Type of bind: Hardcover
EAN num: 9780333472521
Format: Import
ISBN number: 0333472527
Label: Macmillan
Manufacturer: Macmillan
Page Count: 414
Printing Date: August 25, 1988
Publishing house: Macmillan
Studio: Macmillan
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Rated by buyers 
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This book is an extreme rarity in that I don't have a strong feeling for it as a whole, one way or the other. Clearly, Walter's search to understand his father is the best part of the book. Unfortunately, a rather skewed atavism with historical circumstances dumped on the reader in shovelfuls comprises the greater part of this work. It seems to me that if you're going to handle atavism, you need to do it with a great deal of subtlety (Conrad, Faulkner and, especially, John Cowper Powys come to mind.) But if there's one thing not to be found here, it's subtlety. The historian in me sympathizes with Walter at the late-sixties rock concert, where, "In fact, there were few who had any grasp at all that history had preceded them." But the sort of history Boyle offers here is too gimcrack and off-the-cuff to serve as a replacement for lack of knowledge. In fact, if there is a lesson to be learnt about history here it is NOT, "Those not aware of the past are doomed to repeat it." It is rather, and emphatically, "You are doomed to repeat the past whether you are aware of it or not." Boyle and his character Walter seem confused at times as to whether they want to be history professors or hipsters or existential heroes. The end result is none of the above. There is also the quibble of sloppy writing, several instances of which I could cite, but when Boyle has Walter rise to his FEET while in Barrow, it becomes exasperating.
I fail to understand this mediocrity after Water Music, which is a great, erudite, comic novel that I wouldn't hesitate recommending to anyone. But, then, to whom is this book dedicated? "In memory of my own lost father" Seen in this light, the work becomes at least excusable, if not really understandable. I hope Boyle laid his personal demons at least partly to rest regarding his paternity with this book. He's a truly great writer.
Rated by buyers 
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Love this book despite the number of characters to follow and the different time frames. Boyle is a really interesting writer who paints a great picture of the times and the particular part of America that is not often written about.
Rated by buyers -
The only other T.C. Boyle book I have read is Tortilla Curtain. I didn't really care for that one, and don't often give an author a second chance (there are a million books to read and I only have so much time). I'm glad I made an exception for World's End. The characters were brilliantly written, I bought into most of them completely. I really wanted Walter to get his act together, but wasn't disappointed that he didn't. I have a weakness for endings that don't get completely resolved (probably why I prefer movies from other countries), and this definitely was one of them. Give it a shot, you'll be glad you did.
Rated by buyers -
Here's what you get with this one. You get a narrative about an aimless twenty-year old of Dutch descent in late sixties, upstate New York. He's conflicted and anxious for reasons he can't understand, not to mention that he sees ghosts. He loses his foot in a motorcycle accident at the site of an historic Indian marker. You also get a narrative about his mother and father in the late forties who take part in what is seen by the locals as a communist rally, and that has tragic results for both of them. Lastly, you get a narrative about his forefathers in 17th century New York, the most important plot-wise of whom loses HIS foot in an accident.
Intermingled in these narratives are the stories of those who interacted with our twenty-year old and his family--primarily a wealthy Dutch family and the local Indian tribe--and all those in the present story are descendants of those in the past. In general, the wealthy family is cruel, the regular family is cowardly and the Indians are oppressed. Oh. And there are a number of striking--if not improbable--coincidences between past and present of a kind similar to the amputated foot thing.
This really isn't as confusing as it sounds, although it helps that there is a two page list of principal characters at the beginning. You may find that you don't have to refer to it after every page, but refer to it, you will.
They're all pretty good stories, though, and despite the obvious forays into magical realism Boyle mostly keeps it real. The characters are distinctive and he is very good at maintaining narrative tension. It is one of those books in which you find you regret that a chapter has come to an end, only to become completely immersed within a few pages of the next.
But as engrossing as all of these stories are individually, they really don't mesh as a whole, and that, in a nutshell, is the problem with his novel. The twenty year old learns that his father, who abandoned him, acted despicably. When he finally confronts him, late in the novel, he is told that it has to do with what happened in 1690. In 1690 their ancestor acted despicably also, but why? In the face of adversity, this heretofore rather fierce character, without reason or warning, suddenly gives up.
Early in the novel, our twenty-year old is told a legend of the land on which they all now live. Before the white man ever came, an Indian tribe--fictionally named--was dominated by the Mohawks. To appease a fierce Mohawk who'd appeared among them, they presented him with the chief's beautiful daughter. Later, and to their horror, they found that the Mohawk had killed this girl and was in the middle of making a meal of her.
So maybe that's the point. The land was cursed from the very beginning. Or maybe it was the kid's family that was cursed, for acting like cowards. Or maybe it is the white man in general that is cursed, for treating the Indians abominably. Something is cursed, in any event, and it's really not clear that the kid's confrontation with his father at the end resolves it in any way.
Maybe it's just the book. It was published pretty early in Boyle's career and it's possible that as a young writer he simply bit off more than he could chew. One of his later works, Drop City, is more focused, and a richer experience as a result. World's End is a good effort, but Boyle is a far better writer now.
Rated by buyers -
This book is like crab. Crab? Yes, crab. Each taste is delicious (that is, deliciously well written). However, like getting at the tantalizing crabmeat, getting through the book is a fight. I don't like fighting my food and I did not enjoy fighting this book. Except for the struggle by Walter to find and understand his father Truman, I was constantly confused regarding the characters and their relationships. It was ultimately worth it, but only marginally. I think I should have started with another T.C. Boyle instead of this one, as other reviewers have suggested.
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