A surprisingly intense read!

This book was chosen for my book club and was a surprise hit for both me and the group! I normally am not a fan of historical fiction, especially historical fiction that tends to lean more toward the science or STEM side of things, but this one was a pleasant surprise.

This novel is about the real-life Current War between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison, as told through the perspective of Westinghouse’s lawyer, Paul Cravath. Paul was a real lawyer who went on to reinvent how law offices are structured, but I had never heard of him before. I also had heard about the Current War in a very basic way, but this novel went very deep into the entire history of the dispute. Generally, there are only two likable characters in this novel, Nikolai Tesla being one. Tesla was a genius addition to the novel, and had he not been included, I don’t think it could have been readable. Everyone else comes off as being typically self-absorbed and capitalistic, so Tesla was the only character one could (semi) relate to, as he was a victim of circumstance for most of his life.

While I have no interest in science or electricity, this made for a brilliant book club read. The fact that it was based on truth and the author went out of his way to list all the changes he made from the original story made the novel have a ton of topics to discuss. My group hated basically every man in the book but enjoyed it overall and would read more by the author. It also benefited from having incredibly short chapters, so the pacing moved quickly and kept everyone engaged with the book.

Title: The Last Days of Night
Author: Graham Moore
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 371
ISBN: 9780812988901

Three Descriptors: Atmospheric, Compelling, Real-Life

Read Alikes:
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
The Edison Effect by Bernadette Pajer
The anatomy of deception by Lawrence Goldstone\
The Devil’s Half Mile by Paddy Hirsch
Big Law by Ron Liebman