Second Generation (Lavette Family, #2) by Howard Fast

Second Generation (Lavette Family, #2) Reviews

• 
  Benjamin Thomas

  Another page-turner by Howard Fast. Following up the first book in the series, (
  The Immigrants), as the title would imply, this is about the children of the Lavette family, particularly Barbara, that takes center stage this time. She makes for a good protagonist because she has trouble deciding what to do with her life and therefore tries everything under the sun. The novel takes place during the depression-era 1930s and on through World War II, so there is plenty of adventure to attract her, including several lengthy trips to foreign countries as part of her budding writing and journalism career.
  
  But it’s not all about the younger set. There is still plenty of drama for the first generation to go through as well, particularly Dan, the main protagonist of book one. Additionally, I was surprised to see the turn that his first wife, the aristocratic Jean took, turning from a rather boilerplate character into a really interesting one.
  
  This series continues to be a well-done portrayal of a family saga of immigrants wrestling with the tumultuous events of America in the 20th century. Some seek wealth or power while others seek purpose in life. Some achieve their goals while others miss the mark. Some lives are cut short. But always, the plot remains unpredictable.
  
  Happily, there are several more books in the series, as I’ve become attached to the characters and am anxious to see what happens next. For me that's just about the highest praise I can offer.
• 
  L.

  I didn't realize this was the second book in a series until I had already started it. But I don't think reading the first book would have helped me at all to care about any of these characters.
  
  While there are a multitude of people in this story, we're basically following Barbara Lavette. She's a woman blessed/cursed with powerful pheromones that causes every man she meets to fall in love with her, or least want to bed her. (The downside being she's a bit of a black widow to a couple of these guys who don't meet a good end.)
  
  Barbara attempts to use her powers for good and combat the ebil Nazis, but her mission ends before it really even begins. (I never said she was smart.) She returns to America to deal with First World problems. Oh, the agony of inheriting millions of dollars. How I weep for you, Barbara.
  
  Meanwhile other people fall in love, get divorced, fight in WWII, and die.
  
  I don't understand how this was such a big seller back in the day. Everyone is paper thin. The war is happening way in the background so there's very little excitement. Even though Barbara has all these men falling at her feet, there are no sexy times. So what was the spell this book cast?
  
  It must have been Barbara's pheromones.
• 
  Hermien

  4 1/2 really, very enjoyable.
• 
  Ana

  3,5*
  Quite surprisingly similar idea to the century trilogy, from Ken Follett. I could imagine a film made from it ( maybe there is). Not many mishaps and I believe due to not possible to research so thoroughly at the time. But in general one could forget when it was written.
• 
  Fereshteh babashakoori

  کتاب خیلی جالبی بود و تعجب میکنم نظر خاصی در موردش ندیدم.
  زندگی یه دختر آمریکایی و روایت جالبی از جنگ جهانی دوم.
  خوندنشو پیشنهاد میکنم
• 
  Barbara Ruth

  Read this for a book group. I gather that I might have enjoyed it more if I'd read the 1st book in the series "Immigrants" about the immigrant movers and shakers who made San Francisco what it was, but frankly I couldn't care less about the clumsily drawn characters in this volume, especially the heiress who is the central character and will be of the next 5 books in the Lavette family saga that Fast intended to be America's answer to the Forsythe Saga ( hint, the Forsythes are more interesting people). Things lose all believability at the point where our heroine goes to live in Paris, just happens to meet an editor for a magazine clearly meant to be a stand-in for the New Yorker (Manhattan something or other) & despite never having written anything more taxing than a college essay, is immediately offered a staff job which allows her to claim she is supporting herself and to launch a career as a revered novelist. Because of course that's how writers break into writing, not by submitting pitches after pitches to important magazines or collecting basketfuls of rejection letters. The only thing less convincing than that was the way every single woman in the story was exceptionally beautiful, THE singularly most beautiful woman in the world. Because every deserves the most singularly beautiful woman in the world. At this point we know we are deeply in male fantasy territory, not in a serious novel.
• 
  Graceann

  In THE IMMIGRANTS, Howard Fast began the story of the Lavettes, focusing on Dan and his wife, Jean. This second volume concentrates on their daughter, Barbara, and what adventures she has! From 1930s labor strife, to pre-WWII Paris to Calcutta to San Francisco, there is very little that doesn't make its way into Barbara Lavette's experience.
  
  Howard Fast writes in a way that keeps one turning the pages. When you feel you've heard enough from one character, he focuses on someone else for a while. There is a vast tapestry of characters here, some of whom are only introduced with an eye toward their greater importance in later volumes of the series. Barbara is an amazing, interesting character, and I loved her immensely. I also came to admire Jean (a character I almost loathed in THE IMMIGRANTS) due to her steadily maturing nature in this second episode.
  
