Triangle (2006)by Katherine Weber

1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Triangle (2006)

by Katherine Weber

Washington Place, Greenwich Village

New York: 57/105

Manhattan: 13/34

   The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on Saturday(!) March 25th, 1911 was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city and Triangle is the second novel on 1,001 Novels: A Library of America list devoted to a fire-induced disaster (Masters of Illusion: A Novel of the Connecticut Circus Fire).  146 people died- mostly women working at the factory.   Some of them died jumping out the windows to escape the flame.  The owners of the factory escaped and were tried for manslaughter but acquitted after one of the few surviving workers gave testimony which exonerated them. 

   This novel is about the "oldest living survivor" of the fire- living in a Jewish rest home in the Village when the book takes place.  The protagonist is her grand daughter, a genetic scientist married to a musician who makes music out of scientific information.   He sounds almost exactly like the artists Matmos, though the adulation and acclaim he receives in the book is way beyond the attention Matmos has received.

   Triangle functions more as a history lesson than a succesful novel- Weber actually does put together a decent third act twist, but there isn't much in the characters or the plot besides the third act twist- just this lady and the scholar interested in her dead grandmother talking in a room about events that happened a hundred years ago.  I can see why this book is included on the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America, depiction of an important historical event and all, but it wasn't a great read and not a book I would recommend.