It was a bit hard to get into the heart of the book from the start with so many characters, plots and stories but then it all came together. It was interesting the whole way through

One of the comments made at our meeting was that the reader had learned more reading this book than she had reading any one book for a long time. I found the allegorical style to be compelling. Not having any clear answers or the typical battle of white and black hats was refreshing. You could talk about the characters without resorting to saying he was bad or good, they were multidimensional. The mixture of fictional characters acting with the historical characters helped to bring the historical characters to life and suggested their motivations.

Blending real-life people and fictional characters and events, sometimes to the point that it's hard to distinguish between fact and fiction. That may be one of the points of the book. Lots to discuss: American society, race relations and immigration, the role of women, wealth, stereotypes.