  The sequence focusing on the D-Day landings at Normandy was excellently written and extremely exciting. It's very difficult to write about a battle without it being either overly dramatic or excruciatingly dull. Fast walks a very fine line here, brilliantly. He also mines his own experiences as a liberal, Jewish artist in the War years in order to provide anecdotes that drive the narrative. I can't wait to see what he does with the McCarthy era and HUAC in book number three, THE ESTABLISHMENT.
• 
  Susan

  The Lavette family saga continues in book 2 through the Depression and World War II. Howard Fast is a superb storyteller. His vivid characters feel like family members. I'm looking forward to reading more from this series.
• 
  Carolyn Pina

  Not quite as good as the first book in the series (The Immigrants), but very good -- I enjoyed it.
• 
  Kate

  Great vintage book in the 2nd half 20th century style (1970's style): the big multi-generation family saga. Of course, a dash of WWII figuring in greatly. It is a slice of America's history, specifically a tale of how 2 California cities, LA and SF, evolved and grew: immigrants and industries and the people surrounding these. I was able to 'catch on' reading this second book without reading Lavette Family #1 book. Barbara Lavette is the main character. Through the years the reader meets her family: Danny and Jean, parents. Her step mother, May Ling. Other characters interwoven are the wine-growing Levy family, soldier of fortune Bernie Cohen. There's a theme of fairness and prejudice, a thread going through the novel: rich/poor, earned money/inheritance, Jews/WASPs. Why 4 stars? I felt the author infused more thoughts and more humanity into the female characters. The males were more props in Barbara's life journey. The trophy wife of Dan, May Ling, posed a little too much insecurity which I found vain/annoying at times. Sally Levy gradually seemed to tone it down a bit: for being so gutsy, she seemed at times to seek approval too much. I did find the description of Calcutta to be fascinating and shocking. It almost seemed like a virtual tour. On the whole, a very engaging read. I hope I can find this style of novel in future reads.
• 
  Tanja

  Sometime in the last couple of years I was lucky enough to find four more of the Lavette family series at a bookstore in our town. It’s been a while since I read the first book but again, I was amazed at the liveliness of Howard Fast’s characters and how easy it was to become familiar with those who already appeared in the prequel. This time the story takes place in the years right before, during and after World War II and as in the first novel, events of that time were woven into the plot’s happenings. Even though the end seemed a bit abrupt, I'm still giving this book 4 stars.
• 
  Tom Hill

  A neighbor gave me this series of books when I was looking for something to read. I read two of the books, this being the second, and found some good and bad things in the writing. The good thing I liked was how the author tied the story line in with actual historical events and how they impacted the stories characters. The bad thing was that the pacing of the story line was so slow I had a hard time staying awake. The introspection by the main characters is a little overdone. So, I will not be continuing on with the series.
• 
  Ruth Vanderhart

  For some reason I never read the Lavette family saga back in the 80s. It has kind of a 70s-80s feel, and I wasn't sure I would continue after The Immigrants, book 1. But this second book was much stronger than the first. Lkable characters. Lots of interesting history. Sagas, of course, tend to feel like soap operas sometimes because they cover so much time and so many characters. And Fast's is no exception.
• 
  Linda

  I was preparing to give this one four stars halfway through but in the second half I grew to really dislike Barbara. I never got so tired of hearing about how beautiful she was and I felt she got the best treatment from everyone because of it and the wealth she was born with. Of course Barbara didn’t care about any of that! I didn’t believe a word she told herself. I finally decided to go with four stars because I enjoyed every other character and the history.
• 
  Laraine

  4 stars. This book is the follow up to "The Immigrants" and was a very good read. The book takes place during WWII and some of the boys see combat, one stays home and becomes rich supplying the war effort, one of the girls becomes a war correspondent and sees the horrors of war close up. People love and people die. A well written book that kept me interested from first to last page.
• 
  Mary Daniels

  This is the second installment of Howard Fast's Lavette family series of historical novels. Howard Fast is a master storyteller, and these historical novels include lots of details about their time period. I love big, sprawling family sagas, and the historical tie-ins give the characters a satisfying depth.
• 
  Fran Gerardi

  This second book focuses on Barbara Lavette, Dan's daughter. Secondarily, we see the children and grandchildren of the characters introduced in the first book, such as, the Levy's, Sheltons and Whittiers. The book also focuses on the various ethnic groups, all descendants of immigrants, coming together through marriage and other relationships.
• 
  Peggy

  DNF. I enjoyed The Immigrants but found this one uninteresting, mostly because the character Barbara is such a cliché. I finally gave up when plucky girl reporter goes to Berlin and ends up picked up by police (Gestapo?) for violently intervening in an atrocity against an old Jewish man, a scene right out of Nancy Drew, or some other plucky girl.
• 
  Cris

  Questo secondo volume della saga dei Lavette è davvero molto più incalzante rispetto al primo. La storia moderna è protagonista della saga insieme ai personaggi principali. Spero che l'editore completi la pubblicazione di tutti i volumi scritti da Fast relativamente a questa famiglia.
• 
  Anne Vandenbrink

  Same characters, set during World War II. This one focusing on Dan's daughter, Barbara, who has become somewhat of an activist. She spent years in Paris writing for an American magazine, then had a harrowing experience in Germany, and settled back in San Francisco. This is her story.
• 
  Willie Kirschner

  I have really enjoyed this continuing story and am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. Fast was a favorite of my parents and I find his books easy to read and they keep me interested.
• 
  Nancy Skelly

  loved it
  
  Wonderfully drawn characters. It continues the story of the Lanette family introduced in the first book, Set against the backdrop of the depression and WWII, the book provides various insights from the various characters’s perspectives
• 
  Lorane

  On to the next book
  
  This is a really good series. It is written well. I like how it switches between the characters. Two more words required.
• 
  Kate

  This is a great series although there are six of them.