Cracks in the Foundation

I just started reading Devil in the White City, and other than learning a lot about real, true history, it's also a gripping story. (I should preface this by saying that during my first semester of grad school I had to do a presentation on the World's Fair, and I don't remember one thing I learned, but I killed--Everyone thought I was really funny).

Anyway, I have a few quick thoughts--things that I find interesting so far--and I'm curious to see what everyone else thinks. Maybe some future discussion points.

Not only is the novel well-researched, but Larson has found a way to intertwine the stories and juxtapose Burnham's construction of the World's Fair against Holmes construction of his "death hotel," so to speak.

Buildings, like writing a story, provide many interpretations, especially when thinking about the idea/concept of what a solid foundation (or at least one that appears solid) really means. I think that as the toil and prep for the Fair continues, Burnham and his team of architects and engineers will be faced with a proliferation of problems, especially with structure, aesthetics and strong edifices. In fact, it looks like the failures that the Fair's buildings face foreshadow the failed structure of Holmes' less sound foundation (his mental state, his tangled web of lies, his "hotel," etc.). I think this will definitely be a good metaphor as the book progresses to see how Chicago flourishes after the fair while Holmes, I assume, doesn't.

In grad school, we learned about how, basically, human existence and the concept of truth is based on a lie because of this convoluted, tangled web we created based on false language, history, etc. Anyway, we tell ourselves that this is true. We build more lies on top of this faulty structure in order to not only explain our own existence but also to continually reproduce it. So we continue living because we buy into the lie that man, truth, language--all this stuff is really real, tangible things, when they're not. It's confusing, I know, but on it's basic level, it is kind of interesting if we think about this abstract idea in terms of the novel.

So, that's why I'm fascinated with the actual architecture of the Fair, Holmes and the novel itself.