Manhattan Beach, Egan - B-

                                               On the face of it, I should have loved this book. It's a NY Times Notable for 2017 and for some reviewers, a top ten book for the year. It is set in Brooklyn in the 1930's and during WWII. The story is about life on the docks and in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Yet, as is so often the case with me, highly acclaimed literature seldom resonates. Anna Kerrigan is devoted to her dad, the raffish bag man and employee of the International Longshoreman's Association. Eddie has many skills and is devoted to his wife and family, but life for those on the edge of edgy businesses in NY during the depression is full of risks.  They eventually catch up with Eddie and Anna has to fend for herself when the war breaks out. Work at the Yard is tedious, but soon she is pioneering the role as the first woman diver amongst all the men. The book provides some fabulous insights into the city when it was at, perhaps, its most legendary height.