement.

The historical backdrop was interesting as well, and provided a window into a period and place that few of us know much about.

I recommend this novel.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

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A good airplane read but pedestrian.

1920s. Esko fights the Bolsheviks in Finland before fleeing to the USA to be a skyscraper architect. 2 stories fused together with little to link them. Well sketched characters, except for the principal love interest. Historical color. Good pace. Easy to read.

The sweep of history

I enjoyed this story, which carried its protagonist through the years of the Russian Revolution and the Jazz Age. The book has a lot of interesting things to say about architecture, and the portrayal of Finland is certainly compelling.

The author's execution, however, left something to be desired: Some of the supporting characters are stereotypes, the dialogue was a trifle trite, and the story gets bogged down in rehashing certain doomed relationships. This book certainly could have been better.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

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