Book Review: Forever by Pete Hamill

Cormac O’Connor is born to an Irish father (not Catholic – Irish) and a Jewish mother in Ireland under English Protestant rule in the mid-1700s. When the Earl of Warren kills both his mother and his father, Irish religious law holds that he must avenge his father’s death by killing the Earl and every decendant of the Earl to the end of his line. Thus he begins a journey that will last far longer and encompass far more than he could have ever imagined.

He follows the Earl to New York where the Earl has a booming business in the slave trade. At this time in New York the Irish are akin to slaves, most of them coming over as indentured servants, and on the sea voyage over the America, he befriends one of the black slaves held below, Kongo, who Cormac finds out later is a ‘babalawo’ – a mythical African leader who has magical powers.  Kongo helps him track down the Earl, and after Cormac murders him, Kongo helps him escape. In his escape, Cormac almost dies, and wakes up in a cave with Kongo. Kongo has healed him with his powers, and bestowed upon him the gift of immortality – with the conditions that he stay on the island of Manhattan, and he live his life to the fullest, always. Kongo tells him one day, far in the future, he will meet a dark lady with spirals and bring her back to this cave – and only then will he finally die and be granted entrance into the Otherworld.

So Cormac lives – through slave revolts and the revolution, through the days of Tammany Hall, and ultimately, through terrorists flying planes into the Twin Towers. He loves many women, and befriends many a legendary figure, and out lives them all, never aging and always tracking the movements of the decendants of the Earl – never to give up the oath he took centuries before. Finally, in the months before 9/11 he finds the dark woman with spirals – Delfina, who he falls madly in love with and who makes him question, after so many years of waiting, if he wants to leave Manhattan and her and cross over to the Otherworld at last. 

As impossible as the premise is, it is surprisingly easy to suspend disbelief and journey through NY and American history with Cormac. Through Cormac’s eyes, we see the figures and events in America’s history so much more vividly than we ever have in boring history books. For me, it also reminded me that America is a place to be proud of and excited by – the story cuts off only days after 9/11 and so avoids having to express an opinion on today’s politics and today’s America. Instead, it’s the America of old, the America made by and for immigrants, and the America where anything was possible. It’s exciting, refreshing, and inspiring.